Are movie theaters dying? It’s a complicated question. The pandemic significantly altered consumers’ viewing habits, as more people have subsequently opted to stay home from the theater and wait for a film to arrive on streaming or premium video on demand (PVOD). The number of screens in the U.S. in 2023 is under 40,000, which is 3,000 less than in 2019. However, consumers are slowly coming back to theaters as ticket sales are up 50% from this time last year. Yet, it’s not the greatest sign for Hollywood when the highest-grossing movie is Avatar: The Way of Water, a film released in 2022.
- 10. Knock at the Cabin — $35 million
- 9. 80 for Brady — $39 million
- 8. Shazam! Fury of the Gods — $47 million
- 7. Jesus Revolution — $49 million
- 6. Cocaine Bear — $62 million
- 5. John Wick: Chapter 4 — $86 million
- 4. Scream VI — $91 million
- 3. M3GAN — $95 million
- 2. Creed III — $140 million
- 1. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania — $210 million
So what movies have succeeded at the box office in 2023? Marvel remains the “King of the Box Office” thanks to the third Ant-Man film. Legacy sequels about a boxer and a masked murderer garnered huge financial returns. Plus, a bear on cocaine managed to take a bite out of the box office. Below are the top 10 most popular movies of 2023 — so far — based on their domestic box-office earnings.
Note: U.S. domestic box office grosses come via Box Office Mojo on March 29. The list only includes films released in 2023.
10. Knock at the Cabin — $35 million
M. Night Shyamalan is one of the few filmmakers who can sell a project based on his name alone. Shyamalan’s movies have been cultural events for over two decades, dating back to his breakout hit, The Sixth Sense. Thanks to supernatural elements and unexpected plot twists, Shyamalan projects typically do well at the box office. Knock at the Cabin was Shyamalan’s latest foray into psychological horrors.
Eric (Mindhunter’s Jonathan Groff) and Andrew (Pennyworth’s Ben Aldridge), along with their young daughter, Wen (Kristen Cui), travel to a secluded cabin for a family vacation. Four strangers — Leonard (Dune’s Dave Bautista), Adriene (Old’s Nikki Amuka-Bird), Sabrina (Little Women’s Abby Quinn), and Redmond (Servant’s Rupert Grint) — invade the cabin, holding the family hostage. The strangers try to force the family to sacrifice one of its members to stop the apocalypse. It’s not his best film, but Knock at the Cabin will satisfy fans looking for Shyamalan’s familiar storytelling tactics.
Knock at the Cabin is now available to stream on Peacock.
9. 80 for Brady — $39 million
80 for Brady might be the unlikeliest road trip movie ever assembled. Four friends — Lou (Grace and Frankie’s Lily Tomlin), Trish (Book Club’s Jane Fonda), Maura (West Side Story’s Rita Moreno), and Betty (Lincoln’s Sally Field) — are massive fans of Tom Brady (yes, that Tom Brady) and the New England Patriots. When Brady and the Pats reach Super Bowl LI in 2017, the women embark on a road trip to see their favorite player win another Super Bowl after landing tickets to the game.
Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined Brady, the greatest quarterback of all time, teaming up with four of the most successful actresses of the last 50 years for a sports comedy film. However, the low-stakes comedy surprisingly works, a credit to the talent of the four leads.
80 for Brady is now available digitally and on demand.
8. Shazam! Fury of the Gods — $47 million
With DC Studios under new leadership, the new DC Universe will kick off in 2025. However, there are still DCEU properties set to come out before the new DC lineup begins. One of those projects is Shazam! Fury of the Gods, the sequel to 2019’s Shazam! In the recently released film, Billy Batson (Darby and the Dead‘s Asher Angel), known by his superhero identity Shazam (Chuck’s Zachary Levi), and his foster siblings are adjusting to their new lives as teenage superheroes.
The teenagers are thrust into a battle with the Daughters of Atlas: Anthea (West Side Story’s Rachel Zegler), Kalypso (Strange World’s Lucy Liu), and Hespera (Fast X’s Helen Mirren). Unfortunately for Fury of the Gods, this might be the only list where its box-office returns are viewed as a positive. On a budget of nearly $125 million, the film has only grossed $45 million domestically and $102 million worldwide. It will take a superhero-like effort for the film to break even.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods is now in theaters.
7. Jesus Revolution — $49 million
In the late 1960s, Chuck Smith (Frasier’s Kelsey Grammer), a Southern California pastor, struggles to inspire his congregation due to his inability to connect with the youth, particularly the hippie movement. One day, Chuck meets hitchhiker Lonnie Frisbee (The Chosen’s Jonathan Roumie), a free-spirited hippie traveling around and spreading the word of Jesus.
Initially skeptical, Chuck and Lonnie eventually find common ground and become an “odd couple” as they partner up to evangelize hippies. The film is based on the true story of the Calvary Chapel movement. Jesus Revolution has done great business so far, grossing $49 million against a $15 million budget. Despite your religious beliefs, if there is a place where you can count on Jesus, it’s at the box office.
Jesus Revolution is now in theaters.
6. Cocaine Bear — $62 million
In a perfect world, Cocaine Bear wins Best Picture at the 2024 Oscars. Cocaine Bear symbolizes escapism at its finest. It’s the type of movie that’s equal parts entertaining and ridiculous. The premise is very easy to understand. A bear ingests cocaine and goes buck wild on a killing spree.
