Sound of Freedom is a 2023 American Christian thriller film[5] directed and co-written by Alejandro Monteverde, and starring Jim Caviezel, Mira Sorvino and Bill Camp. Caviezel plays Tim Ballard, a former U.S. government agent who embarks on a mission to rescue children from sex traffickers in Colombia.[6] It is produced by Eduardo Verástegui, who also plays a role in the film. The plot centers around Ballard's Operation Underground Railroad, an anti-sex trafficking organization. While is purportedly based on the life of Ballard, multiple investigative journalists have written about the real-life Ballard and O.U.R., pointing out that the events in the film bear little resemblance to reality.
The film was released on July 4, 2023, by Angel Studios. It was a sleeper hit, becoming one of the most successful independent films in history.[7] It has grossed $250 million against a $14.5 million budget. It received mixed reviews from critics,[8] while audience reception was highly positive.[9][10][11][12]
The film attracted considerable attention for its connections to the QAnon conspiracy theory.
Oppenheimer is a 2023 epic biographical thriller film[a] written, directed, and produced by Christopher Nolan.[8] It follows the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American theoretical physicist who helped develop the first nuclear weapons during World War II. Based on the 2005 biography American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, the film chronicles Oppenheimer's studies, his direction of the Los Alamos Laboratory, and his fall from grace after his 1954 security hearing. Cillian Murphy stars as Oppenheimer, alongside Robert Downey Jr. as the United States Atomic Energy Commission member Lewis Strauss. The ensemble supporting cast includes Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek and Kenneth Branagh.
Oppenheimer was announced in September 2021. It is Nolan's first film not distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures since Memento (2000), due to his conflicts regarding the studio's simultaneous theatrical and HBO Max release schedule.[9] Murphy was the first cast member to sign on the following month, with the rest joining between November 2021 and April 2022. Pre-production began by January 2022, and filming took place from February to May. The cinematographer, Hoyte van Hoytema, used a combination of IMAX 65 mm and 65 mm large-format film, including, for the first time, scenes in IMAX black-and-white film photography. As with many of his previous films, Nolan used extensive practical effects, with minimal compositing.
Oppenheimer premiered at Le Grand Rex in Paris on July 11, 2023, and was theatrically released in the US and the UK ten days later by Universal. Its concurrent release with Warner Bros.'s Barbie was the catalyst of the "Barbenheimer" phenomenon, encouraging audiences to see both films as a double feature. Oppenheimer grossed $971 million worldwide, becoming the third-highest-grossing film of 2023, the highest-grossing World War II-related film, the highest-grossing biographical film and the second-highest-grossing R-rated film.
Among its many accolades, Oppenheimer won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Murphy and Best Supporting Actor for Downey. It also won five Golden Globe Awards (including Best Motion Picture – Drama) and seven British Academy Film Awards (including Best Film), and was named one of the top ten films of 2023 by the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute.
King Richard is a 2021 American biographical sports drama film directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green and written by Zach Baylin. The film stars Will Smith as Richard Williams, the father and coach of famed tennis players Venus and Serena Williams (both of whom served as executive producers on the film), with Aunjanue Ellis, Saniyya Sidney, Demi Singleton, Tony Goldwyn, and Jon Bernthal in supporting roles.
It premiered at the 48th Telluride Film Festival on September 2, 2021, and was theatrically released on November 19, 2021, by Warner Bros. Pictures and on the HBO Max streaming service.[4] Although it was a box office failure, grossing $39 million against a budget of $50 million, the film received positive reviews from critics, with praise for the screenplay and the performances of Smith, Ellis, and Sidney.[5]
It was named one of the ten best films of the year by both the American Film Institute and the National Board of Review. It earned six nominations at the 94th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won Best Actor for Smith.
