Summary
- Movie franchises like Star Wars and Avengers can make over a billion dollars in under 20 days, showing their immense popularity.
- Films like Barbie also joined the billion-dollar club quickly, proving that diverse genres can also be big box office successes.
- Nostalgia plays a big role in the success of movies like Spider-Man: No Way Home and Jurassic World, drawing in audiences worldwide.
As Deadpool & Wolverine celebrate the billion-dollar club, it’s a good time to look at other movies that have reached that milestone, but in record time. There have been some movies over the years where not only did they reach a billion dollars at the box office, but they did so in outstanding time, proving that cinema isn’t dead, and moviegoers will head to the theaters when there is something worth seeing.
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Superhero movies have dominated the box office for years, providing audiences with engaging blockbusters that have made billions of dollars.
Making a billion dollars at the box office is an incredible achievement that barely 50 films have reached, but which of these box office hits have managed to make a billion dollars the fastest? There has been an abundance of movies where reaching a billion dollars can happen in a week or two, proving just how titanic these franchises can be.
10 Star Wars: The Last Jedi
19 Days To Make Over A Billion Dollars
- Worldwide Gross: $1,334,407,706
- Release Date: June 28, 2019
- Director: Jon Watts
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score: 91%
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 95%
Rey discovers the truth behind Luke Skywalker, bringing back the Jedi who destroyed the Empire and brought Darth Vader back to the light. Yet, Luke is living as a hermit, and it’s up to Rey to bring back the Jedi Master who has forsaken his ways and left the Resistance to perish against the overwhelming might of the First Order.
Star Wars was the king of the box office after the revival and beginning of the sequel trilogy. It’s no surprise that the second part in the trilogy, The Last Jedi, started so strongly to make a billion dollars in 19 days. After all, Luke Skywalker was back, and after 30 years, everyone wanted to see where his story was going to go, even if it was divisive.
9 Barbie
19 Days To Make Over A Billion Dollars
- Worldwide Gross: $1,445,638,421
- Release Date: June 28, 2019
- Director: Jon Watts
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score: 91%
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 95%
Despite living in a seemingly perfect dreamland, Barbie has a mid-life crisis in her plastic world of Barbie Land and takes to the real world, where she tries to discover the truth of what it means to be human, all whilst Ken learns of mankind, not humankind.
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Barbie faced off against Oppenheimer at the box office to tremendous success, and audiences celebrated in all the pink and blues they could to watch Barbie in theaters. The star power of Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling certainly carried the movie, but the jokes and conversation surrounding gender certainly made a memorable picture for all to watch.
8 The Fate of the Furious
18 Days To Make Over A Billion Dollars
- Worldwide Gross: $1,236,005,118
- Release Date: 12 April 2017
- Director: F. Gary Gray
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score: 67%
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 72%
Dominic Toretto is seemingly seduced and manipulated back into a world of crime, where he joins a terrorist organization and betrays those he considers family. With Dom out of the team and as an enemy, it’s up to his crew to bring him back or fight against him to save what they love.
It took 18 days for The Fate of the Furious to rise to the billion-dollar club, and that’s mostly thanks to China, who almost doubled the box office gross from the domestic market of the United States. Whilst the world seems to enjoy the intense and over-the-top stunts and car action, it seems that China loves it the most.
7 Furious 7
17 Days To Make Over A Billion Dollars
- Worldwide Gross: $1,515,047,671
- Release Date: 3 April 2015
- Director: James Wan
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score: 81%
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 82%
Deckard Shaw will tear the world apart to find Dominic Toretto and his family in an effort to avenge his comatose brother. With a scorched Earth tactic, Dom must fight his way through fire to keep those he loves safe and fulfill one last ride to ensure a happy ending.
Tragedy struck the family of the Fast and the Furious franchise when Paul Walker tragically died in 2013. With the help of his brothers, Furious 7 was able to continue filming, where they could give Paul Walker and his character the send-off he deserved. Audiences have always loved these films, but back in 2015, everyone wanted to turn up to say goodbye to Paul Walker and experience the thrilling last mission.
6 Avatar: The Way of Water
14 Days To Make Over A Billion Dollars
- Worldwide Gross: $2,320,250,281
- Release Date: 16 December 2022
- Director: James Cameron
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score: 76%
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 92%
Audiences are invited back to Pandora to follow the story of Jake Sully, who is living happily among the Na’vi people with his wife Neytiri, and their children. With the threat of humanity returning to their world, Jake and his family must seek refuge with the water tribe to amass an army and protect their home.
