2024 has been a great year for box office runs and here are the highest-grossing movies of this year, so far, collecting high numbers and breaking records.
2024 has been a great year for movies, especially with their box office collections. Some of the biggest earning movies of this year so far have been a combination of big franchise continuations and original concepts. After the global film industry was hit by the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was looking impossible to return to its glory, especially when it came to the box office. However, 2024 showed that movies are back. Where Barbie, Oppenheimer, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie were among the highest-grossing movies in 2023, this year Dune: Part Two, Inside Out 2, Deadpool, and Wolverine are predicted to dominate the global box office. So let’s see which movies are in this list of the top-grossing films of 2024 so far.
- Dune: Part Two (Collection – $711 Million worldwide)
Directed by Denis Villeneuve, Dune: Part Two is the highest-grossing movie of 2024 so far. Released on March 1, the expectations were high for the film which indeed delivered, collecting a whopping $711 million at the global box office. The film opened with a massive $178 million worldwide and $82 million of the opening collection came domestically. Not just the box office collection, this film featuring TimotheeChalamet, Zendaya, Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, etc. is also being heralded as one of the best films of the year. The strong box office collection was expected from the movie, but at the same time, it was very much needed for Warner Bros. According to reports, a budget of $190 million was allotted for Dune 2.
- Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (Collection – $567 Million worldwide)
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire was released on March 29th and reached a total of $567 million worldwide. This is the fifth film of the Monsterverse so the industry predicted that it would open to $50-$55 million in its first weekend. However, the demand to see Kong fighting Godzilla was much higher than industry projections as the film collected a whopping $80 million in its opening weekend. The second weekend got the movie $195 million domestically and another $371 million came from the beloved international audiences. The movie’s huge success surely helped the Monsterverse establish itself as a major attraction, leading to more expectations in the future.
- Kung Fu Panda 4 (Collection – $539 Million worldwide)
Directed by Mike Mitchell and Stephanie Stine, Kung Fu Panda 4 was released on March 8 and made a record-breaking box office collection. The movie was projected to make around $45-$50 in its opening weekend but it was the franchise’s first film in 8 long years, so it overperformed. In its opening weekend, Kung Fu Panda 4 collected $57.9 million domestically and had a great run since then. The movie collected a total of $193 million at the domestic box office, and the international audience showed equal love for the story. Internationally, the film made a total of $345.7 million, adding up to a record-breaking $539 million. Thanks to this box office performance, the film was a great success for both DreamWorks Animation and Universal. The audience proved that there is still great interest in Po’s storyline, which turned the release of Kung Fu Panda 4 majorly profitable.
- Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes (Collection – $305 Million worldwide)
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes was released on May 10 and had a great performance at the global box office. Directed by Wes Ball, the movie opened to $58.4 million in just the domestic box office. More importantly, this is just in line with how the previous three Planet of the Apes movies at their opening weekends, showing the audience’s interest is still intact. In the domestic box office, the movie made $129.9 million in total, with another $175.2 million at the international box office, adding up to the total collection of $305.2 million. Reportedly, 20th Century and Disney gave director Ball a budget of $160 million for the movie and he turned it into a profitable release for the studios. However, the collection still comes in below what the previous trilogy earned through their lengthened run at the theaters, supported by the continued interest from the viewers.
- Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (Collection – $200 Million worldwide)
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire was released on March 22, and is a sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Collecting a massive amount of $200 at the global box office, the movie performed as expected. Though the movie had a substantial drop on the second weekend, it opened to $45 million at the domestic box office, leading up to a total of $112.7 million domestically. The international box office also pulled another $87 million from the global audiences, helping it touch the milestone of $200 million. Directed by Gil Kenan, the film reportedly had a budget of $100 million, so crossing $200 million at the global box office was enough for Sony to break even. Every Ghostbusters movie has crossed at least $200 million at the box office, making Frozen Empire the lowest-grossing project to date. Yet, in comparison to other movies and their performances at the box office, it is still in the race to be one of the best-performing movies this year.
