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Top Summer Blockbusters |
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. |
Top
Summer Blockbusters of All-Time: These
are the top 25 Summer Blockbusters, according to their total
US domestic gross revenue rankings, 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 $300
million, opened in the summer, and were within the last
three decades. The Summer Season was measured from the
first Friday in May through Labor Day Weekend.Box-Office Index
Top 100 (Domestic) | Top 100 (Inflation-Adjusted) | Top 100 (Worldwide) | Film Franchises - Box-Office | Summer Blockbusters
Top Films (By Decade and Year) | Highest-Grossing Films By Genre Type | Greatest Box-Office Bombs, Disasters, and Flops
(Based Upon Domestic Gross Revenue, Unadjusted for Inflation) (as of end of year, 2012) |
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| Film/Year/Description | Release Date | Domestic Gross Revenue | ||
| 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. |
May 4, 2012 | $623.4+ million | 
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| 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 | $534.9 million | 
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| The
Dark Knight Rises (2012) In the last of director Christopher Nolan's trilogy of Batman films, the caped superhero Dark Knight battled a masked villain named Bane to save Gotham City. |
July 20, 2012 | $448.1 million | 
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| Shrek
2 (2004) Kids loved the rude, stinky-but-goodhearted green troll (voiced by Mike Myers). Adults identified with his nemesis in-laws. |
May 19, 2004 | $441.2 million | 
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| 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 | $431.1 million | 
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| 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 | 
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| Toy Story 3 (2010) Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the rest of the toys had to face the fact children grow up and put away childish things: Adults wept. |
June 18, 2010 | $415 million | 
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| 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 battle nemesis The Green Goblin and fight for Kirsten Dunst's heart (with a unique upside-down kiss). |
May 3, 2002 | $403.7 million | 
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| 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 | 
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| 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 | 
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| Star
Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) The last of three Star Wars prequels, Revenge of the Sith benefited from being the final link between old and new. |
May 19, 2005 | $380.3 million | 
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| Spider-Man
2 (2004) This sequel with dazzling special effects delivered a great villain Doc Ock (Alfred Molina) that Spidey had to battle. |
June 30, 2004 | $373.6 million | 
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|
 E.
T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) Spielberg's classic family entertainment enchanted audiences with its story of friendship between a young boy and a stranded alien, and by showing how suburban kids could help a magical, little alien get back home. |
June 11, 1982 | $359.2 million | 
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| Jurassic
Park (1993) Everyone loved Spielberg's summer megahit and its stars, not Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, but those awesome CGI dinosaurs. |
June 11, 1993 | $357.1 million | 
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| Transformers: Dark of the
Moon (2011) In this second sequel, the interstellar war between the Autobots and Decepticons shifted into overdrive following the discovery of Sentinel Prime. |
June 29, 2011 | $352.4 million | 
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| Finding Nemo (2003) A sad clownfish stopped at nothing to find his missing son in this Pixar animated feature (also one of the bestselling DVDs ever). |
May 30, 2003 | $339.7 million | 
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| Spider-Man
3 (2007) Spider-Man fans turned out for this second sequel that was star Tobey Maguire's swan song in the franchise. |
May 4, 2007 | $336.5 million | 
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| Forrest Gump (1994) Gump appealed to heart and head thanks to technology that inserted Tom Hanks' simple character into great historic moments. |
July 6, 1994 | $329.7 million | 
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| Shrek
the Third (2007) Shrek's inept rule on the throne as King of Far, Far Away after the death of father-in-law King Harold led to a search for another more promising candidate for the role - Fiona's cousin Artie, an underachieving Medieval high school slacker. |
May 18, 2007 | $322.7 million | 
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| Transformers (2007) Director Michael Bay's opening film featured an interstellar battle between the menacing Autobots and Decepticons that brought destruction to planet Earth. |
July 3, 2007 | $319.2 million | 
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| Iron Man (2008) Robert Downey Jr. delivered an ace performance in this fun (and smart) superhero flick that deftly mixed laughs and drama. |
May 2, 2008 | $318.4 million | 
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| Indiana
Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) The latest chapter of the adventure film series, set in the late 1950s, found Indy in the jungles of South America in a race against Soviet agents to find the mystical Crystal Skull. |
May 22, 2008 | $317.1 million | 
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| The Lion King (1994) Disney reclaimed its reputation for first-rate animated features with this coming of age story and its Elton John score - who would have predicted an animated tale about a fatherless lion would be one of the biggest grossing movies of that year? |
June 15, 1994 | $312.9 million | 
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| Iron Man 2 (2010) This blockbuster sequel featured the continuing adventures of billionaire industrialist Tony Stark and his alter-ego, Iron Man. |
May 7, 2010 | $312.4 million | 
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| Pirates
of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) This second sequel began with the rescue of Depp's Sparrow from Davy Jones' Locker (at World's End), then followed as newly-resurrected Captain Barbossa, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann navigated double-crossing treachery and betrayal and made their final alliances for one last decisive sea battle. |
May 25, 2007 | $309.4 million | 
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Top Summer Blockbusters of All-Time 
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