Not only does Avatar: The Way of Water join the billion-dollar club, but it also joins the rare collection of movies that have earned two billion dollars. Avatar: The Way of Water managed to reach the billion-dollar club in just 14 days, which is 2 weeks in theaters. It’s a decent run, and not surprising, considering the domestic market loves the world of Pandora and Jake Sully and Neytiri’s love story, and the technology in 2022 made the movie feel immersive in every way.
5 Jurassic World
13 Days To Make Over A Billion Dollars
- Worldwide Gross: $1,670,400,637
- Release Date: 11 June 2015
- Director: Colin Trevorrow
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score: 71%
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 78%
Welcome to Jurassic World, a new theme park that has opened on the original site of Jurassic Park. Genetically modified dinosaurs reign whilst controlled and maintained by man, but when the Indominus Rex overpowers its handlers and escapes, chaos ensues, leading to a murderous disaster of dinosaurs against humans.
In just under two weeks, Jurassic World managed to reach a billion dollars, and there’s a good reason for that. Not only was Chris Pratt a total box office draw with his charisma and attractiveness, but the movie was about literal dinosaurs, which appeals to practically everyone who wants to see something cool. Seeing a theme park taken over by dinosaurs makes it bigger than the original, so of course people turned up.
4 Star Wars: The Force Awakens
12 Days To Make Over A Billion Dollars
- Worldwide Gross: $2,071,310,218
- Release Date: 17 December 2015
- Director: J.J. Abrams
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score: 93%
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 84%
The galaxy far, far away returns with a new threat, and as the First Order comes to finish what the Galactic Empire started, the Resistance must amass to save the galaxy and to find Luke Skywalker, their only hope. Joining in the fight are Han Solo and Chewbacca, along with the mysterious scavenger Rey and the Stormtrooper deserter, Finn.
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Star Wars had been relatively dormant since George Lucas finished his Star Wars story with Revenge of the Sith. Yet, years later, Disney purchased Lucasfilm and brought Star Wars back to audiences. The first of the sequel trilogy, The Force Awakens, easily reached a billion dollars in just under 12 days, proving that there was a time when Star Wars was at the top of the list of pop culture.
3 Spider-Man: No Way Home
12 Days To Make Over A Billion Dollars
- Worldwide Gross: $1,928,040,905
- Release Date: June 28, 2019
- Director: Jon Watts
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score: 91%
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 95%
Spider-Man’s identity has become public knowledge, and as the world learns of Peter Parker, the boy behind the mask must take responsibility for undoing the unmasking so that he and his friends can live a life of somewhat normalcy. Yet, when aid from Doctor Strange goes awry, villains from other worlds invade to torment and threaten a new Spider-Man.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is a box office draw alone of the fact that it’s after Avengers: Endgame and features the iconic Spider-Man. Yet, what made Spider-Man: No Way Home beyond successful was the return of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man, allowing for worlds to collide for the first time ever, where nostalgia reigns supreme in a grand celebration of all things Spidey.
2 Avengers: Infinity War
11 Days To Make Over A Billion Dollars
- Worldwide Gross: $2,048,359,754
- Release Date: 26 April 2018
- Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score: 85%
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 92%
The Avengers must unite once again to stop the mad titan Thanos, who threatens to wipe out half of existence across the entire universe with the Infinity Stones. With fractured teams facing different threats to stop Thanos from completing his odyssey, the stakes have never been higher for the Avengers to win the day.
The Infinity Saga of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been building to this ultimate moment, where their largest threat comes to the big screen. Audiences are immersed once more into the connected worlds of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Spider-Man, and even the Guardians of the Galaxy, providing plenty of reason for audiences to turn up to see what happens to their favorite heroes and experience the shock of them losing.
1 Avengers: Endgame
5 Days To Make Over A Billion Dollars
- Worldwide Gross: $2,799,439,100
- Release Date: 25 April 2019
- Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score: 94%
- Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score: 90%
Reeling from the loss of half of existence, the Avengers that remain must assemble once more to fight against old wounds and find a way to reverse the damage accomplished by Thanos. To avenge the fallen and restore balance to the universe, the Avengers must experience their past and present to unite a future.
There has yet to be a movie as big as an event than Avengers: Endgame, which was easily the finale to the MCU’s Infinity Saga. Avengers: Endgame had every theater seat filled, and a billion dollars were made in under a week. Everyone had to see where the story went, which of the iconic characters would return, and who of them would die in their most pivotal mission put to screen.
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