As we close out a record-setting 2018 at the domestic box office, we take a look at the year’s 10 biggest earners in the North American market.
1. BLACK PANTHER
Disney
Domestic Total: $700,059,566
Domestic Opening Weekend: $202,003,951
Release Date: February 16
A film that exceeded every expectation. Black Panther roared through the domestic box office with a $202 million opening weekend. By the culmination of its $700 million run, it had become the highest-grossing superhero film of all time. Black Panther ranks third among the biggest box office earners of all time in North America.
2. AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR
Disney
Domestic Total: $678,815,482
Domestic Opening Weekend: $257,698,183
Release Date: April 27
After ten years building up to this film, Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe scored the biggest domestic opening weekend of the year with Avengers: Infinity War. The latest Avengers film is also the franchise’s the top earner—and has raised expectations for a monster performance for its upcoming sequel, Avengers: Endgame.
3. INCREDIBLES 2
Disney
Domestic Total: $608,581,744
Domestic Opening Weekend: $182,687,905
Release Date: June 15
Disney claimed the top three spots at the domestic box office with a one-two punch from Marvel Studios and this Pixar superhero sequel. Incredibles 2 not only became the biggest movie of the summer—it is also the highest earning animated movie of all time.
4. JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM
Universal
Domestic Total: $416,769,345
Domestic Opening Weekend: $148,024,610
Release Date: June 22
The Jurassic World sequel helped make June the biggest month of the year at the domestic box office. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom couldn’t quite live up to the monster success of its predecessor’s $652.2 million run—but it does stand out as the year’s highest earner from a studio other than Disney. The Dino-sequel is also the only movie among the year’s top 5 hits that isn’t about superheroes.
5. DEADPOOL 2
Fox
Domestic Total: $318,491,426
Domestic Opening Weekend: $148,024,610
Release Date: May 18
Fox struck gold with the original Deadpool, which embraced an irreverent, cynical take on the superhero genre—along with an R-rating—to become the biggest hit in the studio’s tentpole X-Men franchise. Deadpool 2 fell just short of the original, but did join its predecessor as the only other X-Men title to cross $300 million at the domestic box office.
6. DR. SEUSS’ THE GRINCH
Universal
Domestic Total: $257,900,050 (Still in Release)
Domestic Opening Weekend: $67,572,855
Release Date: November 9
The run-away box office winner of the 2018 holiday season. The latest Grinch movie held on to one of the top 3 spots at the weekend box office for its first six weeks in release. The strong holds helped push Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch past the $200 million domestic benchmark after its first month in release.
7. JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE
Sony
Domestic Total: $404,515,480 ($235,512,923 in 2018)
Domestic Opening Weekend: $36,169,328
Release Date: December 20, 2017
Sony’s Jumanji reboot seemed to have nine lives at the box office, recording sterling hold-over business into Q1 of 2018. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was an early year word-of-mouth hit; the film opened second in the Christmas 2017 corridor with a $36.1 million haul. Its 2018 earnings amounted to a robust $235.5 million.
8. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT
Paramount
Domestic Total: $220,159,104
Domestic Opening Weekend: $61,236,534
Release Date: July 27
Tom Cruise has starred in Paramount’s Mission: Impossible franchise since 1996, making it 22 years of death-defying stunts for one of the studio’s marquee properties. Mission: Impossible – Fallout emerged as Paramount’s top domestic earner of the year—and the franchise’s most lucrative entry—with a $220.1 million run. At age 56, it doesn’t look like Cruise’s days as an action star are anywhere close to finished.
9. ANT-MAN AND THE WASP
Disney
Domestic Total: $216,648,740
Domestic Opening Weekend: $75,812,205
Release Date: July 6
The ignominiously named Ant-Man crawled its way to the domestic top 10 by outperforming its predecessor, one of the few sequels from 2018 to achieve such a feat. Ant-Man and the Wasp was the third Marvel Studios release of 2018, and the third to break into the year’s top performing titles.
10. SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY
Disney
Domestic Total: $213,767,512
Domestic Opening Weekend: $84,420,489
Release Date: May 25
While it’s not a surprise to see a fifth Disney title among 2018’s top ten box office hits, it is peculiar to see this Star Wars (or any Star Wars title) so far down the list. Solo was released during a packed early summer corridor on the release schedule and was unable to gain the same traction we’ve grown accustomed to from the franchise.
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