50 Highest-Grossing Movies Of All Time Ranked
30. Iron Man 3 (2013)
Box Office: $1.214 billion (#15)
Perhaps the most controversial and polarising movie in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, Iron Man 3 benefits tremendously from the presence of writer-director Shane Black, whose unique sensibilities ensure this is anything but a typical superhero movie.
The more psychological approach to Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is very much welcome and it boasts some of the character's strongest quips, though the Mandarin bait-and-switch stung a lot of fans, especially as switching Ben Kingsley out for Guy Pearce wasn't all that great.
Rebecca Hall was also totally wasted here, her role apparently being trimmed back during production because "boys don't buy girl action figures."
Still, the visuals are great, the one-liners crackle and it's overall a welcome left-field entry, even if not everything works as well as it should.
29. Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2010)
Box Office: $960.3 million (#41)
Deathly Hallows Part 1 is generally blamed with kick-starting the unsavoury trend of movies splitting their final books into two parts, and though this cleared the path for Part 2 to be a rip-roaring, fat-free finale, this first half can be a bit airless and self-indulgent.
That's not to say there aren't fantastic moments in it - Dobby's death and the beautiful animated sequence in particular - but it's blatantly trying to fill time, which is especially odd considering the movie clocks in at an hilariously unnecessary 146 minutes.
Still, the production is terrific overall, the performances sell the bleakness exceptionally well, and Alexandre Desplat's score is a thing of beauty. A slog, but still worthwhile for the most part.
28. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Box Office: $1.056 billion (#25)
While Rogue One didn't fully escape feeling like an inessential me-too spin-off, it did for the most part serve up a spirited, thrilling sci-fi heist flick bolstered by a talent cast and entrancing visuals.
Sure, there are pacing issues out the wazoo, the digital recreations of Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher are wack and the emotional beats don't land all that well, but as a mythology-expanding effort that lends added meaning to the events of A New Hope, it mostly succeeds.
It also deserves mild praise for not overdosing on the fan service...at least until that (admittedly awesome) final cameo from Darth Vader.
27. Harry Potter & The Goblet Of Fire (2005)
Box Office: $896.9 million (#49)
After the Alfonso Cuaron-directed Prisoner of Azkaban marked a shift in the series' tone towards darker character-driven fantasy, Goblet of Fire cemented both the greater narrative and technical complexity of the mid-to-later Potter movies.
It's far too long at 157 minutes in length and feels rather slack in parts, but the devotion to moving the mainstay characters along while introducing a fleet of newbies - including Ralph Fiennes' indellible Voldemort - makes it by far the best of the first four Potter films.
What's perhaps most impressive about Goblet is how delicately the tone is balanced: director Mike Newell never veers into overtly grimdark territory, with well-placed humour keeping things just light enough.
26. Titanic (1997)
Box Office: $2.187 billion (#2)
James Cameron's unforgettable, Best Picture-winning epic melodrama is a film that made so much money only Cameron himself has been able to topple it.
Though undeniably overlong, Cameron's exceptional direction makes even the goofier love story crackle on screen, though the mayhem of the movie's second half is the undeniable highlight.
It's almost wilfully corny in places, but immaculately produced and well-acted, such that even hardened cynics might struggle to fight against Titanic's final emotional gut-punch.
Easy though it is to poke fun at Cameron's monstrous mega-hit, few large-scale productions are executed with this level of tonal assurance and straight-up technical wizardry.