Jurassic World: Dominion has been critically scathed with a poor 30% on Rotten Tomatoes, but that didn't stop it from being the highest-grossing movie at the box office for the second consecutive week. It has grossed way over $600 million and it could even enter the billion-dollar club, but it wouldn't be the first "rotten" movie that hit that 10-digit figure.
A surprising amount of overwhelmingly negatively received movies make up the list of the highest-grossing films of all time. Between exhausting animated movies, loud action blockbusters, and live-action Disney remakes, these movies are so unnecessary, but audiences still showed up in droves.
Despicable Me 3 (2017) - $1.034 Billion
In between the Toy Story and Madagascar franchises, Despicable Me has become one of the highest-grossing animated series of all time. With his character developing with each movie, Gru is one of the best-animated villains, but critics started to fall out of love with him by the time Despicable Me 3 arrived in 2017.
Critics thought it was loud and obnoxious without doing anything original. But that didn't stop it from crossing the billion-dollar mark and becoming the highest-grossing Despicable Me movie yet. And, in fairness, it's the closest of all the "rotten" high-grossing movies to becoming "fresh," missing out by just 1%.
Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011) - $1.045 Billion
People rooted for Captain Jack Sparrow despite him being a villain, but that came to an end with On Stranger Tides. After the Pirates trilogy that had an overarching narrative, the fourquel, On Stranger Tides felt lost at sea. And critics thought that, between the phoned-in performances and the by-the-numbers screenplay, the series had become a case of diminishing returns.
But if a movie features Jack Sparrow, no matter how little screentime and no matter how badly performed, audiences will show up in droves to see the drunken Keith Richards imitation. That's especially the case for the 2011 movie, as it still grossed more than a billion with a rotten 33%.
Aladdin (2019) - $1.050 Billion
Despite having a rotten 57%, Aladdin was a huge success at the box office, and it was a massive win for the director too, as it became the highest-grossing Guy Ritchie movie by a mile. The film had a lot of backlash leading up to the movie's release, such as Will Smith replacing the seemingly irreplaceable Robin Williams as the Genie, not to mention the questionable CGI design of the character. So the movie's billion-dollar gross profit was more than Disney could have hoped for.
There was no stopping the absolute star power, Ritchie's frenetic energy and fast-paced style, and the spectacular musical numbers all working together. But it also seems as if every live-action Disney remake will be a massive success, no matter how good or bad it is.
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) - $1.066 Billion
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest was the downfall of the Pirates franchise. While The Curse of the Black Pearl was a surprising and thrilling surprise given that it's based on a theme park ride, the sequel got tangled up in its convoluted lore. Though the movie crossed a billion dollars, that was largely thanks to the reception of the first movie, as Dead Man's Chest holds a disappointing 53% on Rotten Tomatoes.
However, the sequel is one of the many movies that critics hate but fans love, as the film sits at a comfortable 7.3 on IMDb. And even though the narrative is more focused on Will and Elizabeth, it has some of Jack Sparrow's very best scenes in the entire franchise.
Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker (2019) - $1.074 Billion
It speaks volumes about how over-budgeted movies have become when a film grosses a billion dollars but is looked at as an underperformance and barely breaks even. Even though Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker grossed $1.074 billion, it was a terrible outcome for the studio, as it's half of what The Force Awakens earned just four years earlier. Between the production cost, the marketing budget, and the theatres' cut, the film only just made it into the green.
It's one of the few instances of critics' opinions having an impact on a huge franchise movie, as the film sits at a poor 52% on Rotten Tomatoes. The film was ridiculed for seeing the return of Palpatine, the first-draft-sounding dialogue became memes, and so little was wrapped up that fans still have so many questions that probably won't ever be answered.
Transformers: Age Of Extinction (2014) - $1.1 Billion
Transformers movies have been consistently panned by critics, but if any franchise is critic-proof, it's the Hasbro toy series. Up to a point, the movies even grossed more and more the lower the Rotten Tomatoes score. And with 17%, Transformers: Age of Extinction grossed an unbelievable $1.1 billion.
But while the series has tons of fans, Age of Extinction was the last time general audiences fell for the spectacular effects and impressive trailers. Following the 2014 movie, the next release in the series was The Last Knight, which grossed just $600 million, a shockingly low figure relative to the other movies in the franchise. However, Paramount hit the reset button, releasing the comparatively modestly budgeted Bumblebee, and it's a great movie in a bad franchise.
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon (2011) - $1.123 Billion
Transformers: Dark of the Moon is the third movie in the Transformers series, and it's the highest-grossing movie in the entire franchise. Though no studio ever sets out to intentionally make a bad movie, the film's performance is almost impressive and something to aspire to.
The threequel somehow managed to make more than $1.1 billion despite having a 35% score on Rotten Tomatoes and two predecessors that are rated "rotten" too. How it achieved such a strong box office number is a mystery, as it doesn't necessarily stand out for any particular reason, except for some genuinely incredible digital effects and action sequences.
Minions (2015) - $1.159 Billion
For as much as people love Gru, based on box office numbers alone, his Minions are the real stars of the show. The 2015 spin-off, Minions, made the Despicable Me movies' success look pathetic, as the movie made a huge $1.15 billion, and that was all with a 55% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Despite being part of the multi-billion-dollar Toy Story franchise, the newly released Lightyear underperformed at the box office, and it'll likely not earn back its budget. But if Pixar had made a Toy Story spin-off based on the three-eyed aliens, which have similar characteristics to Minions, it's a wonder if that would have been much more successful.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) - $1.3 Billion
Every movie in the Jurassic Park franchise after the first film has been critically scathed, but every single one of them has still managed to be hugely successful. It just goes to show that audiences love dinosaurs, and despite how good or bad the film will be, they'll always turn up if that T-rex silhouette is on the poster.
That was exactly the case with Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and while its predecessor, Jurassic World, polarized audiences but still earned a "fresh" rating, the 2018 movie was universally hated. And with the newly-released Jurassic World: Dominion, which just reigned supreme at the box office for its second week in a row, it's currently sitting at $622 million despite having a 30% Rotten Tomatoes score, the lowest of the entire series.
The Lion King (2019) - $1.656 Billion
The Lion King is essentially a shot-for-shot live-action remake of the beloved animated original, and that's part of why it has a "rotten" score of 52%. But where critics can judge cash-in decisions made by studios, toddlers and young audiences couldn't care less, and Timone and Pumbaa singing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" couldn't be more entertaining.
The 2019 movie not only grossed way over a billion dollars, but it's the eighth highest-grossing movie of all time. But while the movie might be a simple remake, it still has the most impressive and photorealistic digital effects possibly ever, and it's full of renditions of classic songs from the likes of Beyonce.