Top Summer Blockbusters
ALL-TIME
Top Summer Blockbusters

Top Summer Blockbusters of All-Time: These are the top 25 Summer Blockbusters, according to their total US domestic gross revenue rankings (doesn't include revenue from re-releases, re-issues, or 3-D), to fairly accurately show which films have been the largest blockbusters during the summer months.

All of the films in the top 25 earned over $380 million, opened in the summer, and were within the last 25 years. The Summer Season is usually measured from the first Friday in May through Labor Day Weekend.

A short summary description of each film is included. A few other sites post all-time box-office information, including the Internet Movie DataBase, Boxoffice.com, Boxofficemojo.com, and The-numbers.com.


Box-Office Index
Top 100 (Domestic) | Top 100 (Inflation-Adjusted) | Top 100 (Worldwide) | Major Film Franchises | Summer Blockbusters
Top Films (By Decade and Year) | Highest-Grossing Films By Genre Type | Greatest Box-Office Bombs, Disasters, and Flops


Top 25 Summer Blockbusters of All-Time
(Based Upon Domestic Gross Revenue, Unadjusted for Inflation) - Through 2023 Releases
Rank
Film/Year/Description
US Release Date
Domestic Gross
Title Screen
1
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
In this sequel to the original 1986 film, Tom Cruise returned as top US Navy aviator Capt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell to train a group of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission (to combat a rogue nation with a uranium enrichment field). His trainees included Lt. Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (Miles Teller), the son of Maverick's deceased best friend Officer Lt. Nick "Goose" Bradshaw. Penny Benjamin (Jennifer Connelly), single mother and daughter of a former Admiral, served as Maverick's love interest. Reprising his previous role was Adm. Tom "Iceman" Kazansky (Val Kilmer), commander of US Pacific Fleet.
May 27, 2022
$718.7 million
2
Jurassic World (2015)
In a luxury resort that was the habitat for genetically-engineered dinosaurs, an Indominus Rex escaped, followed by others, setting off a chain reaction of chaos. The visitors had to be saved from the prehistoric assault.
June 12, 2015
$652.3 million
3
Marvel's The Avengers (2012)
The highly-anticipated 3-D superhero tale produced by Disney-owned Marvel Studios brought together, under Nick Fury's peace-keeping S.H.I.E.L.D, a team of superhumans (Iron Man/Tony Stark, the Hulk/Bruce Banner, Thor, the Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff, Hawkeye/Clint Barton and Captain America/Steve Rogers) to save the Earth from Loki and his army. The sixth installment in Marvel's Cinematic Universe.
May 4, 2012
$623.4 million
4
Barbie (2023)
From director and co-writer Greta Gerwig - a coming-of-age tale set in pink, candy-coated Barbie Land where a tall, blonde-haired, blue-eyed doll named Barbie (Margot Robbie), in the midst of an existential crisis, was joined by her boyfriend Ken (Ryan Gosling) to journey to the human world (to sunny Los Angeles), to struggle to become a real woman in a patriarchal world.
July 21, 2023
$612+ million
5
Incredibles 2 (2018)
A sequel to The Incredibles (2004), with Elastigirl (Helen) as the star super-hero battling against new supervillain Screenslaver, while Mr. Incredible took on domestic chores.
June 15, 2018
$608.6 million
6
The Lion King (2019)
A remake (or reimagining) of the 1994 classic Disney animation as a CGI-dependent "live action" and musical spectacular - a 'photo-realistic' computer-animated redo. It told the same story of young lion Simba whose father Mufasa was murdered by his villainous uncle Scar.
July 19, 2019
$543.6 million
7
The Dark Knight (2008)
Christian Bale's brooding Batman and Heath Ledger's scary Joker gave this comic-book movie reboot real emotional depth.
July 18, 2008
$533.3 million
8
Finding Dory (2016)
Blue tang fish Dory, afflicted with short-term memory loss, has since childhood been looking for her lost parents, with help from her friends Nemo and Marlin.
June 17, 2016
$486.3 million
9
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
The sequel to the 2012 hit film, and the 11th film in Marvel's Cinematic Universe. Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.) and other Avengers superheroes, including Captain America, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye battled the terrifying technological villain Ultron (James Spader), a mechanical AI with the goal of human extinction.
May 1, 2015
$459 million

