4. Toy Story 3 - $1.063 billion
Toy Story 3 follows Woody and Buzz, characters we've known and loved since the mid-90's. In likely their last hurrah on screen, the beloved talking toys find themselves recycled in a daycare from hell when Andy goes off to college. This movie showcased what Pixar does best: it has moments for the kids and the adults. There's the expected wackiness of Rex and Hamm to entertain the little ones. But the nostalgic moments of Andy's reflections with his toys was made for the grown-ups. The kids in the audience just have no basis for that comparison. While not the tear-jerker Up might be, Pixar scored again with an incredibly moving film, managing to rake in over a billion big ones.
3. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King - $1.119 billion
What can I say about the Lord of the Rings that Randall didn't already say in Clerks 2? In the last 3 hours of Jackson's 23-hour epic tale of Tolkien's story of creatures, Return of the King follows Frodo and the gang as they try to get rid of a piece of jewelry and get a bunch of people killed in the process. I don't need to recap it for you, everyone knows where it goes. What's impressive about this film wasn't the billion-plus dollars it earned, but that the Academy actually went for the big budget blockbuster hit of the year.