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ALL-TIME TOP SUMMER BLOCKBUSTERS |
All of the films in the top 25 earned over $400 million, opened in the summer, and were within the last 25 years.
A short summary description of each film is included. A few other sites post all-time box-office information, including the Internet Movie DataBase, Boxoffice.com, Boxofficemojo.com, and The-numbers.com. |
(Based Upon Domestic Gross Revenue, Unadjusted for Inflation) - Through 2026 Releases |
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| Film/Year/Description | ||||
| Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) This super-hero film was the 38th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and the 4th film in the MCU Spider-Man film series following Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). Four years following the events of the previous film, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) was adjusting to Dr. Strange's spell that made him unknown and anonymous. He was living alone, affected by personal grief, other pressures and overwork, and was facng a new and very powerful, mysterious mind-jumping telepathic threat to the city of New York. |
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| Top Gun: Maverick (2022) In this sequel to the original 1986 film, Tom Cruise returned as top US Navy aviator Capt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell to train a group of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission (to combat a rogue nation with a uranium enrichment field). His trainees included Lt. Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (Miles Teller), the son of Maverick's deceased best friend Officer Lt. Nick "Goose" Bradshaw. Penny Benjamin (Jennifer Connelly), single mother and daughter of a former Admiral, served as Maverick's love interest. Reprising his previous role was Adm. Tom "Iceman" Kazansky (Val Kilmer), commander of US Pacific Fleet. |
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| Inside Out 2 (2024) In this coming-of-age sequel, 13 year old Riley Andersen was now a teenager about to enter HS, facing new emotions: Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, and Ennui. By film's end, she had discovered how to have her 1st and 2nd generation emotions work together. |
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| Jurassic World (2015) In a luxury resort that was the habitat for genetically-engineered dinosaurs, an Indominus Rex escaped, followed by others, setting off a chain reaction of chaos. The visitors had to be saved from the prehistoric assault. |
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| Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) In this Marvel Comics superhero entry, after Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) was recruited by the Time Variance Authority to help save the multiverse world, he recruited Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) to complete his mission and save the world from extinction. It was the 34th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and a sequel to both Deadpool (2016) and Deadpool 2 (2018). |
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| Barbie (2023) From director and co-writer Greta Gerwig - a coming-of-age tale set in pink, candy-coated Barbie Land where a tall, blonde-haired, blue-eyed doll named Barbie (Margot Robbie), in the midst of an existential crisis, was joined by her boyfriend Ken (Ryan Gosling) to journey to the human world (to sunny Los Angeles), to struggle to become a real woman in a patriarchal world. |
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| Marvel's The Avengers
(2012) The highly-anticipated 3-D superhero tale produced by Disney-owned Marvel Studios brought together, under Nick Fury's peace-keeping S.H.I.E.L.D, a team of superhumans (Iron Man/Tony Stark, the Hulk/Bruce Banner, Thor, the Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff, Hawkeye/Clint Barton and Captain America/Steve Rogers) to save the Earth from Loki and his army. The sixth installment in Marvel's Cinematic Universe. |
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| Incredibles 2 (2018) A sequel to The Incredibles (2004), with Elastigirl (Helen) as the star super-hero battling against new supervillain Screenslaver, while Mr. Incredible took on domestic chores. |
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| The Odyssey (2026) Writer/director Christopher Nolan's long-awaited action-adventure epic fantasy was an adaptation of Homer's ancient Greek epic poem the Odyssey. In the main plot set after the Trojan War, the presumed-dead Greek King Odysseus (Matt Damon) of Ithaca faced a long and perilous journey home to reunite with his wife Queen Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and his now-grown son Telemachus (Tom Holland), who were both fending off suitors and those who wanted to take over the throne. Along the way home from Troy, Odysseus encountered numerous disasters, ordeals, and mythical beings. |
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| The Lion
King (2019) A remake (or reimagining) of the 1994 classic Disney animation as a CGI-dependent "live action" and musical spectacular - a 'photo-realistic' computer-animated redo. It told the same story of young lion Simba whose father Mufasa was murdered by his villainous uncle Scar. |
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| The
Dark Knight (2008) Christian Bale's brooding Batman and Heath Ledger's scary Joker gave this comic-book movie reboot real emotional depth. |
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| Finding Dory (2016) Blue tang fish Dory, afflicted with short-term memory loss, has since childhood been looking for her lost parents, with help from her friends Nemo and Marlin. |
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| Toy Story 5 (2026) Both a sequel to Toy Story 4 (2019) and the 5th film in the long-running series from Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation. In this film's plot set two years after the previous film, Jessie, Woody, and Buzz Lightyear were challenged and threatened with being neglected (and more) after 8 year-old Bonnie received a new play-thing - a frog-themed tablet named Lilypad "Lily." |
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| Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) The sequel to the 2012 hit film, and the 11th film in Marvel's Cinematic Universe. Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.) and other Avengers superheroes, including Captain America, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye battled the terrifying technological villain Ultron (James Spader), a mechanical AI with the goal of human extinction. |
 
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| The
Dark Knight Rises (2012) In the last of director Christopher Nolan's trilogy of Batman films, the caped superhero Dark Knight (Christian Bale), aka Bruce Wayne, battled a masked villain named Bane (Tom Hardy) to save Gotham City. |
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| Shrek
2 (2004) Kids loved the rude, stinky-but-goodhearted green troll Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers). Adults identified with his nemesis in-laws. |
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| Toy Story 4 (2019) A road trip story involving Woody, Buzz, Bonnie, and a new toy known as Forky. |
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| Star
Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Fans rushed back to the future, giving Liam Neeson and Natalie Portman a thumbs up and Jar Jar Binks a big thumbs down. |
 
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| Lilo & Stitch
(2025) A remake of Disney's own animated feature film classic from 2002. Young and lonely Hawaiian girl Lilo (Maia Kealoha in her acting debut), an oddball outcast, befriended an unidentified, blue alien (Stitch) (who had escaped prison) that crash-landed on Earth from space. Stitch impersonated a dog and was adopted by Lilo from a shelter. Lilo lived with her big sister Nani (Sydney Agudong), where the two were soon hunted by extra-terrestrials who wanted to return Stitch back to their planet. |
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| Pirates
of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) This sequel added a monster, a ghost ship and the tentacle-bearded Davy Jones to Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow. |
 
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| Jurassic
World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) Set three years after the previous film (Jurassic World (2015)), the island of Isla Nublar was abandoned and the theme park was closed down, but its dormant volcano erupted, causing a massive effort to rescue the dinosaurs and prevent them from becoming extinct. |
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| Toy Story 3 (2010) Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the rest of the toys had to face the fact that children grow up and put away childish things: Adults wept. |
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| Wonder Woman (2017) The epic adventure and origin story of the former princess of the Amazons named Diana Prince, who became a super-warrioress, after being raised and trained on a paradisical island and transported to World War I-era London. |
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| Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) In Marvel's action-adventure fantasy and superhero film, enigmatic Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) joined with strange teenaged dream girl America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), sorcerer supreme Wong (Benedict Wong), and Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), the Scarlet Witch, to prevent the destruction of the multiverse. |
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| Iron Man 3 (2013) Another blockbuster sequel in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (the 7th), featuring billionaire industrialist Tony Stark and his alter-ego, Iron Man pitted against a formidable terrorist called the Mandarin. |
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Top
Summer Blockbusters of All-Time: These
are the top 25 Summer Blockbusters, according to their total
US domestic gross revenue rankings (doesn't include
revenue from re-releases, re-issues, or 3-D), to fairly accurately
show which films have been the largest blockbusters during
the summer months.