Pearl (subtitled An X-traordinary Origin Story) is a 2022 American horror film directed by Ti West, co-written by West and Mia Goth, who reprises her role as the title character, and featuring David Corenswet, Tandi Wright, Matthew Sunderland and Emma Jenkins-Purro in supporting roles. A prequel to X (2022) and the second installment in the X film series, it serves as an origin story for the title villain, whose fervent aspiration to become a movie star led her to committing violent acts on her family's Texas homestead in 1918.
West began co-writing a prequel script stemming from his collaboration with Goth while filming X. Motivated by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cinema, filming started in New Zealand immediately after the first film, using X sets and the Avatar: The Way of Water crew and taking pandemic safety precautions. Pearl drew inspiration from the works of Douglas Sirk, Technicolor films like The Wizard of Oz (1939) and Mary Poppins (1964), and Disney films. It had its world premiere at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2022, and was released in theaters in the United States on September 16, 2022, by A24. The film grossed over $10 million and received generally positive reviews from critics, with Goth's performance receiving wide praise.
A direct sequel to X, titled MaXXXine, is scheduled to be released on July 5, 2024, with Goth reprising her second role from the first film.
Saw the TV Glow is a 2024 American horror-thriller film written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun. It stars Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine, with Ian Foreman, Helena Howard, Fred Durst and Danielle Deadwyler in supporting roles. Emma Stone and Dave McCary serve as producers under their Fruit Tree banner.
It is scheduled to be theatrically released by A24 in the United States on May 3, 2024.
X is a 2022 American slasher film written, directed, produced and edited by Ti West. It stars Mia Goth in dual roles: a young woman named Maxine, and an elderly woman named Pearl. The film also stars Jenna Ortega, Martin Henderson, Brittany Snow, Owen Campbell, Stephen Ure and Scott Mescudi appearing in supporting roles. Set in 1979, the film follows a cast and crew who gather to make a pornographic film on an elderly couple's rural Texas property, but find themselves threatened by the homicidal couple.
A24 announced X in November 2020. Principal photography occurred from February 16 to March 16, 2021, primarily in Fordell, New Zealand. Goth underwent extensive prosthetic makeup for Pearl, and special effects were employed to depict violent scenes in the film. Characterized as a contemporary take on psycho-biddy, the film draws inspiration from horror, exploitation, and pornographic films, and emphasizes the interplay between beauty, aging, and self-worth. The score was composed by Tyler Bates and Chelsea Wolfe, who collaborated to create a soundtrack with emphasis on vocals and synthesizers. The film had its world premiere at South by Southwest (SXSW) on March 13, 2022, and was theatrically released in the United States on March 18, 2022, by A24. It received generally positive reviews from critics.
X is the first in a film series of the same name, consisting of a prequel film titled Pearl released on September 16, 2022, and a sequel titled MaXXXine which is scheduled for release on July 5, 2024.
The untitled eighth Mission: Impossible film[1] is an upcoming American spy action film directed by Christopher McQuarrie from a screenplay he co-wrote with Erik Jendresen. It is the direct sequel to Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) and the eighth installment in the Mission: Impossible film series.[2] Tom Cruise returns in his eighth appearance as the series' lead character, Ethan Hunt, whom he will have portrayed over a period of 29 years at the time of the film's release. Ving Rhames, Henry Czerny, Simon Pegg, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Hayley Atwell, Shea Whigham, and Pom Klementieff all reprise their roles from previous films in the series.
In January 2019, Cruise announced that the seventh and eighth Mission: Impossible films would be shot back-to-back with McQuarrie writing and directing both films. Plans for the film later changed in February 2021. Returning and new cast members were announced soon after, and Lorne Balfe, who composed the score for two films, returned to score the film. Filming began in March 2022 in the United Kingdom with other filming locations, including Malta, South Africa and Norway. It was halted in July 2023 due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, and resumed in March 2024.
The film is scheduled to be released in the United States on May 23, 2025, by Paramount Pictures.
