List of highest-grossing openings for films
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The following is a list of the highest-grossing opening weekends for films. The list is dominated by recent films due to inflation, steadily increasing production and marketing budgets, and modern films opening on more screens.
Biggest worldwide openings on record
This list charts films the 50 biggest worldwide openings. Since many films do not open on Fridays in many markets, the 'opening' is taken to be the gross between the first day of release and the first Sunday following the movie's release. Figures prior to the year 2002 are not available.
Since many American films do not open in all markets at the same time, the 'opening' gross varies depending on when it was released in the US-Canada market. For example, for films like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice which opened in the US-Canada market and in most other major markets during the same weekend, the 'opening' is the total gross of the film during that weekend. On the other hand, for films like Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War which opened in several markets a week ahead of their respective releases in the US-Canada market, the 'opening' is the sum of the opening grosses in the markets where they were released first and the opening in the US-Canada market. In the latter case, the opening grosses from territories after the initial overseas opening are not included in the 'opening' of the film. In all cases, if a film opens in a market after its release in the US-Canada market, that opening is not included in the 'opening' of the film.
Individual country records
Biggest openings in China
Since many films do not open on Fridays in many markets (such as China), the 'opening' is taken to be the gross between the first day of release and the first Sunday following the movie's release.
| Rank | Film | Year | Opening (USD)![24] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ne Zha 2 | 2025 | $431,280,000[6] |
| 2 | Detective Chinatown 3 | 2021 | $398,000,000[7] |
| 3 | The Battle at Lake Changjin II (Water Gate Bridge) | 2022 | $398,000,000[8] |
| 4 | Avengers: Endgame | 2019 | $330,528,623[25] |
| 5 | The Wandering Earth | 2019 | $298,110,095[23] |
| 6 | The Mermaid | 2016 | $274,049,983[26] |
| 7 | Zootopia 2 | 2025 | $271,724,258[27] |
| 8 | The Captain | 2019 | $251,966,468[28] |
| 9 | The Battle at Lake Changjin | 2021 | $235,000,000[29] |
| 10 | Too Cool to Kill | 2022 | $217,000,000[30] |
Biggest openings in the United States and Canada
| Rank | Film | Year | Opening (USD)![24] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Avengers: Endgame | 2019 | $357,115,007 |
| 2 | Spider-Man: No Way Home | 2021 | $260,138,569 |
| 3 | Avengers: Infinity War | 2018 | $257,698,183 |
| 4 | Star Wars: The Force Awakens | 2015 | $247,966,675 |
| 5 | Star Wars: The Last Jedi | 2017 | $220,009,584 |
| 6 | Deadpool & Wolverine | 2024 | $211,435,291 |
| 7 | Jurassic World | 2015 | $208,806,270 |
| 8 | The Avengers | 2012 | $207,438,708 |
| 9 | Black Panther | 2018 | $202,003,951 |
| 10 | The Lion King | 2019 | $191,770,759 |
Biggest opening day in the United States and Canada
A list of the biggest opening days of release, including previews from midnight or the previous evening.
| Rank | Film | Year | Opening day[31][32] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Avengers: Endgame | 2019 | $157,461,641 |
| 2 | Spider-Man: No Way Home | 2021 | $121,964,712 |
| 3 | Star Wars: The Force Awakens | 2015 | $119,119,282 |
| 4 | Avengers: Infinity War | 2018 | $106,334,939 |
| 5 | Star Wars: The Last Jedi | 2017 | $104,684,491 |
| 6 | Deadpool & Wolverine | 2024 | $96,189,710 |
| 7 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 | 2011 | $91,071,119 |
| 8 | Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness | 2022 | $90,720,784 |
| 9 | Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker | 2019 | $89,615,288 |
| 10 | Avengers: Age of Ultron | 2015 | $84,424,532 |
Biggest opening day in China
| Rank | Film | Year | Opening day[31][32] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Detective Chinatown 3 | 2021 | $157,660,685 [a] |
| 2 | Avengers: Endgame | 2019 | $108,331,722[b] |
| 3 | The Battle at Lake Changjin II | 2022 | $105,000,000[35] |
| 4 | Monster Hunt 2 | 2018 | $86,166,961[c] [original research] this is equivalent to $86,166,961.}} |
| 5 | Avengers: Infinity War | 2018 | $70,567,331[d] |
| 6 | The Fate of the Furious | 2017 | $69,699,875[e] |
| 7 | Ne Zha 2 | 2025 | $67,220,000[6] |
| 8 | Furious 7 | 2015 | $64,179,849[f] |
| 9 | Crazy Alien | 2019 | $60,833,272[g] |
| 10 | F9 | 2021 | $58,829,377[h] |
Record holders
Previous opening weekend record holders worldwide
These are the films that, when first released, set the opening three-day weekend record after going into wide release.
| Year | Film | Opening (USD in millions)[42][1] |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone | $114.1 |
| 2002 | Spider-Man | $125.9 |
| Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones | $179.3 | |
| The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers | $189.9 | |
| 2003 | The Matrix Revolutions | $201.4 |
| The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | $250.0 | |
| 2005 | Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith | $303.9 |
| 2007 | Spider-Man 3 | $381.7 |
| 2009 | Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince | $394.0 |
| 2011 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 | $483.2 |
| 2015 | Jurassic World | $525.5 |
| Star Wars: The Force Awakens | $529.0 | |
| 2017 | The Fate of the Furious | $541.9 |
| 2018 | Avengers: Infinity War | $640.5 |
| 2019 | Avengers: Endgame | $1,223.6 |
Previous opening weekend record holders in the United States and Canada
These are the films that, when first released, set the opening record in the United States and Canada.
See also
Notes
- According to contemporaneous reports, The Deep opened to $8,124,316 on 800 screens on the weekend of June 17, 1977 beating the record set by Jaws.[44][45] Current websites only record data for 731 screen with a gross of $6.8 million.[46] Using the lower figure for The Deep, Jaws lost the overall weekend record to Star Wars in 1977 with a gross of $7,195,573 in its eleventh weekend.[47]
