When it comes to the box office, the movies that reign supreme are either franchises with built-in audiences or big budgeted action movies. When the film exists in both areas, they are often the biggest success stories of the year when it comes to grosses and box office success.
In the 2000s, there were a lot of great action movies that took advantage of the built-in audiences, and the cost of these movies skyrocketed. The good news is that their box office takes jumped as well, with movie fans helping studios pay off their gambles. Here is a look at the 10 highest-grossing action movies of each year of the 2000s.
10 2000 - Mission: Impossible 2 ($549 million)
In 2000, Mission: Impossible returned with its second installment in the franchise. Released four years after Tom Cruise took over the lead role in the series, the second movie outgrossed the first both domestically and worldwide, with a nice $549 million take.
What is most impressive is that after a drop with the third Mission: Impossible movie, the next three were all even bigger box office hits. Mission: Impossible 2 was the highest-grossing movie in the world for 2000, regardless of genre.
9 2001 - Pearl Harbor ($449 million)
Fans love to bash Michael Bay movies as being nothing more than style over substance. Even when Bay tried to tackle a serious subject in the attack on Pearl Harbor, critics shredded him with a 24-percent Rotten Tomatoes rating. However, fans still showed up in droves to see the film.
Pearl Harbor made $449 million worldwide at the box office in 2001, and while it ranked sixth overall, the movies ahead of it were in the fantasy, animation, and heist film genres. When it comes to straight action movies, nothing made more that year.
8 2002 - Spider-Man ($821 million)
In 2002, superhero movies were not yet the king of the box office, and this was six years before the Marvel Cinematic Universe changed how people viewed comic book movies. With that said, while fans loved the X-Men franchise, it was Spider-Man that proved that comics could rule the box office.
The first movie, directed by Sam Raimi, was a massive success, making $821 million worldwide and capturing the hearts of moviegoers while making comic fans very happy. The only movies that made more money in 2002 were a pair of franchise fantasy movies.
7 2003 - The Matrix Reloaded ($738 million)
In 2003, The Matrix was back on the big screen with the second movie in the franchise, The Matrix Reloaded. While critics lambasted the franchise starting with this sequel for not matching up to the brilliance of the first movie, the fans still rushed out to see this sequel before the third movie crashed back to Earth.
Not only was The Matrix Reloaded the highest-grossing movie in the franchise itself, but it was also the third highest-grossing action movie of 2003. The only films that made more that year was a fantasy epic (Return of the King) and an animated movie (Finding Nemo).
6 2004 - Spider-Man 2 ($794 million)
Most critics agree that Spider-Man 2 was the best movie in the trilogy and maybe the best film in the entire Spider-Man live-action franchise.
It didn't make as much money as the first movie, missing it by $27 million, but it was still one of the top two films released in 2004. With Spider-Man battling his most memorable enemy in Doctor Octopus, the movie ranked second at the worldwide box office that year behind only Shrek 2.
5 2005 - Mr. And Mrs. Smith ($486 million)
In 2005, the worldwide box office was not top-heavy with action movies. Instead, the world had a pair of fantasy movies (Harry Potter and Chronicles of Narnia), a couple of sci-fi movies (Star Wars and War of the Worlds), a horror movie (King Kong), and an animated film (Madagascar) as the top six.
However, dropping down to the seventh spot is the first pure action movie on the list of worldwide box office hits in 2005. The film was Mr. and Mrs. Smith, which starred Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as a married couple who are also hitmen. When they get hired to take each other out, things get crazy.
4 2006 - Casino Royale ($594 million)
In 2006, James Bond ruled the box office when Daniel Craig took over the lead role and starred in the rebooted Casino Royale. From the start, Daniel Craig was able to take the role of James Bond and take it back to the down-and-dirty action style of the Timothy Dalton and Sean Connery versions.
This movie ended up making $594 million at the box-office worldwide. The only movies that made more were the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, a heist flick in The Da Vinci Code, and an animated Ice Age movie. For pure action movies, it was Casino Royale that stood tall.
3 2007 - Spider-Man 3 ($894 million)
Believe it or not, in the 2000s, the original Spider-Man trilogy led the box office in three of the 10 years of the decade. This even included the critically derided third movie, Spider-Man 3, which ended the Sam Raimi run on the franchise.
While critics and many Spider-Man fans hated the film and the treatment of Venom, the movie still made $894 million, ranking behind only a Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean movie.
2 2008 - The Dark Knight ($1.00 billion)
In 2008, comic book movies proved they could rule not only the action movie box office, but also the worldwide movie box office in general, regardless of genre. The Dark Knight was the top overall box office draw of the year, the first superhero movie to ever break the $1 billion mark.
With Batman battling Joker, and Heath Ledger winning a posthumous Oscar for his performance as the villain, the film ended up as what some call the best comic book movie of all-time. It is still considered the best live-action film featuring Batman.
1 2009 - Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen ($836 million)
The 2000s ended with the new Transformers movie, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The film was the second in the series and upped the explosions and action, and it made over $100 million more than the original in the series.
While the next two Transformers made over $1 billion each, this one was still successful. The only movies that made more money were the sci-fi film Avatar, fantasy movie Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and the animated film Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.
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