Steven Spielberg is the most represented director on the chart, with six films to his credit, occupying the top spot in 1975, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1989 and 1993. Cecil B. DeMille (1932, 1947, 1949, 1952 and 1956) is in second place with five films and William Wyler (1942, 1946, 1959 and 1968) and James Cameron (1991, 1997, 2009 and 2022) are tied for third place with four films. D. W. Griffith (1915, 1916 and 1920), George Roy Hill (1966, 1969 and 1973) and the Russo brothers (2016, 2018 and 2019) all feature heavily with three films apiece. George Lucas directed two chart-toppers in 1977 and 1999, but also served in a strong creative capacity as a producer and writer in 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984 and 1989 as well. The following directors have also all directed two films on the chart: Frank Lloyd, King Vidor, Frank Capra, Michael Curtiz, Leo McCarey, Alfred Hitchcock, David Lean, Stanley Kubrick, Guy Hamilton, Mike Nichols, William Friedkin, Peter Jackson, Gore Verbinski, and Michael Bay; Mervyn LeRoy, Ken Annakin and Robert Wise are each represented by one solo credit and one shared credit, and John Ford co-directed two films. Disney films are usually co-directed and some directors have served on several winning teams: Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Clyde Geronimi, David Hand, Ben Sharpsteen, Wolfgang Reitherman and Bill Roberts have all co-directed at least two films on the list. Only seven directors have topped the chart in consecutive years: McCarey (1944 and 1945), Nichols (1966 and 1967), Spielberg (1981 and 1982), Jackson (2002 and 2003), Verbinski (2006 and 2007) and the Russo brothers (2018 and 2019).
Because of release schedules—especially in the case of films released towards the end of the year—and different release patterns across the world, many films can do business in two or more calendar years; therefore the grosses documented here are not confined to just the year of release. Grosses are not limited to original theatrical runs either, with many older films often being re-released periodically so the figures represent all the business a film has done since its original release; a film's first-run gross is included in brackets after the total if known. Because of incomplete data it cannot be known for sure how much money some films have made and when they made it, but generally the chart chronicles the films from each year that went on to earn the most. In the cases where estimates conflict both films are recorded, and in cases where a film has moved into first place because of being re-released the previous record-holder is also retained.
Because of the long-term effects of inflation, notably the significant increase of movie theater ticket prices, the list unadjusted for inflation gives far more weight to later films.[22] The unadjusted list, while commonly found in the press, is therefore largely meaningless for comparing films widely separated in time, as many films from earlier eras will never appear on a modern unadjusted list, despite achieving higher commercial success when adjusted for price increases.[23] To compensate for the devaluation of the currency, some charts make adjustments for inflation, but not even this practice fully addresses the issue, since ticket prices and inflation do not necessarily parallel one another. For example, in 1970, tickets cost $1.55 or about $6.68 in inflation-adjusted 2004 dollars; by 1980, prices had risen to about $2.69, a drop to $5.50 in inflation-adjusted 2004 dollars.[24] Ticket prices have also risen at different rates of inflation around the world, further complicating the process of adjusting worldwide grosses.[22]
Another complication is release in multiple formats for which different ticket prices are charged. One notable example of this phenomenon is Avatar, which was also released in 3D and IMAX: almost two-thirds of tickets for that film were for 3D showings with an average price of $10, and about one-sixth were for IMAX showings with an average price over $14.50, compared to a 2010 average price of $7.61 for 2D films.[25] Social and economic factors such as population change[26] and the growth of international markets[27][28][29] also have an effect on the number of people purchasing theater tickets, along with audience demographics where some films sell a much higher proportion of discounted children's tickets, or perform better in big cities where tickets cost more.[23]
