10 highest-grossing movies of 2023, from ‘Mario’ to ‘Spider-Man’

At the halfway point of the year, the Hollywood box office has been dominated by familiar faces.

From a 10th entry in the “Fast & Furious” franchise to a capstone on Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” trilogy, nothing has gotten audiences to the multiplex like existing intellectual property (IP).

“Pretty much every film in the top 10 is either a franchise film, part of known IP or a known brand,” Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, tells CNBC Make It.

It’s a repeat of 2022, where nine of the 10 highest grossing films were sequels. The outlier, DC’s “The Batman,” featured the audience-favorite caped crusader.

The $4.35 billion raked in by the domestic box office so far is 20.7% higher than at the same point in 2022, according to data from Comscore, and a full 350% better than 2021’s pandemic-stunted haul.

However, it is still 20% shy of 2019’s pre-pandemic gross over the same time frame.

So far only one 2023 release has crossed the $1 billion mark at the box office: “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” In 2019, five films achieved 10-figure ticket sales.

“It’s definitely trending in the right direction,” Jeff Bock, a media analyst at Exhibitor Relations Co. tells CNBC Make It. “But there’s still a ways to go.”

With the hotly-anticipated releases of “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer” and the latest installment in Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible” franchise looming in July, the box office isn’t going to be slowing down any time soon.

“It really is an incredible success story to see this kind of recovery from an industry that I think a lot of people thought was never going to come back,” Dergarabedian says.

These are the 10 highest-grossing films of the year as of June 25, 2023, according to Comscore data.

Release date: March 31, 2023

Worldwide gross: $208.1 million

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