Every Billion-Dollar Movie, Ranked Worst to Best
As we write this in the summer of 2022, there have now been 49 films to exceed $1 billion in worldwide grosses during their theatrical runs. Titanic was the first film to do so, in 1998, while the latest film to join the club is the recently released hit Spider-Man: No Way Home, which collected over $1.9 billion prior to a planned return to theaters later this year. (The most recent Doctor Strange looks like it could get close as it extends its run in some countries but will probably wind up a bit short of $1 billion.)
But how many of these megahits are actually good films in the eyes of critics, and which managed to dominate the box office in spite of lackluster reviews? In the gallery on this page, we rank all 49 billion-dollar grossers in order from worst to best by Metascore, which reflects the consensus opinions of top professional critics for each film.
All box office data from Box Office Mojo.
Release year: 2014
Worldwide gross: $1.104 billion
All-time box office rank: #30
Though only one film in the series (2007's Transformers) received even decent reviews, two Transformers films have surpassed $1 billion at the box office, helping the series gross nearly $5 billion to date across six titles (and counting). Age of Extinction, the franchise's fourth entry, is not quite the worst of the bunch, but it's close. Directed like all of its preceding films by Michael Bay, but starring Mark Wahlberg rather than Shia LaBeouf, the 2014 hit was panned for its brainlessness, length, and lack of inspiration.
“Imagine if instead of creating new music, a recording artist kept putting out the exact same album, just playing the songs a little louder each time. That's what it feels like watching Transformers: Age of Extinction.” —Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle
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