10
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
In the last of director Christopher Nolan's trilogy of Batman films, the caped superhero Dark Knight (Christian Bale), aka Bruce Wayne, battled a masked villain named Bane (Tom Hardy) to save Gotham City.
July 20, 2012
$448.1 million
11
Shrek 2 (2004)
Kids loved the rude, stinky-but-goodhearted green troll Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers). Adults identified with his nemesis in-laws.
May 19, 2004
$441.2 million
12
Toy Story 4 (2019)
A road trip story involving Woody, Buzz, Bonnie, and a new toy known as Forky.
June 21, 2019
$434 million
13
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
Fans rushed back to the future, giving Liam Neeson and Natalie Portman a thumbs up and Jar Jar Binks a big thumbs down.
May 19, 1999
$431 million

14
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
This sequel added a monster, a ghost ship and the tentacle-bearded Davy Jones to Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow.
July 7, 2006
$423.3 million

15
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
Set three years after the previous film (Jurassic World (2015)), the island of Isla Nublar was abandoned and the theme park was closed down, but its dormant volcano erupted, causing a massive effort to rescue the dinosaurs and prevent them from becoming extinct.
June 22, 2018
$417.7 million
16
Toy Story 3 (2010)
Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the rest of the toys had to face the fact that children grow up and put away childish things: Adults wept.
June 18, 2010
$415 million
17
Wonder Woman (2017)
The epic adventure and origin story of the former princess of the Amazons named Diana Prince, who became a super-warrioress, after being raised and trained on a paradisical island and transported to World War I-era London.
June 2, 2017
$412.6 million
18
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
In Marvel's action-adventure fantasy and superhero film, enigmatic Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) joined with strange teenaged dream girl America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), sorcerer supreme Wong (Benedict Wong), and Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), the Scarlet Witch, to prevent the destruction of the multiverse.
May 6, 2022
$411.3 million
19
Iron Man 3 (2013)
Another blockbuster sequel in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (the 7th), featuring billionaire industrialist Tony Stark and his alter-ego, Iron Man pitted against a formidable terrorist called the Mandarin.
May 3, 2013
$409 million
20
Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Another superhero film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (the 13th), and coming after Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) and Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014). The Avengers were fractured into two groups, led by: (1) Steve Rogers/Captain America who opposed regulation, and (2) Tony Stark/Iron Man who supported regulation.
May 6, 2016
$408 million
21
Spider-Man (2002)
Director Sam Raimi reinvigorated Marvel's superhero while Tobey Maguire convinced us that high-school nerd Peter Parker could become a superhero after a spider bite, and then battled nemesis The Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) and fought for Mary Jane Watson's (Kirsten Dunst) heart (with a unique upside-down kiss).
May 3, 2002
$403.7 million
22
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
Robots that turned into cars and guns returned in a sequel that outperformed the original. Robots took to new, cooler environments for battle and presented quite a contrast, fighting on the pyramids and the Brooklyn Bridge.
June 24, 2009
$402.1 million
23
Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
Sony's latest standard superhero action-adventure film, serving as a follow-up to the events of Avengers: Endgame (2019). Tom Holland followed in the footsteps of both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield as the title-character Peter Parker (alias Spider-Man).
July 2, 2019
$390.5 million
24
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 (2017)
Marvel's fantasy-sci-fi sequel to its previous 2014 film (with a gross of $333.2 million), about a team of extra-terrestrial misfit superheroes led by Peter Quill (aka Star-Lord) (Chris Pratt), who was to learn about his true parentage.
May 5, 2017
$389.8 million
25
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (2011)
The eighth and final installment found Harry and his friends finally defeating Lord Voldemort during a dramatic showdown.
July 15, 2011
$381 million

Previous Page Next Page