Summary

• Elemental made $496 million at the box office, becoming one of 2023's biggest surprises.
• Wonka earned $507 million and broke box office records, suring the success of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
• Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was a major hit, making $690 million and becoming the highest grossing superhero movie domestically in 2023.

The 2023's biggest box office bombs. However, there were also notable box office surprises that came in various forms, such as Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour dominating, Sound of Freedom's unexpectedly strong performance, and Five Nights at Freddy's launching a new video game movie franchise.

Despite how well those titles performed, none of them were big enough hits to enter the discussion to be among the biggest and best movies of 2023. This landmark is routinely one that Disney movies, superhero movies, animated films, and other franchises manage to achieve. New installments in the John Wick, Hunger Games, Transformers, Indiana Jones, and Creed franchises all came rather close to earning a spot among the year's biggest performers at the worldwide box office. Based on data pulled from Box Office Mojo, these are 2023's highest grossing movies.

10 Elemental Made $496 Million At The Box Office

Domestic Box Office: $154,426,697 - International Box Office: $341,880,316

Disney earns its second movie in the biggest box office earners in 2023 with Elemental. The Pixar animated movie wound up making nearly $500 million at the box office, which helped turn the film into one of the year's biggest surprises. While expectations might have been higher given Pixar's box office track record, Elemental's opening weekend bombed and seemingly indicated that the movie would be a massive loss for Disney. Instead, the family-friendly animated movie found solid legs all summer long and turned its box office narrative around. It impressively finished 2023 as the ninth highest grossing movie of the year.

9 Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One Made $568 Million At The Box Office

Domestic Box Office: $172,135,383 - International Box Office: $395,400,000

The Mission: Impossible franchise returned in 2023 with its seventh installment, as Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One's box office earned $567 million worldwide. The rather sizable haul is good enough to give Tom Cruise another movie in a list of the highest grossing releases of a single year, but the movie was not as successful as expected. With a reported $291 million budget, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One needed to perform close to Mission: Impossible - Fallout's franchise record box office to be a hit. It turned out that releasing right before the Barbenheimer phenomenon was a poor move for Cruise's action movie.

8 The Little Mermaid Made $569 Million At The Box Office

Domestic Box Office: $298,172,056 - International Box Office: $271,454,233

Disney's live-action remake of The Little Mermaid was also among the biggest performers at the 2023 box office. The film made $569 million worldwide after its Memorial Day weekend launch, where it made $118 million domestically over the extended weekend. The Little Mermaid's final box office total looks impressive, but the movie is another example of Disney letting budgets get out of control. With an estimated cost between $250 million and $300 million, the live-action remake still might not have made enough for Disney for it to be considered a success.

7 Wonka Has Made $571 Million (& Counting) At The Box Office

Domestic Box Office: $201,121,372 - International Box Office - $370,600,000

Timotheé Chalamet starred in one of the biggest box office hits of 2023 thanks to Wonka. The film, which is still in theaters and performing well, has made $571.7 million at the worldwide box office so far. The late December 2023 release date has served the movie incredibly well, allowing it to break multiple box office records. This includes beating Tim Burton and Johnny Depp's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the box office. It also became the highest grossing movie featuring Timotheé Chalamet in the lead role, beating out Dune. With a budget of only $125 million, Wonka is a huge success.

6 Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse Made $690 Million At The Box Office

Domestic Box Office: $381,311,319 - International Box Office: $309,205,354

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was one of the highest grossing movies of 2023 and a major hit. Following in the footsteps of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse's $384 million performance, expectations were high for the animated sequel. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse's box office got off to a great start with its $120 million opening weekend, catapulting it to become the highest grossing superhero movie domestically in 2023. It was the third biggest hit domestically in the year overall and has the highest percentage of its box office total to come from here. This made Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse a certified winner financially.

5 Fast X Made $704 Million At The Box Office

Domestic Box Office: $146,126,015 - International Box Office: $558,749,000

Fast X is the first entry to make its way into the top five of 2023's highest grossing movies. The tenth installment of the main Fast & Furious franchise endured behind-the-scenes turmoil and negative reviews to still become one of the year's biggest hits. However, it also represents the fourth straight entry in the franchise to make less than its predecessor. Fast X's box office performance was still good enough to give Universal faith in expanding the franchise's finale plans, despite its enormous $340 million budget meaning the studio barely turned a profit, according to Variety.

4 Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 Made $845 Million At The Box Office

Domestic Box Office: $358,995,815 - International Box Office: $486,559,962

Marvel Studios' biggest success at the 2023 box office easily came with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The trilogy-capper from writer/director James Gunn lived up to expectations in of how it would leave the franchise. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was largely expected to do even better financially than its final $845 million total, but that was still more than enough for it to be among the highest grossing movies of 2023. The fact that it performed so well after Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and before The Marvels' box office bombed gave Marvel Studios a much-needed success story.

3 Oppenheimer Made $952 Million At The Box Office

Domestic Box Office: $326,087,870 - International Box Office: $625,934,000

Christopher Nolan's J. Robert Oppenheimer biopic was one of the most encouraging box office stories of the year. There were plenty of reasons to be skeptical about Oppenheimer's financial outlook thanks to its 3-hour runtime, R-rated nature, and biopic focus. However, the movie proved to be another example of how much weight Nolan's name carries with audiences. Oppenheimer made $952 million worldwide over the course of an extensive theatrical run. While it ultimately fell short of becoming a new $1 billion earner for Christopher Nolan, the $100 million budgeted film is still among the biggest hits of 2023.

2 The Super Mario Bros. Movie Made $1.3 Billion At The Box Office

Domestic Box Office: $574,934,330 - International Box Office: $786,433,023

Nintendo and Illumination teaming up for an animated Mario movie immediately brought expectations that it would perform well. That is why Screen Rant predicted it would be the highest grossing animated movie of all time thanks to this performance and gives Illumination a new franchise to develop.

1 Barbie Made $1.4 Billion At The Box Office

Domestic Box Office: $636,220,453 - International Box Office: $805,600,000

The highest grossing movie at the 2023 box office was Barbie. Warner Bros. teamed star Margot Robbie and director Greta Gerwig for the first live-action movie starring Mattel's iconic toy. The critical acclaim and Oscars potential aided to what was likely to be a guaranteed baseline of success for Barbie. The movie ultimately made over $1.4 billion at the worldwide box office, outgrossing The Super Mario Bros. Movie by $80 million overall. That was enough to make Barbie 2023's highest grossing movie at the 2023 box office.

Source: Box Office Mojo