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By Movieguide® Staff
Summer means one thing at the multiplex: everybody shows up.
“The movies that bring in the most people are pictures that promote inspirational elements such as kindness, self-sacrifice, faith, forgiveness, redemption, honoring parents, courage, teamwork and honesty,” said Dr. Ted Baehr, founder and publisher of Movieguide®.
He has been saying it since 1985, and four decades of box office receipts keep proving him right.
There is something almost tribal about summer moviegoing. Families pack into sticky-floored theaters on the hottest day of the year because they want to cheer for something together — two hours of air conditioning, popcorn and good guys winning.
Call it corny. It still works, decade after decade, and it still sells tickets by the hundreds of millions. Here are 10 of the biggest summer blockbusters in movie history, counted down by domestic box office, along with what Movieguide® actually said about each one at the time.
10. ALADDIN (2019) — $246.7 million domestic. Disney zipped Will Smith into the Genie’s blue skin for a live-action remake of the 1992 cartoon, sending a street urchin on a quest to marry into the palace. It sailed past $1 billion worldwide on the strength of that flying carpet.
“ALADDIN is superlative family entertainment,” Movieguide® wrote, praising a movie with “a strong moral worldview that celebrates freedom against tyranny and slavery.”
Movieguide® Content Score: +1.
9. INDEPENDENCE DAY (1996) — $306.2 million domestic. Roland Emmerich blew up the White House and half the world’s landmarks, and Will Smith punched an alien in the face to save what was left. The disaster movie became the highest-grossing release of 1996.
“Good triumphs over evil, people are married, marriages are restored, prayer is upheld, faith is reclaimed,” Movieguide® wrote, though it flagged the movie’s heavy dose of foul language.
Movieguide® Content Score: -1.
8. FINDING NEMO (2003) — $339.7 million domestic. Pixar sent a nervous clownfish across the ocean after his kidnapped son and turned a father’s fear into the second-biggest movie of the year. Ellen DeGeneres’s forgetful blue tang, Dory, stole nearly every scene she swam through.
“FINDING NEMO is the best Pixar movie ever…an instant classic,” Movieguide® wrote, praising its “very strong moral worldview with particularly strong father elements.”
Related: Is Hollywood Finally Realizing the Power of Family-Friendly Movies?
Movieguide® Content Score: +4.
7. DESPICABLE ME 2 (2013) — $368 million domestic. Gru traded supervillainy for fatherhood and a secret spy agency badge, and audiences could not resist his gibberish-speaking Minions. The sequel out-earned the original by more than $100 million.
“Every form of villainy is refuted, family is affirmed, doing the right thing is affirmed, and good triumphs over evil,” Movieguide® wrote, calling it “laugh-out-loud funny” with “incredible cuteness and heart.”
Movieguide® Content Score: +2.
6. TOY STORY 3 (2010) — $415 million domestic. Andy packed for college, his toys landed at a day care run by a tyrant teddy bear and the whole thing built to a scene that made grown adults cry in theaters. Pixar earned a rare Best Picture nomination for its trouble.
Movieguide® praised its “powerful, poignant picture of being delivered and redeemed,” pointing to the story’s overt Christian allegory of rescue and grace.
Movieguide® Content Score: +3.
5. THE LION KING (1994) — $422.8 million domestic. Disney’s Hamlet-in-the-savanna taught a generation the Circle of Life and became one of the studio’s biggest traditionally animated hits. Mufasa’s death still ranks among the most quoted tearjerker moments in movie history.
“A magnificent example of Disney animation,” Movieguide® wrote, calling it “an heroic tale of good versus evil which embodies many Christian allegorical elements.”
Movieguide® Content Score: +2.
4. SHREK 2 (2004) — $441 million domestic. The ogre brought his new bride home to meet her royal parents, and DreamWorks scored the single highest-grossing movie of the year. Puss in Boots stole the movie so thoroughly he eventually got his own franchise.
Movieguide® found “many positive moral and Christian messages in the movie, including forgiveness, repentance, self-sacrifice…and selfless love,” even while flagging some crude humor.
Movieguide® Content Score: -1.
3. INCREDIBLES 2 (2018) — $608.6 million domestic. Elastigirl took the lead this time while Mr. Incredible learned that staying home with three superpowered kids is its own kind of heroism. It became the highest-grossing animated movie in American box office history — at the time.
“A fun, exciting, family-friendly superhero movie,” Movieguide® called it, praising how it “stresses family and learning to work together, no matter what the circumstances.”
Movieguide® Content Score: +1.
2. MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS (2012) — $623.4 million domestic. Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and company finally shared a screen, proving a superhero team-up could actually work. Joss Whedon’s gamble paid off in a movie Movieguide® called suitable “for teenagers, or even older children, through adults.”
“THE AVENGERS is spectacular, witty entertainment with a highly redemptive, moral worldview,” Movieguide® wrote, pointing to the movie’s closing nod to the story of Jonah and the whale.
Movieguide® Content Score: -1.
1. INSIDE OUT 2 (2024) — $652.9 million domestic. Riley turned 13, Anxiety moved into her head and shoved Joy out the door and Pixar delivered the biggest opening in franchise history. It went on to become the highest-grossing animated movie ever made worldwide.
“Delightful, funny, inventive and heartwarming,” Movieguide® called it, tying the story to Nehemiah 8:10: “the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Movieguide® Content Score: +2.
Ten movies, four decades, one pattern. Audiences keep showing up for stories where courage costs something and grace shows up anyway, and Movieguide® has been tracking exactly that since 1985. This summer’s crowds do not look any different.
Read Next: Disney Hits Major Box Office Milestone for First Time in Years—Here’s Why
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