The measuring system for gauging a film's success is based on unadjusted grosses, mainly because historically this is the way it has always been done because of the practices of the film industry: the box-office receipts are compiled by theaters and relayed to the distributor, which in turn releases them to the media.[30] Converting to a more representative system that counts ticket sales rather than gross is also fraught with problems because the only data available for older films are the sale totals.[26] As the motion picture industry is highly oriented towards marketing currently released films, unadjusted figures are always used in marketing campaigns so that new blockbuster films can much more easily achieve a high sales ranking, and thus be promoted as a "top film of all time",[24][31] so there is little incentive to switch to a more robust analysis from a marketing or even newsworthy point of view.[30]
Despite the inherent difficulties in accounting for inflation, several attempts have been made. Estimates depend on the price index used to adjust the grosses,[31] and the exchange rates used to convert between currencies can also affect the calculations, both of which can have an effect on the ultimate rankings of an inflation adjusted list. Gone with the Wind—first released in 1939—is generally considered to be the most successful film, with Guinness World Records in 2014 estimating its adjusted global gross at $3.4 billion. Estimates for Gone with the Wind's adjusted gross have varied substantially: its owner, Turner Entertainment, estimated its adjusted earnings at $3.3 billion in 2007, a few years earlier than the Guinness estimate;[32] other estimates fall either side of this amount, with one putting its gross just under $3 billion in 2010,[33] while another provided an alternative figure of $3.8 billion in 2006.[34] Which film is Gone with the Wind's nearest rival depends on the set of figures used: Guinness had Avatar in second place with $3 billion, while other estimates saw Titanic in the runner-up spot with first-run worldwide earnings of almost $2.9 billion at 2010 prices
With a worldwide box-office gross of over $2.9 billion, Avatar is proclaimed to be the "highest-grossing" film, but such claims usually refer to theatrical revenues only and do not take into account home video and television income, which can form a significant portion of a film's earnings. Once revenue from home entertainment is factored in, it is not immediately clear which film is the most successful. Titanic earned $1.2 billion from video and DVD sales and rentals,[1] in addition to the $2.2 billion it grossed in theaters. While complete sales data are not available for Avatar, it earned $345 million from the sale of sixteen million DVD and Blu-ray units in North America,[2] and ultimately sold a total of thirty million DVD and Blu-ray units worldwide.[3] After home video income is accounted for, both films have earned over $3 billion each. Television broadcast rights will also substantially add to a film's earnings, with a film often earning the equivalent of as much as 20–25% of its theatrical box office for two television runs, on top of pay-per-view revenues;[4] Titanic earned a further $55 million from the NBC and HBO broadcast rights,[1] equating to about 9% of its North American gross.
When a film is highly exploitable as a commercial property, its ancillary revenues can dwarf its income from direct film sales.[5] The Lion King (1994) earned over $2 billion in box-office and home video sales,[1] but this pales in comparison to the $8 billion earned at box offices around the world by the stage adaptation.[6] Merchandising can be extremely lucrative too: The Lion King also sold $3 billion of merchandise,[7] while Pixar's Cars—which earned $462 million in theatrical revenues and was only a modest hit by comparison to other Pixar films[8]—generated global merchandise sales of over $8 billion in the five years after its 2006 release.[9][10] Pixar had another huge hit with Toy Story 3, which generated almost $10 billion in merchandise retail sales in addition to the $1 billion it earned at the box office.[11]
On this chart, films are ranked by the revenues from theatrical exhibition at their nominal value, along with the highest positions they attained. Six films in total have grossed in excess of $2 billion worldwide, with Avatar ranked in the top position. All of the films have had a theatrical run (including re-releases) in the 21st century, and films that have not played during this period do not appear on the chart because of ticket-price inflation, population size and ticket purchasing trends not being considered.
