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James Cameron's recently-released hit sequel Avatar: The Way of Water has become one of the highest-grossing movies of all time by bagging over $2 billion worldwide. In the past century, war films, musicals, and historical dramas were the most popular genres, but in the 21st century, the highest-grossing movies were usually franchise films.
The list of the highest-grossing movies of all time is headed by Cameron's pathbreaking 2009 film Avatar. The list also features multiple superhero films, such as Marvel Cinematic Universe adaptations based on the Avengers comic books and other Marvel Comics. Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, and Pirates of the Caribbean are among the further franchises that are heavily featured on the list.
Apart from these, animated films have performed consistently well since the turn of the century. Disney and Pixar have enjoyed consistent commercial success with films such as Frozen, Frozen II, Incredibles 2, Toy Story 3 and 4, and computer-animated remakes of The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast.
Check out this list of the highest-grossing movies of all time that we've curated for you.
Avatar and 6 other highest-grossing movies of all time
1) Avatar ($2.9 billion)
Released 12 years after James Cameron's incredibly successful and iconic 1997 film Titanic, Avatar emerged as the highest-grossing movie of all time by raking in $2.9 billion in a worldwide box office collection. Released in 2009 during the peak of a 3-D reemergence, this unique sci-fi tale set in the mid-22nd century managed to break all records.
Cameron's visionary thinking and innovative motion capture filming techniques brought to life the story of Pandora, an alien yet habitable moon of a planet in the Alpha Centauri star system, which is indigenous to the local tribe of a humanoid species called Na'vi.
When humans begin colonizing Pandora to mine the valuable mineral Unobtanium, a paraplegic Marine named Jake Sully (played by Sam Worthington) uses his genetically engineered Na'vi body to team up with the inhabitants of Pandora in their fight for survival.
The film briefly lost its top position in 2019 due to the release of Avengers: Endgame, but with subsequent re-releases, it returned to becoming the highest-grossing film of all time.
2) Avengers: Endgame ($2.7 billion)
Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, Avengers: Endgame became the most successful superhero film ever in 2019, grossing $2.7 billion worldwide. Based on the Marvel Comics superhero team, the Avengers, the film is a direct sequel to Avengers: Infinity War (2018).
With the release of this 22nd film, the journey that began with MCU's Iron Man (2008) somewhat concludes, with the story arcs for several main characters reaching a climax. Set five years after the events of the Infinity War, the film revolves around the surviving members of the Avengers and their allies who attempted to reverse Thanos' actions at the end of the previous film.
The film boasts of bringing together almost every character from the MCU in an extensive ensemble cast, including Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Jon Favreau, Gwyneth Paltrow, Josh Brolin, and many more.
3) Titanic ($2.2 billion)
Titanic, James Cameron's magnum opus of 1997, achieved cult status and became a global phenomenon by collecting $2.19 billion worldwide. After its release, the record-breaking film became the highest-grossing movie of all time and held that position for 12 long years until the release of Cameron's Avatar.
Based on the true story of the British passenger liner, RMS Titanic, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912, after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City.
Telling the tale of two star-crossed lovers from different social classes, Jack and Rose (played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, respectively), who fall in love aboard the ship during their tragic maiden voyage. Cameron's film incorporates both historical and fictionalized elements of the incident. Subsequent re-releases have proved that the film's eternal love story and song are still ingrained in the hearts of people worldwide.
4) Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens ($2.07 billion)
Directed and co-written by J. J. Abrams, this 2015 epic space opera film is the seventh film in the “Skywalker Saga” and the first film of the Sequel Trilogy. Set thirty years after the events of Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983). The film introduces new characters Rey, Finn, and Poe, as well as the central antagonist Kylo Ren (played by Adam Driver), the master of the First Order, a successor to the Galactic Empire.
The film follows Han Solo's search for Luke Skywalker and their fight in the Resistance, under the leadership of General Leia Organa and other veterans of the Rebel Alliance, against Kylo Ren and the First Order.
5) Avengers: Infinity War ($2.05 billion)
Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, this 2018 film is a sequel to The Avengers (2012) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). Released as the 19th film in the MCU, the film revolves around the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy, who attempt to prevent Thanos from collecting the six all-powerful Infinity Stones, with the help of which he can fulfill his quest of killing half of all life in the universe.
Avengers: Infinity War became the first superhero film to gross over $2 billion worldwide. All four films based on the Avengers comic books feature in the top twenty of the highest-grossing movies of all time. The fifth and sixth Avengers films, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars, are scheduled to be released in 2025 and 2026.
6) Avatar: The Way of Water ($2.04 billion)
Cameron's latest release, Avatar: The Way of Water, is quickly climbing up the charts and has raked in $2.04 billion worldwide so far. The movie, which serves as the sequel to Avatar (2009), is still showing in theaters all over the world. The eagerly awaited movie uses groundbreaking underwater performance capture filming techniques.
The film explores the lives of Na'vi Jake Sully and his family, who are under renewed human threat, and seek refuge with the Metkayina clan of Pandora. With the release of this movie, Cameron has now directed three of the top 10 highest-grossing movies ever. Avatar 3 has wrapped up principal filming and is set for release in 2024. Additional sequels are expected to follow in 2026 and 2028.
Apart from the new characters, Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, and Stephen Lang reprise their characters from the original film, with Sigourney Weaver returning in an additional role as Kiri, the 14-year-old daughter of Dr. Grace's Na'vi avatar who was adopted by Jake and Neytiri.
With the release of this film, Zoe Saldaña has appeared in four of the six highest-grossing films of all time (the two Avatar films and two Avengers films), a feat unachieved by any other performer.
7) Spider-Man: No Way Home ($1.9 billion)
Directed by Jon Watts, this 2021 film is the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019). Apart from the original MCU cast, the film also features several actors reprising their roles from non-MCU Spider-Man films directed by Sam Raimi and Marc Webb, including former Spider-Man actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, alongside Jamie Foxx, Willem Dafoe, and Alfred Molina.
The multiverse-expanding film finds Tom Holland's Peter Parker requesting Dr. Strange (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) to use magic to make his identity as Spider-Man a secret again following its public revelation at the end of Far From Home. Unfortunately, when the magic fails, the multiverse is shattered open, allowing people from other worlds to invade Parker's universe.
The fun, heartbreaking, and yet thrilling film became the highest-grossing Spider-Man movie ever made.
After adjusting for inflation, the highest-grossing film of all time is Gone With the Wind (1939), a historical romance adaptation of the 1936 novel of the same name, starring Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, and Leslie Howard. According to Guinness World Records, the film made a total gross of $3.44 billion worldwide.
