Biggest Opening Weekends
These were the biggest at the time of writing.
We've analysed all of them and they follow the
2100+ stage Hero's Journey And Transformation Through A New World / State template.
Title |
Opening |
Total Gross |
New World / State |
Transformation |
Journey |
| Marvel's The Avengers | $207,438,708 | $623,357,910 | YES | YES | YES |
| Iron Man 3 | $174,144,585 | $409,013,994 | YES | YES | YES |
| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 | $169,189,427 | $381,011,219 | YES | YES | YES |
| The Dark Knight Rises | $160,887,295 | $448,139,099 | YES | YES | YES |
| The Dark Knight | $158,411,483 | $533,345,358 | YES | YES | YES |
| The Hunger Games: Catching Fire | $158,074,286 | $424,668,047 | YES | YES | YES |
| The Hunger Games | $152,535,747 | $408,010,692 | YES | YES | YES |
| Spider-Man 3 | $151,116,516 | $336,530,303 | YES | YES | YES |
| The Twilight Saga: New Moon | $142,839,137 | $296,623,634 | YES | YES | YES |
| The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 | $141,067,634 | $292,324,737 | YES | YES | YES |
| The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 | $138,122,261 | $281,287,133 | YES | YES | YES |
| Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest | $135,634,554 | $423,315,812 | YES | YES | YES |
| Iron Man 2 | $128,122,480 | $312,433,331 | YES | YES | YES |
| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 | $125,017,372 | $295,983,305 | YES | YES | YES |
| The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 | $121,897,634 | $231,476,484 | YES | YES | YES |
| Shrek the Third | $121,629,270 | $322,719,944 | YES | YES | YES |
| Man of Steel | $116,619,362 | $291,045,518 | YES | YES | YES |
| Alice in Wonderland (2010) | $116,101,023 | $334,191,110 | YES | YES | YES |
| Spider-Man | $114,844,116 | $403,706,375 | YES | YES | YES |
| Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End | $114,732,820 | $309,420,425 | YES | YES | YES |
| Toy Story 3 | $110,307,189 | $415,004,880 | YES | YES | YES |
| Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen | $108,966,307 | $402,111,870 | YES | YES | YES |
| Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith | $108,435,841 | $380,270,577 | YES | YES | YES |
| Shrek 2 | $108,037,878 | $441,226,247 | YES | YES | YES |
| X-Men: The Last Stand | $102,750,665 | $234,362,462 | YES | YES | YES |
| Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | $102,685,961 | $290,013,036 | YES | YES | YES |
| Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull | $100,137,835 | $317,101,119 | YES | YES | YES |
| Transformers: Age of Extinction | $100,038,390 | $245,439,076 | YES | YES | YES |
| Iron Man | $98,618,668 | $318,412,101 | YES | YES | YES |
| Transformers: Dark of the Moon | $97,852,865 | $352,390,543 | YES | YES | YES |
| Fast & Furious 6 | $97,375,245 | $238,679,850 | YES | YES | YES |
| Captain America: The Winter Soldier | $95,023,721 | $259,766,572 | YES | YES | YES |
| Guardians of the Galaxy | $94,320,883 | $331,855,381 | YES | YES | YES |
| Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | $93,687,367 | $249,541,069 | YES | YES | YES |
| Godzilla (2014) | $93,188,384 | $200,676,069 | YES | YES | YES |
| The Matrix Reloaded | $91,774,413 | $281,576,461 | YES | YES | YES |
| The Amazing Spider-Man 2 | $91,608,337 | $202,853,933 | YES | YES | YES |
| X-Men: Days of Future Past | $90,823,660 | $233,921,534 | YES | YES | YES |
| Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone | $90,294,621 | $317,575,550 | YES | YES | YES |
| Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides | $90,151,958 | $241,071,802 | YES | YES | YES |
| Skyfall | $88,364,714 | $304,360,277 | YES | YES | YES |
| Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | $88,357,488 | $261,988,482 | YES | YES | YES |
| Spider-Man 2 | $88,156,227 | $373,585,825 | YES | YES | YES |
| Fast Five | $86,198,765 | $209,837,675 | YES | YES | YES |
| The Hangover Part II | $85,946,294 | $254,464,305 | YES | YES | YES |
| Thor: The Dark World | $85,737,841 | $206,362,140 | YES | YES | YES |