Highest-grossing franchises and film series
Prior to 2000, only seven film series had grossed over $1 billion at the box office: James Bond,[98] Star Wars,[99] Indiana Jones,[100] Rocky,[101][102][103] Batman,[104] Jurassic Park,[105] and Star Trek.[106] Since the turn of the century, that number has increased to over ninety.[107] This is partly due to inflation and market growth, but it is also due to Hollywood's adoption of the franchise model: films that have built-in brand recognition such as being based on a well-known literary source or an established character. The methodology is based on the concept that films associated with things audiences are already familiar with can be more effectively marketed to them, and as such are known as "pre-sold" films within the industry.[108]
A franchise is typically defined to be at least two works derived from a common intellectual property. Traditionally, the work has a tautological relationship with the property, but this is not a prerequisite. An enduring staple of the franchise model is the concept of the crossover, which can be defined as "a story in which characters or concepts from two or more discrete texts or series of texts meet".[109] A consequence of a crossover is that an intellectual property may be utilized by more than one franchise. For example, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice belongs to not only the Batman and Superman franchises, but also to the DC Extended Universe, which is a shared universe. A shared universe is a particular type of crossover where a number of characters from a wide range of fictional works wind up sharing a fictional world.[110] The most successful shared universe in the medium of film is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a crossover between multiple superhero properties owned by Marvel Comics. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is also the highest-grossing franchise, amassing over $29 billion at the box office.
The Spider-Man films are the highest-grossing series based on a single property, earning over $10.5 billion at the box office (although the Eon James Bond films have earned over $19 billion in total when adjusted to current prices).[a] If ancillary income from merchandise is included, then Star Wars is the most lucrative property;[112] it holds the Guinness world record for the "most successful film merchandising franchise" and was valued at £19.51 billion (about $31 billion) in 2012.[113][114] The Marvel Cinematic Universe has had the most films gross over $1 billion, with ten. The four Avengers films, the two Frozen films, and the two Avatar films are the only franchises where each installment has grossed over $1 billion, although the Jurassic Park and Black Panther series have averaged over $1 billion per film.
Pirates of the Caribbean is an American fantasy supernatural swashbuckler film series produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and based on Walt Disney's theme park attraction of the same name. The film series serves as a major component of the titular media franchise. Based on a fictionalized version of the Golden Age of Piracy (which is c. 1650–1726), the films' plots are set primarily in the Caribbean.
Directors of the series include Gore Verbinski (films 1–3), Rob Marshall (4), Joachim Rønning (5), and Espen Sandberg (5). The series is primarily written by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio (1–4); other writers include Stuart Beattie (1), Jay Wolpert (1) and Jeff Nathanson (5).
The stories follow the adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), with Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), and Joshamee Gibbs (Kevin McNally) over the course of the films. Other characters featured in the original trilogy include Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), James Norrington (Jack Davenport), Pintel (Lee Arenberg), Ragetti (Mackenzie Crook), Marty (Martin Klebba), Cotton (David Bailie), Murtogg and Mullroy (Giles New & Angus Barnett), Bootstrap Bill Turner (Stellan Skarsgård), Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander), Governor Swann (Jonathan Pryce), Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris), and Davy Jones (Bill Nighy). The fourth film features Angelica (Penélope Cruz), Blackbeard (Ian McShane), Philip Swift (Sam Claflin), and Syrena (Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey), and Scrum (Stephen Graham). The fifth film features Armando Salazar (Javier Bardem), Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites) and Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario) among some of the aforementioned characters.
The film series started in 2003 with Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which had a positive reception from audiences and film critics. It grossed $654 million worldwide.[1] After the first film's success, Walt Disney Pictures announced that a film series was in the works. The franchise's second film, subtitled Dead Man's Chest, was released in 2006 and broke financial records worldwide the day of its premiere. Dead Man's Chest became the top-grossing movie of 2006 with almost $1.1 billion at the worldwide box office. The third film in the series, subtitled At World's End, followed in 2007 earning $960 million. Disney released a fourth film, subtitled On Stranger Tides, in 2011 in conventional 2D, Digital 3-D and IMAX 3D. On Stranger Tides succeeded in also grossing more than $1 billion,[1] becoming the second film in the franchise and only the eighth film in history to do this, at the time of release. A fifth film, subtitled Dead Men Tell No Tales, was released in 2017.
The franchise has grossed over $4.5 billion worldwide.[1] It is the 16th-highest-grossing film series of all time, and is the first film franchise to produce two or more movies that grossed over $1 billion.