The box office is finally recovering after a couple of years of reduced theatrical releases, so here are the 5 biggest movies in the world right now. 2023 has already seen some huge box office records, with Avatar: The Way of Water and the re-release of Titanic causing the highest-grossing movies of all time to keep switching around. It was not just big blockbuster movies either, movies with smaller budgets have been surprisingly successful as of late with genres such as horror breaking stereotypes and drawing audiences in. This weekend the box office has had a variety of movies that have been consistently performing in theaters.
The early months of the year are usually for low-budget movies that would be overshadowed in the summer months, but this year has seen several 2023 movies break that curse. Horrors such as Knock at the Cabin and Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood and Honey have been performing surprisingly well for the genre, and their box office results are massively surpassing their critics' reviews. The MCU is back with another blockbuster with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania which has obviously gone down well with audiences, but the biggest 5 movies in the world right now are quite a mix of films.
5 Knock At The Cabin
The fifth-biggest movie in the world after this weekend is Knock at the Cabin, M. Night Shyamalan’s adaptation of The Cabin at the End of the World. Knock at the Cabin is a horror about a girl and her parents on vacation, who are taken hostage by four strangers. The strangers force them to make an unthinkable choice to stop the apocalypse from happening. Starting its fourth week in theaters, Knock at the Cabin has performed well with critics and audiences alike, with some marking it as a big recovery in Shyamalan’s career.
Knock at the Cabin has made $47,879,270 at the box office worldwide overall (via Box Office Mojo), and this weekend alone Knock at the Cabin grossed $4,590,000 domestically (via Box Office Mojo). Knock at the Cabin has some star power with Dave Bautista as Leonard leading the four strangers and its success has kept it in a high position at the box office and is not set to release on streaming anytime soon. However, it will most likely move to streaming once its run in theaters is over but not before it increases its box office score.
4 Plane
Just beating Knock at the Cabin for fourth spot is Plane, Gerard Butler’s latest action movie which sees pilot Butler team up with suspected murderer Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter) to save a group of hostages after Butler’s plane crashed on a war-torn island. Plane has made $47,887,022 worldwide so far but only made $450,000 this weekend at the domestic box office, so it has dropped much more than Knock at the Cabin, despite only being released a week earlier. However, Plane solidly holds the spot as the fourth biggest movie worldwide and has successfully surpassed its $25 million budget.
Plane has not only been a success with audiences, as it has managed a 74% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and is one of Gerard Butler’s highest-scoring action movies. The success of Plane has led to a sequel which is now in development, titled Ship. Ship will follow fugitive Louis Gaspare after he stayed behind on the island to escape being extradited to Canada, and ensure Butler’s Brodie Torrence and his passengers safely left the island and got away from the rebels holding them hostage.
3 Titanic 25-Year Anniversary
Titanic has been re-released in theaters to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its original release, and it has been wildly popular with audiences, making it the third-biggest movie in the world right now. While it only accrued $2,900,000 at the domestic box office this weekend, which does not massively compare to its competition, Titanic 25 Year Anniversary’s worldwide box office has hit $48,443,135. It is only just overtaking Plane, but with Titanic being one of the few movies that have succeeded the $2 billion mark, it is no surprise Titanic 25 Year Anniversary has ranked so high this weekend.
Titanic’s re-release has been so successful that it stopped Avatar: The Way of Water from overtaking it as the third highest-grossing movie of all time. Avatar: The Way of Water has managed to take the third spot now, but the success of Titanic’s re-release has meant its records were briefly held and increased. However, both movies are made by James Cameron and whichever is in the lead still means Cameron is filling up the top spots.
2 Pathaan
Pathaan is the only non-US movie to make it into the top 5 biggest movies of this weekend, and it has secured second place. The Indian-Hindi-language movie was directed by Siddharth Anand and is an action thriller following a spy battling against a gang leader, who has a heinous plot for his homeland. Pathaan was released worldwide on the 25th of January and has been performing consistently ever since, following the trend of foreign movie success in the US since 2019.
Pathaan’s worldwide box office almost doubles that of Titanic, massively separating the top 2 biggest movies in the world this weekend from the latter three. Pathaan has achieved $95,938,107 worldwide and brilliant critical reviews, scoring 85% on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite its success, Pathaan is still very far off from achieving the top spot which is not surprising after the most recent MCU release.
1 Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Finally, and unsurprisingly, the biggest movie in the world right now is MCU’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was only released on the 17th of February, so its opening weekend rocketed it to the top spot and has already surpassed its $200 million budget. The third of the Ant-Man movies, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania follows Scott and Hope into the Quantum realm where they come across Kang, who is set to be the next Thanos.
This weekend, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has achieved $357,300,000 worldwide, and a huge $120,000,000 in the domestic box office alone. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is the first of the MCU’s Phase 5 and is a key part of the next story which will see new teams assemble in the Avenger’s universe, such as The Thunderbolts and The Marvels. The box office success of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is only set to continue, and for now it is secure as number one of the 5 biggest movies in the world right now.