Top 10 Movies In The USA

Greta Gerwig’s cult classic and the latest Taylor Swift tour Movie both made a splash in 2023. Also in the mix are Spielberg’s dinosaur adventure and a James Bond flick. A Martin Scorsese crime saga and a feminist take on the Frankenstein fable make the cut, as does Savanah Leaf’s drama about a Harlem mother’s fervent fight to keep her family together.

Mad Max: Fury Road

After three decades since the last Mad Max, it was easy to approach George Miller’s reimagined post-apocalyptic franchise with a certain amount of drilling-an-old-well skepticism. But Fury Road proves that the versatile Australian director hasn’t lost his touch for wild automotive mayhem in apocalyptic landscapes.

The film roars through its arid setting with a proud indifference to backstory; it doesn’t need to linger on the origins of war-ravaged Max or his wife Furiosa, played by Charlize Theron with a hardness that’s occasionally softened by flashes of guilt and grief.

Instead, the movie focuses on action, and there’s no better example of modern blockbuster design than its epic chase sequence that races through a surreal, desert-drenched terrain awash in forks of lightning and tornadoes. It’s what every chase sequence should aspire to be. And it arguably does it best of any movie in the past five years.

Oz: The Great and Powerful

The only R-rated film to make the top 10. A serious movie that still speaks to modern audiences.

The Godfather isn’t only a box office hit, it has also been hailed as one of the greatest films ever made.

 2. Oz: The Great and Powerful

This Sam Raimi fantasy flops, but not completely. The film is funny and has a couple of great performances by James Franco as Oz and Mila Kunis as the witch, Theodora.

The story is about a man who gets transported to another world and tries to become rich and powerful. He eventually meets the good witch Glinda. He is a con man but does a good job convincing the people of this enchanted land that he is who he says he is. He makes many people believe in him and even falls for the nice witch.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

A huge hit, this is the movie that truly birthed the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Even though there were other MCU films prior to this, Amazing Spider-Man 2 was the first massive blockbuster that brought all of these characters together.

The rebooted franchise got off to a great start with Marc Webb’s film, but it had a few weaknesses. For one, the plot was a muddled mess with multiple unlikable villains. It also leaned heavily on its comic-book source material and tended to rely on flashing screens and computer voice-overs to explain the action.

Still, Garfield is a great Spider-Man, and the film’s scenes of heroism (such as when Spidey saves a bunch of bullied kids) have heart and emotion to them. Also, the film doesn’t use gratuitous violence to clobber its villains. That’s important because teenagers are the largest demographic at most theaters and should be treated with care by filmmakers.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

The second installment in Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth series stars Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, who is recruited by a group of 13 dwarves and the wizard Gandalf to accompany them on their quest to reclaim Erebor from the dragon Smaug. Orlando Bloom, Richard Armitage and Evangeline Lilly return to their roles from the previous film, while new cast members include Benedict Cumberbatch and Luke Evans.

This is the first time this list doesn’t include a movie from Marvel Studios, a fact that reflects the waning popularity of superhero movies as theaters shift their attention to sequels and remakes. The other notable change is that Greta Gerwig’s satirical comedy Little Women tops the list, making it the only non-sequel to make the cut. These domestic, inflation-adjusted rankings were compiled by Box Office Mojo. The domestic rankings are based on ticket sales and do not factor in re-releases or re-issues.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

It’s no surprise that the highest-grossing movie of the year is this relaunch of an old-school franchise. With new characters, a sense of nostalgia and a clear understanding that what makes Star Wars special, The Force Awakens succeeds on every level.

JJ Abrams worked a regenerative miracle, pulling the franchise back to its roots while giving it a 21st century rocket-fuelled twist. Scenes of dog-fighting TIE fighters and the relaunched Millennium Falcon crashing through trees have the kind of heft that was sorely missing from George Lucas’ over-digitised prequels. With lightsabers, dashing rogues and comic robots, The Force Awakens is everything you could want from a sci-fi blockbuster. It’s timeless and it’s a blast. It’s the Star Wars we’ve all been waiting for. And for that, thank you. (Ezra Klein, Vox)

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

A sensational Star Wars vehicle and a pensive reminder of ideals for any age, The Last Jedi deftly builds off the resounding successes of its predecessor. Rian Johnson expands on the saga’s familiar themes with flair, giving characters like Kylo Ren and Rey room to grow, while still unleashing breathtaking visual spectacle and intergalactic dogfights.

Whether or not it stretches the franchise past its limits, this bold and inventive war drama makes its own mark on an epic legacy. From the evocative dramatic tension between Rey and Luke to the tussles between high-flying cowboy Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) and resistance leaders General Leia (Carrie Fisher, RIP) and Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo (Laura Dern), The Last Jedi is a thrilling space opera that earns its iconic status. This is the best film in the saga since The Empire Strikes Back.

Captain Marvel

While it’s a paint-by-the-numbers superhero flick, this movie — with its dazzling action and a smokin’ Oscar winner in Brie Larson — is surprisingly satisfying. Directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck are low-key American neorealists with an ear for small films (Half Nelson, Mississippi Grind) but they work in the Marvel house style and deliver a rousing yarn with plenty of tricks and moods.

Oscar winner Brie Larson brings both sweetness and swagger to this outer-space hero, who finds herself caught in the middle of an intergalactic war between her Kree people and the shape-shifting Skrulls. Director Anna Boden and co-writer Ryan Fleck juggle the origin story with the action, but they also underline Captain Marvel’s message of female empowerment without playing it like an agenda-driven blockbuster. A perfect rollout for a hero that will be dropping in on the Avengers franchise for years to come.

The Avengers: Age of Ultron

The Avengers reunite after saving the world from Loki’s wondrous scepter in this sequel, but the action is even bigger and bolder. Director Joss Whedon (Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog) upends genre convention in a movie that is both grand and surprisingly intimate.

When Tony Stark and Bruce Banner jump-start a dormant peacekeeping artificial intelligence, it turns into Ultron (James Spader), whose ultimate goal is human extinction. He recruits the Maximoff twins—Wanda and Pietro—to help him carry out his evil plan, and hypnotizes Black Widow, Thor, and Captain America with vivid hallucinations.

But Cap learns that his childhood best bud Bucky Barnes is a brainwashed assassin, and S.H.I.E.L.D. chief Barton is secretly working for Hydra. Meanwhile, Stark, Black Widow, and Vision train new recruits, including speedy siblings Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch.

Avengers: Infinity War

After years of teases, Marvel Studios pushed the MCU to its limits with this colossal effort that brings current and previous plotlines to a head while setting the stage for what’s to come. But its massive scale has its downsides. There are times when the characters are flung about like CG rag dolls, and when some heroes’ arcs feel a bit under-served.

Still, Avengers: Infinity War is an epic of unparalleled proportions. And in a cinematic universe stuffed with big-budget spectacles, this one bursts every convention wide open. At 2-1/2 hours, its roiling action and special effects fill big screens and cavernous theatres to satisfying effect. But even in the midst of all that churning and histrionics, there’s hope flickering in the face of adversity, the kind of thing that gives some movies their staying power.

Avengers: Endgame

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Avengers: Endgame dominated the weekend box office. It beat Tom Cruise’s latest Mission Impossible installment and drew more people into theaters than anything else.

Infinity War was a great movie but Endgame is far superior. It fixes many of the flaws that Infinity War had and delivers a satisfying conclusion to an incredible storyline.

In the past, Lionsgate has landed multiple films on year-end top 10 lists with the Twilight and Hunger Games franchises. This year, however, the studio’s one entry, Sound of Freedom, bucked expectations by outgrossing both Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Taylor Swift’s Eraser Tour concert film. It’s the studio’s highest earner of 2023.