Directed by Elizabeth Banks (Charlie’s Angels), Cocaine Bear features an ensemble cast that includes Keri Russell (The Americans), O’Shea Jackson Jr. (Straight Outta Compton), Alden Ehrenreich (Solo), Isiah Whitlock Jr. (The Wire), Margo Martindale (The Watcher) and the late Ray Liotta (Blackbird). Based on its domestic gross of north of $60 million, giving drugs to a bear and watching it wreak havoc is a winning movie idea in 2023.
Cocaine Bear is now available digitally and on demand.
5. John Wick: Chapter 4 — $86 million
I’m running out of adjectives to describe the awesomeness of John Wick: Chapter 4. Franchises should not be improving with their fourth installment, but that’s the case in Chapter 4, where John (The Matrix’s Keanu Reeves) is hell-bent on bringing the High Table to its knees, one bullet at a time. Thanks to a proposal from Winston (Deadwood’s Ian McShane), John sees an opportunity to get out of the criminal underworld.
If he defeats the Marquis Vincent de Gramont (It’s Bill Skarsgård), a senior member of the High Table, in a duel, then John will earn his freedom. Getting to the duel may prove quite difficult as hundreds of assassins try to take out John and earn the large bounty that comes with it. John Wick: Chapter 4 is an achievement in action filmmaking and should be viewed on the biggest screen possible.
John Wick: Chapter 4 is now available digitally and on demand.
4. Scream VI — $91 million
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: another psychopathic person takes on the moniker of Ghostface and hunts down teenagers from Woodsboro. That’s the basic premise of every Scream movie, but its simplicity should not be seen as a detriment. The formulaic storyline is a proven winner, considering the franchise has spawned six films. The latest offering, Scream VI, makes New York City the home for Ghostface’s new killing field.
The four survivors of the most recent Woodsboro murders — Sam (In the Heights‘ Melissa Barrera), Tara Carpenter (Wednesday’s Jenna Ortega), Mindy Meeks-Martin (Yellowjackets’s Jasmin Savoy Brown), and Chad Meeks-Martin (Love, Victor’s Mason Gooding) — are trying to start fresh in New York when Ghostface strikes again, putting their lives in peril. Like John Wick, the Scream franchise continues to churn out hits with each movie. The demand for Ghostface is still there, as evidenced by the film’s franchise-best $44.4 million opening weekend domestically.
Scream VI is now available digitally and on demand.
3. M3GAN — $95 million
In the history of cinema, when has it ever been a good idea to create a creepy-looking doll? The answer is never. The creepy doll will always turn against its humans. Just look at M3GAN, or the Model 3 Generative Android, in this sci-fi horror from Blumhouse. After the death of her parents, Cady (The Haunting of Hill House’s Violet McGraw) is put into the custody of her aunt, Gemma (Girls’ Allison Williams).
Ill-prepared to raise a child, Gemma enlists the help of her company’s newest project, M3GAN, a lifelike robot intended to become the ultimate companion for a child. At first, M3Gan is a huge success with Cady, acting as a parent figure in her life. However, M3GAN’s overprotectiveness turns hostile as she targets anyone whocould come in the way of her relationship with Cady. M3GAN is a wild, campy ride that is thrilling, adventurous, and quite funny.
M3GAN is available to stream on Peacock.
2. Creed III — $140 million
It’s not a bold prediction to say that Michael B. Jordan (Creed) will be one of Hollywood’s top stars over the next decade. Jordan could also be on his way to becoming one of the more well-respected and prolific directors because of Creed III. Directed by Jordan, the film begins with Adonis “Donnie” Creed retired from life as a professional fighter. Now, Donnie is on the outside of the ropes, running a gym and serving as a boxing promoter. Twenty years prior, Donnie’s best friend, Damian (Devotion’s Jonathan Majors), took the fall for him in a fight outside a liquor store, resulting in a prison sentence.
Now fresh out of prison two decades later, Damian has aspirations to become a boxing champion, and unsurprisingly, he’s willing to take down Donnie to reach the top. Predictably, the showdown between Donnie and Damian culminates in the ring. The boxing sequences are superb, as many of the scenes were gorgeously shot with IMAX cameras. Creed III doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it refreshes the boxing formula in an exhilarating way.
Creed III is now in theaters.
1. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania — $210 million
It would not be a list about the box office without a Marvel movie. The biggest film released in 2023 is Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the third film in the Ant-Man trilogy. The stakes have been raised in Quantumania as Scott Lang (The Shrink Next Door’s Paul Rudd), Hope van Dyne (Lost’s Evangeline Lilly), and company are transported to the Quantum Realm. In the minuscule dimension, Scott meets Kang the Conqueror (Lovecraft Country’s Jonathan Majors), a time-traveling supervillain positioned as the next Thanos-type villain for Marvel moving forward.
As the first film in Phase 5 of the MCU, Quantumania teases how Marvel is setting up the Multiverse Saga for its one overarching story, similar to the Infinity Saga. Despite grossing over $200 million domestically, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has underperformed at the box office in general, and received the lowest CinemaScore in the MCU’s history. However, Marvel has Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 coming in May, which will probably surpass Quantumania financially and critically. If not, the Marvel brand is in serious trouble.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is now in theaters.
