Highest-Grossing Movies of All Time

This classic dramedy extended the shelf-life of disco and turned John Travolta into a huge movie star. To escape from his bleak reality, Brooklyn native Tony Manero (Travolta) lives out his dreams on the dance floor. A box office smash, it also yielded one of the best-selling soundtracks of all time.

Director Alfonso Cuarón breathed new visual life into the Harry Potter franchise with this third installment. It puts the beloved wizard in the crosshairs of killer Sirius Black (Gary Oldman), who’s escaped from Azkaban prison.

Peter Jackson’s big-budget prequel trilogy kicked off with this fantasy epic, set 60 years before “The Lord of the Rings.” At the behest of Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen), Hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) heads to the Lonely Mountain on an important mission.

Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man” trilogy reached a critical peak with this second installment, in which the web-slinger (Tobey Maguire) takes on Doctor Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina). It won an Academy Award for Best Achievement in Visual Effects and set an early benchmark for the modern superhero subgenre.

Loosely based on a comic of the same name, this sci-fi comedy pulls back the curtain on intergalactic relations. As the newest recruit in a secret organization, Agent J (Will Smith) helps track down a deadly alien bug (Vincent D’Onofrio). An animated series and multiple sequels would follow.

Long before the Marvel era came this groundbreaking superhero movie about the man of steel (Christopher Reeve). Balancing earnest dramedy with thrilling action, it follows Superman from birth to adulthood. Legendary composer John Williams provided the score.

Disney’s live-action update of this classic fantasy tale made a killing at the box office in spite of its lukewarm critical reception. While bursting with color and eccentricity, the execution feels slightly hollow at its core. “The movie badgers rather than charms, but it’s rescued by Helena Bonham Carter’s brisk performance as the Red Queen,” wrote critic​​ Anthony Lane for the New Yorker.

“Spider-Man 3” is the final installment in this trilogy, which stars Tobey Maguire. Spider-Man battles a trio of villains and faces a new challenge when he bonds with a strange entity from another world that increases his abilities but brings out his less-pleasant side.

Although it now includes many problematic sequences and illustrations, “Peter Pan” remains one of the more successful films out of Disney Animation Studios. Here’s a little-known fact: The character of Peter Pan originally appeared in J.M. Barrie’s adult novel “The Little White Bird” as a seven-day-old boy taught by fairies and birds to fly.

The fourth installment of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise broke an international box office record and became the third highest-grossing film of 2011. With the return of an old flame (Penélope Cruz) comes a new adventure for Capt. Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp). Its production budget of $378.5 million is one of the highest in cinematic history.