Comic book movies are all the rage. With the recent release of Suicide Squad, the upcoming release of Doctor Strange and the next 84 (kidding… sort of) Wolverine movies planned, the trend seems to have no end in sight. In fact, according to Box Office Mojo, there are comic book movies planned right up to 2020 with more in the works without release dates.
Here are the top ten highest grossing comic book adaptations of all time.
-
Marvel’s The Avengers – Ensemble does it. $623 million for a film with some many action heroes it’s hard to keep track of all the capes and strange manners of speaking. Released in 2012, this bar is high enough that it might be a while before another film gets to this point, but we shall see, at least until 2020.
-
The Dark Knight – Released way back in 2008, this is the second highest grossing superhero film of all time, largely on the amazing performance of Heath Ledger as the Joker. Ledger brought a new sense to the superhero films that great acting and supervillains are not mutually exclusive. Following in the footsteps of Jack Nicholson and Cesar Romero was no mean feat. It remains to be seen how Jared Leto (Suicide Squad) will fair. $534 million
-
Avengers: Age of Ultron – Ensemble films work. This one brought in $459 million dollars, but hold on comic book fans, it gets better.
-
The Dark Knight Rises – The lowest grossing of the Dark Knight films in the top ten, this film still pulled in $448 million. In this film, Bane is the Dark Knight…um, bane. Star power doesn’t hurt this franchise with Morgan Freeman, Anne Hathaway, Christian Bale, Michael Caine and Gary Oldman all in the mix again.
-
Iron Man 3 – The only of the new Iron Man films to make the top 10, it bodes well for Robert Downey, Jr. that the last film in his trifecta is the highest-grossing. Don’t worry superhero fans he’s still on the list.
-
Captain America: Civil War – With a healthy $406 million, this film is one of the ensemble movies that gathers together the different superheros. Still raking in money from DVD and foreign screens, it remains to be seen how much it make over its first Christmas.
-
Spider-Man – Maguire and Dunst in the first two films brought in $373 million and $403 million, respectively. All three films directed by Sam Raimi marked the beginning of a new wave of superhero action films. It really hadn’t been since Christopher Reeves Superman that there had been such a rush for superheroes.
-
Again, Spider-Man 2.
-
Deadpool – The smack-talking, R-rated comic book hero has netted $363 million so far, with DVD sales and foreign sales still rolling in. Ryan Reynolds gets to do the two things he’s best at in this film – be physical and funny. Not your average superhero, Deadpool will likely be back with numbers like that.
-
Spider-Man 3 – The third installment of “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” fared the worst in the theaters. It brought in a pittance – $363 million. Tobey Maguire did very well for himself in the franchise, but his roles have been a bit sparse since. He had a short-lived TV series and 5 movies since Spidey 3, but hey, who cares? He won’t need to work again if he doesn’t want to.
Article written by Bob Peryea for The Monthly Film Festival
Share:
