Which Movie Is The Fastest To Gross $1 Billion At The Box Office?

With the release of "Barbie," Hollywood has welcomed its newest billion-dollar hit to the box office. With a worldwide total gross of $1.38 billion, it holds such records as the highest-grossing movie solely directed by a woman and the highest-grossing Warner Bros. film of all time. What may be even more impressive is the speed at which the film hit the $1 billion mark, having reached this milestone only 19 days into its run, making it the 10th-fastest movie to get to this point. 

Making it to a billion is no small feat, but doing so in such a short amount of time is a rare achievement. At the time of this writing, there are only 53 movies that have managed to crack $1 billion or more, but some took longer to get on the list than others. "Jurassic Park" didn't reach $1 billion until 20 years later, when it was re-released. Similarly, "The Dark Knight" got to that point only when it was reissued during Oscars season. 

For a movie to dominate in such a way during its initial run requires a level of fanfare and anticipation that can almost never be manufactured. Let's take a look at a select few cinematic offerings to capture that lightning-in-a-bottle energy and see what helped generate such unprecedented hype. 

The year 2015 was a big one for blockbuster franchises, with quite a few movies hitting the billion-dollar mark, such as "Furious 7," "Avengers: Age of Ultron," and "Minions." But even these heavyweights were ultimately stomped out by the highly anticipated "Jurassic World." The fourth entry of the "Jurassic Park" series, the Colin Trevorrow-directed flick centers on a new state-of-the-art dinosaur theme park that goes awry when a genetically engineered creation known as the Indominus rex runs amok. 

When "Jurassic World" was released on June 12, 2015, the film beat "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" as the best opening weekend of all time, taking in over $500 million. The movie doubled that within its first 13 days, making it the fastest film to rake in $1 billion at the time, beating Universal's previous record holder from the same year, "Furious 7." Both blockbusters, alongside "Minions," "Fifty Shades of Grey," and "Pitch Perfect 2," helped make 2015 Universal's best year in its over-a-century-long history, an impressive feat for a studio not boasting any superhero properties under its belt. Being the first "Jurassic" installment in over a decade, following 2001's "Jurassic World 3," certainly helped get butts in seats, but it didn't hurt having such names as Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard headlining the film.

With a grand total of $1.6 billion at the box office, "Jurassic World" became the year's second-highest worldwide grosser, its highest domestic grosser, and the biggest earner of the "Jurassic" franchise to date. Its two follow-ups, "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" and "Jurassic World: Dominion," also reached the billion-dollar mark.

Spider-Man (Tom Holland) and his amazing friends not only saved their world from a multiversal disaster in "Spider-Man: No Way Home," but they managed to save movie theaters in the process. Following the public reveal of his identity at the end of 2019's "Spider-Man: Far From Home," Peter Parker's attempt to keep his superhero persona secret using a spell from Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) takes a turn when the spell goes amiss, bringing new friends and foes from other universes into Peter's world.

Marvel's flagship character has historically hit it out of the park at the box office, with 2002's "Spider-Man" still ranking among Sony Pictures' top ten highest grossers to date. With the major cliffhanger at the end of "Far From Home" and rumors circulating of returning characters from previous Spider-Man films, "No Way Home" was set to continue this trend and then some. Its opening box office numbers proved this, taking in over $600 million worldwide, the third-biggest debut, following "Avengers: Endgame" and "Avengers: Infinity War." 

By day 12, the Jon Watts-directed superhero epic reached the billion-dollar mark. Not only did the movie reach this milestone without being shown in China, but it became the first film to make $1 billion during the COVID-19 pandemic, restoring faith in movie theaters after a tumultuous year of trial and error. "No Way Home" remains the highest-grossing "Spider-Man" and Sony film to date, beating its predecessor "Far From Home" with a final box office gross of $1.9 billion. 

You'd have to be living under a literal rock to not have at least known about "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" when it came out. The hype for the seventh installment of the beloved space saga, which follows a new group of intergalactic freedom fighters who join the battle against the villainous First Order, was through the roof at the time. Unsurprisingly, its box office earnings more than reflected that. 

Before its opening weekend was even complete, "The Force Awakens" was already shattering records, being the first film to make $100 million on its opening day, beating the $91 million made by "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2." Similarly, it beat "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" as the best December debut, holding on to the record until "Spider-Man: No Way Home." This was on top of the movie becoming the highest-grossing in IMAX and the highest-grossing opening weekend at the time. On December 28, 2015, the film surpassed the previous record set by "Jurassic World" by making $1 billion in 12 days. It managed to hit this mark before its January 9, 2016, opening in China. 

In less than two months, "The Force Awakens" became the highest domestic earner with $900 million, a record it still holds, while bringing home a global total of $2 billion. Today, it stands as the overall fifth-highest-grossing movie ever made. The film's 2017 sequel, "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," is the ninth-fastest movie to make $1 billion, hitting the milestone on day 19.

It seems appropriate that after a decade of box office-breaking hits, the Marvel Cinematic Universe would blow the already high expectations for 2018's "Avengers: Infinity War" out of the water. Fans packed theaters to witness the much-anticipated face-off between Earth's mightiest heroes and the tyrannical titan Thanos (Josh Brolin), helping Marvel achieve new levels of box office royalty along the way. 

Even prior to its release, it was riding high with the most pre-sales within 24 hours for a superhero movie, taking the top spot from "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" and "Black Panther" within six hours of tickets being available. Thanos snapped away the opening weekend record previously set by 2017's "Fate of the Furious" with a staggering global debut of $640.9 million. It took only 11 days for the film to reach $1 billion and only seven days more for it to cross $1.5 billion. "Infinity War" even nearly managed to overtake "Avatar," becoming the second-fastest movie to reach $2 billion, in 48 days, one day more than the 2009 James Cameron-directed flick. 

But it was Marvel who was king of the world in 2018, with both "Infinity War" and "Black Panther" topping the year at the worldwide box office. To this day, "Infinity War" sits as the sixth-highest-grossing film of all time. It seemed there was no way Marvel could top themselves after such a titanic release, but 2019 would prove otherwise.

Fans around the world were still picking their jaws up from the floor long after the closing credits of "Avengers: Infinity War." Seeing the mighty Thanos succeed in decimating half of all life in the universe while our heroes lay in defeat was a shocking way to end the blockbuster epic. Nevertheless, the heart-stopping cliffhanger succeeded in setting the stage for a cinematic event that was guaranteed to break box office records. 

Within an astonishing five days, 2019's "Avengers: Endgame" took home a worldwide total of $1.209 billion, shattering global records for an opening weekend in an instant. In the 11-day timespan it took for its predecessor to reach $1 billion, "Endgame" got to over $2 billion, finally trumping "Avatar" as the fastest movie to reach this milestone. But it wouldn't be the movie's last time going toe-to-toe with the sci-fi fantasy. 

By July 2019, "Endgame" took home the honor of being the highest-grossing movie of all time with a worldwide gross of $2.7892 billion. It held the title until a 2021 re-release of "Avatar" in China overthrew it, but the Marvel film nevertheless remains the second-highest-grossing film of all time, both internationally and domestically. No matter how it ranks, the success of "Avengers: Endgame" remains the ultimate testament to the MCU's domination over the movie industry during the past decade.