| X2: X-Men United | $85,558,731 | $214,949,694 | YES | YES | YES |
| X-Men Origins: Wolverine | $85,058,003 | $179,883,157 | YES | YES | YES |
| The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey | $84,617,303 | $303,003,568 | YES | YES | YES |
| The Passion of the Christ | $83,848,082 | $370,274,604 | YES | YES | YES |
| Despicable Me 2 | $83,517,315 | $368,061,265 | YES | YES | YES |
| Monsters University | $82,429,469 | $268,492,764 | YES | YES | YES |
| Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones | $80,027,814 | $302,191,252 | YES | YES | YES |
| Oz The Great and Powerful | $79,110,453 | $234,911,825 | YES | YES | YES |
| Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince | $77,835,727 | $301,959,197 | YES | YES | YES |
| I Am Legend | $77,211,321 | $256,393,010 | YES | YES | YES |
| Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix | $77,108,414 | $292,004,738 | YES | YES | YES |
| The Da Vinci Code | $77,073,388 | $217,536,138 | YES | YES | YES |
| Avatar | $77,025,481 | $749,766,139 | YES | YES | YES |
| Star Trek | $75,204,289 | $257,730,019 | YES | YES | YES |
| The Simpsons Movie | $74,036,787 | $183,135,014 | YES | YES | YES |
| The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug | $73,645,197 | $258,366,855 | YES | YES | YES |
| Austin Powers in Goldmember | $73,071,188 | $213,307,889 | YES | YES | YES |
| The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | $72,629,713 | $377,027,325 | YES | YES | YES |
| Dawn of the Planet of the Apes | $72,611,427 | $208,543,795 | YES | YES | YES |
| The Lost World: Jurassic Park | $72,132,785 | $229,086,679 | YES | YES | YES |
| Fast and Furious | $70,950,500 | $155,064,265 | YES | YES | YES |
| 300 | $70,885,301 | $210,614,939 | YES | YES | YES |
| Shrek Forever After | $70,838,207 | $238,736,787 | YES | YES | YES |
| Transformers | $70,502,384 | $319,246,193 | YES | YES | YES |
| The Incredibles | $70,467,623 | $261,441,092 | YES | YES | YES |
| Finding Nemo | $70,251,710 | $339,714,978 | YES | YES | YES |
| Dr. Seuss' The Lorax | $70,217,070 | $214,030,500 | YES | YES | YES |
| Star Trek Into Darkness | $70,165,559 | $228,778,661 | YES | YES | YES |
| Twilight | $69,637,740 | $192,769,854 | YES | YES | YES |
| Maleficent | $69,431,298 | $241,407,328 | YES | YES | YES |
| The Bourne Ultimatum | $69,283,690 | $227,471,070 | YES | YES | YES |
| The LEGO Movie | $69,050,279 | $257,760,692 | YES | YES | YES |
| The Day After Tomorrow | $68,743,584 | $186,740,799 | YES | YES | YES |
| Planet of the Apes (2001) | $68,532,960 | $180,011,740 | YES | YES | YES |
| The Mummy Returns | $68,139,035 | $202,019,785 | YES | YES | YES |
| Up | $68,108,790 | $293,004,164 | YES | YES | YES |
| Ice Age: The Meltdown | $68,033,544 | $195,330,621 | YES | YES | YES |
| Bruce Almighty | $67,953,330 | $242,829,261 | YES | YES | YES |
| Quantum of Solace | $67,528,882 | $168,368,427 | YES | YES | YES |
| Rush Hour 2 | $67,408,222 | $226,164,286 | YES | YES | YES |
| Frozen | $67,391,326 | $400,738,009 | YES | YES | YES |
| World War Z | $66,411,834 | $202,359,711 | YES | YES | YES |
| Brave | $66,323,594 | $237,283,207 | YES | YES | YES |
| Cars 2 | $66,135,507 | $191,452,396 | YES | YES | YES |
| Thor | $65,723,338 | $181,030,624 | YES | YES | YES |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) | $65,575,105 | $191,204,754 | YES | YES | YES |
| The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe | $65,556,312 | $291,710,957 | YES | YES | YES |
| 2012 | $65,237,614 | $166,112,167 | YES | YES | YES |
| Captain America: The First Avenger | $65,058,524 | $176,654,505 | YES | YES | YES |
| War of the Worlds | $64,878,725 | $234,280,354 | YES | YES | YES |
| The Twilight Saga: Eclipse | $64,832,191 | $300,531,751 | YES | YES | YES |
| Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace | $64,820,970 | $431,088,295 | YES | YES | YES |
| Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa | $63,106,589 | $180,010,950 | YES | YES | YES |
| WALL-E | $63,087,526 | $223,808,164 | YES | YES | YES |
Revenue figures from boxofficemojo.com