15 Highest Grossing Movies Of The Decade: Ranked Worst To Best

2. The Dark Knight Rises

Worldwide Box Office: $1.084 billion

All-Time Ranking: #16

2010s Ranking: #13

As expected a success upon release, The Dark Knight Rises has evolved over the past few years into a pretty divisive film, and while it'd be hard to argue that there aren't inconsistencies in the plot, Christopher Nolan's forward momentum filmmaking and (to lean into The Prestige) love of illusion make them minor slights rather than movie-ruining holes.

The key element of the Batman mythos that Nolan strived to bring to the screen (because it's evident he wasn't that fussed with that whole "World's Greatest Detective" thing) was the idea of Batman: The Symbol, and The Dark Knight Rises doesn't just continue to explore that, but takes it to its conclusion, something few other superhero franchises dare do.

It's not The Dark Knight, but was it ever going to be? Heck, it's worth noting that Nolan wasn't even trying to do the same thing again. Just as The Dark Knight's Heat-esque style was different to the more grimy Begins, so too is Rises a new take; obliquely inspired by A Tale Of Two Cities, this aims for the tone of a literary epic, with a heavy story set on a large-yet-intimate scale. To acheive this, Nolan calls on key thematic and narrative threads left hanging from the previous movies to add depth to the characters' relationships and in the process crafts that rarest of things: a trilogy ender that works by itself and as a finale.