Viggo Mortensen has starred in some excellent films over the past 30 years or so, including Ron Howard's Thirteen Lives, now streaming on Amazon Prime.
In it, Mortensen costars alongside Colin Farrell and Joel Edgerton as divers from across the globe (the first two from the UK and the latter from Australia) who unite to spearhead the Tham Luang cave rescue. Howard directs the film with the intimacy and attention to detail of his Apollo 13, and it's an excellent addition to the filmography of all involved. However, since it's straight to streaming on Amazon, it won't rank towards the top of Mortensen's big moneymakers, not all of which feature Orcs and Sauron.
28 Days (2000) — $62 Million
• Stream on Netflix
28 Days, the film partly responsible for one of Jim and Pam's sweeter moments on The Office, couldn't be any more different from the terrifying and similarly titled Danny Boyle horror flick released two years later. With that being said, it's just as visceral, but instead of running from zombies, Mortensen's Eddie Boone and Sandra Bullock's Gwen Cummings are in rehab trying to face what's chasing them.
The film is a solid diversion even if it doesn't strive for utter poignance. Unfortunately, with a budget of $43 million (per Box Office Mojo), the film needed to make quite a bit more than its final tally of $62.2 million to become profitable.
Witness (1985) — $65.5 Million
• Stream on Showtime
Both a (mostly) accurate look at Amish life and a genuinely compelling thriller, Witness is Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis' show through and through. But, Mortensen gets some time to shine as Moses Hochleitner, one of the more skeptical members of the Amish community. Like most, but not all, of the others, the Hochleitners distrust outsiders, even when they come honestly like Ford's Sergeant John Book.
According to The Numbers, Witness' price tag was kept fairly low at $12 million. Had the film been made a few years later, after McGillis had done Top Gun and Danny Glover had done Lethal Weapon, it would be much higher. But, as it stands, the film turned that $12 million into an excellent $65.5 million domestic haul.
A Perfect Murder (1998) — $68 Million
• Stream on Max Go
A loose remake of Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder, A Perfect Murder was one of several high-profile, Michael Douglas-led erotic films from the 1990s, and it's unfortunately probably the most forgettable. With that being said, Mortensen does a lot with a quiet role, that of a con artist weeding his way into the lives of a rich couple via the wife's infidelity.
The budget of Andrew Davis' Hitchcock remake at an estimated $60 million, according to IMDb. Which was a substantial price tag for a romantic drama/thriller. However, with marquee names like Douglas, Paltrow, and Mortensen, the average time passer netted a respectable if not staggering $128 million (per Box Office Mojo).
Hildalgo (2004) — $108 Million
• Stream on Hoopla
One of Redditors' favorite Mortensen movies is also one of his highest-grossing. The film tells the story of distance rider Frank Hopkins and his trusty horse Hidalgo. With Mortensen in the role of Hopkins, Hidalgo is led by a capable and likable presence, but the film (with its massive budget) didn't generate nearly enough interest in a crowded box office marketplace.
Joe Johnston's film carried a budget of $100 million dollars, massive for an untested and unproven property. Unfortunately, Hidalgo barely even cleared that figure worldwide with a gross of $108 million (per Box Office Mojo).
Daylight (1996) — $159 Million
• Rent on Amazon
Daylight stars Sylvester Stallone as an EMS chief responsible for getting civilians out of a now-collapsing New Jersey Tunnel. Mortensen plays one of those civilians, an ill-fated former star athlete turned retailer.
Stallone's name has always commanded a high paycheck, but The Numbers' reported budget of $80 million is staggering, and perhaps a profitability bar that couldn't have been met even with a big star's name on the marquee. With that being said, the film could have done worse than its $159 million worldwide total, the vast majority of which came from international screens.
Crimson Tide (1995) — $159 Million
• Rent on Amazon
The late Tony Scott's Crimson Tide stands tall as one of his better films, and while it's mostly a showdown between Lt. Cmdr. Ron Hunter (Denzel Washington) and Capt. Frank Ramsey (Gene Hackman), Mortensen gets some time to shine as Lieutenant Peter Ince, Weapons Officer. Mortensen's character is effectively the one to sway the crew from blindly following Ramsey to opening their minds to new, safer possibilities.
Like the majority of Scott's other action films, Crimson Tide was a big success in the Summer of 1995, as it netted nearly $160 million worldwide on a modest (given the stars) budget of $55 million, per The Numbers.
Green Book (2016) — $320 Million
• Rent on Amazon
Green Book generated some controversy while in theaters, which was only compounded when it took home some gold at the Oscars. Admittedly, the film does delve into White Savior tropes and has several scenes that could somewhat accurately be labeled misguided, but both Mortensen and Mahershala Ali give the film their all and hold the viewer's attention easily.
Green Book's budget was a fairly slight, but reasonable, $23 million dollars. Of course, the Best Picture winner made that back and then some, earning $85 million from domestic venues and a further staggering $237 million from international territories according to Box Office Mojo.
The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring (2001) — $891 Million
• Stream on HBO Max
The Lord of the Rings trilogy are three of Mortensen's best movies and, by far, his three highest grossing. Everything gels in the entire series, but Fellowship of the Ring busts the gate open with a thematically and visually stunning masterwork that could have gone a very different way. But Jackson was at the top of his game; And, armed with a cast of genuine thespians, he was ready to take on Sauron.
Jackson's three LOTR films each carried a nearly identical budget of about $93/$94 million, per Box Office Mojo. Given the films' scope and stunning visuals, those are slight figures, and each part of the trilogy was a massive hit. In the case of Fellowship, the $93 million investment got a return of $898 million worldwide.
The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers (2002) — $919 Million
• Stream On HBO Max
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers immediately proved that Jackson's first LOTR film was no fluke, and the latter two installments would be just as beloved and oft-referenced as Fellowship.
On a Box Office Mojo-reported budget of $94 million, The Two Towers generated nearly $948 million worldwide, $50 million more than its predecessor.
The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King (2003) — $1.12 Billion
• Stream on HBO Max
The epic finale of Jackson's trilogy managed to capture the hearts of critics even more than its two predecessors, even in spite of a few extra endings that can feel like a bit much. Regardless, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is Aragorn's movie if anyone's, and Mortensen does his best work as the character throughout the movie's 3-plus hour runtime.
Carrying a budget identical to The Two Towers, the culmination of Frodo's journey again beat the tally of the film that preceded it, this time by $198 million. With over $1.1 billion worldwide and an Academy Award for Best Picture, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is Mortensen's biggest hit by a sizable margin.