- Bob Marley: One Love (Collection – $179 Million worldwide)
Bob Marley: One Love was a major success at the box office this year. Released on February 12, this Bob Marley biopic opened with $28.6 million, that too with an early opening on Wednesday. On its opening day, the biopic made 14 million dollars alone, marking a great start for the movie. Even after its opening weekend, the movie had a strong run which helped it finish a $96.8 million total gross at the domestic box office. The love from the international audiences also added another $82.5 million to the total collection of $179 million. This unexpected performance of the biopic was a winner for Paramount year. With a reported budget of just $70 million, the studio needed the audiences to be very interested in the later years of the late musician’s life. And the audience came through!
- The Beekeeper (Collection – $152 Million worldwide)
The Beekeeper was this year’s first box-office success. Released on January 12, the movie only opened to $16.5 million at the domestic box office but continued to gain the interest of the watchers over time. This Jason Statham-starred action movie soon made $66 million at the domestic box office. With the help of the interest of movie lovers and some real positive reviews, the movie soon added another $50 million to its opening weekend numbers. The overseas interest soon followed the David Ayer-directed film, helping it gain $86 million in the international market, adding up to a total of $152 million at the box office worldwide. The Beekeeper surely became a successful project for Amazon MGM with its strong performance at the box office. Reportedly the movie was made on a $40 million budget and it doubled that by the end of its run at the theaters. The result shows that The Beekeeper’s theatrical release was a smart move that opened the possibility of a franchise.
- The Fall Guy (Collection – $146 Million worldwide)
Directed by David Leitch, The Fall Guy was released on May 3 and made a total of $146.9 million at the worldwide box office. There was a projection of the film opening to at least $40 million on its first weekend, due to its release time in Summer. However, the movie opened to below expectations to just $27.7 million. In the following weeks, this Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt-starred action movie saw a rise in box office collections, which carried the film past $75 million at the domestic box office. The buzz got out to the international audiences, piquing their interest, which helped the movie make another $71 million from overseas. This gave The Fall Guy a bigger global total, adding up to a massive collection of $146.9 million. However, even though it got added to the list of 2024’s biggest box office collection so far, the movie was not a commercial success. According to reports, the David Leitch production got a budget of reportedly $140 million, so it had to make at least double the amount to make it a hit.
- Civil War (Collection – $113 Million worldwide)
Directed by Alex Garland, this movie is one of the best surprises at the box office in 2024. It showed a remarkably strong performance at the theaters and opened with $25 million, which was indeed a surprise for this political war movie. Overall, the film made $68 million at the domestic box office, all thanks to the buzz it created, and word of mouth. Even though the film was made to gain the interest of American audiences, A24 was able to add $45 million to the international market, adding up to a total of $113.7 million worldwide. The movie also carried a budget of $50 million, the biggest budget for an A24 movie to date. This was indeed a big risk, but the Civil War turned out to be massively successful. It exceeded all the projections, and expectations of the industry and crossed the mark of $100 million swiftly. Now it is the second biggest earning movie of A24 of all time, just behind Everything Everywhere All At Once’s $143 million collection. Even though it did not break any box office records, Civil War’s box office performance is still one of the biggest of this year.
- IF (Collection – $108 Million worldwide)
This John Krasinski-directed movie came out on May 17 and became one of the highest-grossing movies of 2024 so far. Although the movie about imaginary friends did not open to its expectations. The industry projected IF to be opened at around $40 million, but it was only $33 million at the opening weekend. However, the movie’s box office run had some satisfactory legs, as the collection nearly doubled, collecting a domestic total of $68 million. The interest reached out to the international audiences, earning an additional $40 million, and adding up to the massive collection of $108.1 million at the global box office. Even though the collection of the movie was enough to put it on the list of this year’s most successful movies, it is far from a hit. IF had a budget of $110 million, so it roughly needed double the amount to be considered profitable. The movie still has a hope to run past this amount if the remainder of its theatrical run gets a good word of mouth.
