Mental Floss

The 25 Highest-Grossing Movie Sequels of All Time

By Ellen Gutoskey

Some Avengers assembled in Avengers: Endgame (2019).
Some Avengers assembled in Avengers: Endgame (2019). / Marvel Studios
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Modern movie franchises have all but proven wrong the old adage that “the sequel is never as good as the original.” With larger budgets, bigger names, and a commitment to pleasing the crowds, follow-up films are sometimes even better than their predecessors—and all the anticipation can result in some pretty impressive box office stats.

Nowhere is this truer than in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. According to The Numbers, seven of the top 25 highest-grossing sequels are Marvel movies, and all three sequels to The Avengers (2012) out-performed the sequel that came directly before it. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) is 12th on the list, while Avengers: Infinity War (2018) landed in third place. Just a year later, 2019’s Avengers: Endgame surpassed Infinity War and took second place by a margin of almost $180 million.

There aren’t many franchises that can compete with the MCU at the domestic box office, but Star Wars is definitely one of them. The most successful sequel of all time is 2015’s Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, which premiered a decade after Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005), the conclusion of the prequel trilogy. Though that trilogy isn’t exactly adored by critics or fans, plenty of people still showed up to see it in theaters: Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace is number 11 on this list, and Revenge of the Sith missed the top 25 by just two spots.

Pixar movies are also massive earners, especially if it’s been a while since its precursor hit theaters. The most successful Pixar sequel, 2018’s Incredibles 2, premiered 14 years after The Incredibles (2004); and 13 years passed between Finding Nemo (2003) and ninth-place finisher Finding Dory (2016).

Take a look below to see if your favorite sequel made the top 25, and view The Numbers’ full list here.

  1. Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) // $936,662,225
  1. Avengers: Endgame (2019) // $858,373,000
  1. Avengers: Infinity War (2018) // $678,815,482
  1. Jurassic World (2015) // $652,270,625
  1. Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017) // $620,181,382
  1. Incredibles 2 (2018) // $608,581,744
  1. The Dark Knight (2008) // $533,720,947
  1. Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019) // $515,202,542
  1. Finding Dory (2016) // $486,295,561
  1. Frozen II (2019) // $477,373,578
  1. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) // $474,544,677
  1. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) // $459,005,868
  1. The Dark Knight Rises (2012) // $448,139,099
  1. Shrek 2 (2004) // $441,226,247
  1. Toy Story 4 (2019) // $434,038,008
  1. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) // $424,668,047
  1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006) // $423,315,812
  1. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) // $417,719,760
  1. Toy Story 3 (2010) // $415,004,880
  1. Iron Man 3 (2013) // $408,992,272
  1. Captain America: Civil War (2016) // $408,084,349
  1. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) // $404,508,916
  1. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) // $402,111,870
  1. Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) // $390,532,085
  1. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) // $389,813,101
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