Top 20 Biggest Summer Blockbuster Opening Ranked
We are in the middle of the 2022 summer movie season. So it seemed like the perfect time to rank the 20 biggest summer blockbuster openings. Let's get started!
20. Suicide Squad (2016): A movie that was very much hurt by the meddling of Warner Brothers. So you get this movie that feels choppy, repeats plot points multiple times. And replaces character development through story, they replace it with pop songs and that’s character development. Also I think the way they characterized Jared Leto’s Joker is very weird, and doesn’t work at all. But on the positive the casting for the suicide squad quite good, Will Smith and Margot Robbie would be the two stand outs for me.
19. Spider-Man 3: Easily the weakest of Sam Rraimi’s Spider-Man trilogy but it does have a lot to offer. It does a solid job of bookending this trilogy of movies, it concludes the trilogy in an emotional way with the conclusion of many character arcs. It’s nice to see Harry come full circle. But the movie gives us a terrible version of Venom, Topher Grace doesn’t fit the role of Eddie Brock whatsoever. And this movie has an over blown plot with way too many things going on.
18. The Lion King (2019): A gorgeous looking movie with jaw dropping and groundbreaking visual effects. And that’s really the hook, the big draw of this movie that’s why millions of people went to see this movie. But honestly, this is a movie that I haven’t wanted to rewatch since then. If I’m in the mood for this story, these songs, and these characters I’m watching the far superior animated classic. So it’s not bad, it’s not a trainwreck but it’s just kind of there.
17. Finding Dory: Another movie that I don’t really have any desire to go back and rewatch. Because it’s almost a beat for beat copy of Finding Nemo. So if I’m in the mood to go swimming with the fishes, there’s no reason why I’d choose this movie over the previous movie. But the animation style is good, it’s bright and vibrant. And it does have plenty of those Pixar emotions for me. So it’s still good. I like this movie but it’s just forgettable.
16. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: A movie that doesn’t reach the heights of the original movie, and does fall far below that film. But this is a movie that delivers plenty of entertainment value, I’m never bored by the movie when I do watch it. The soundtrack continues to be great and filled with fantastic songs. But this is a movie that does have some tone issues where it hoops from Looney Toones type humor to Baby Groot being tortured, and thoes things don’t go well side by side.
15. Iron Man 2: A movie that was rushed into production and came out just 2 years after the original movie. Jon Favreau wanted three years but Kevin Feige wanted two years to fit into their timeline. But the movie itself has a very unfocused script, it has way too much going on. And the plot and villains don’t feel totally fleshed out. But the cast here is great, Scralett Johansson and Sam Rockwell are great new additions. And it’s fun to have Iron Man and War Machine team up and fight in the finale.
14. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom: This is one of the more frustrating movies on this list. Because this is a movie that does have a lot to over. It has plenty of thrills, tense, and exciting moments, and they are some of the best thrills since The Lost World. And with this movie Chris Pratt gets to be more of himself, Owen is a bit more fun and lovable this time around. But the movie introduces ideas about the government’s reaction to dinosaurs and cloning but the movie doesn’t go any further beyond touching on them.
13. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest: For me this is the best sequel of the franchise. And I think this is a movie that does have some great visual effects, high flying action, and it’s fun to see back in this world and get more of Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow. But I think this movie is way too long, the middle act here is way longer than it should be. And they shouldn’t have brought back a bunch of the side characters from the original movie. And Davy Jones feels a bit side lined.
12. Iron Man 3: A solid final film in the Iron Man trilogy that does provide a solid ending to this trilogy. And if this was Robert Downey Jr’s last time as the character, it would be a satisfying end. Speaking of RDJ, I think his humor here is on point and the script by Shane Black certainly helps that. The third act has a great “here comes the calvary moment”. The Mandarin twist I don’t think the movie did any favors and Killian wasn’t a better villain to replace Ben Kingsley.
11. Jurassic World: Dominion: The latest film on this list and one that seems to be dividing audiences. Some people thought this was a dumpster fire and thought it was the worst film of the franchise. As for me, I dug this movie and I had a lot of fun with it. Sure, it has issues, it's not as good as the original movie. The movie focuses too much on the wrong things, and not the things that fans actually want to see. But it’s just fun to see the original cast back and have them bickin back and forth with each other. And you do get plenty of fun and big dinosaur action.
10. Avengers: Age of Ultron: Easily the weakest film in The Avengers franchise, but it’s still a good and very watchable movie. It delivers everything that you liked about the original film: lots of humor, big action, and seeing our heroes together. But this movie delivers more of everything, and sometimes more doesn’t equal better. At points in time, the story here can be hard to follow. But I’ve never understood some of the hate this movie gets, it is still a good movie.
9. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: This is the movie on this list that I’m most frustrated by. Because I love that it’s something so different, crazy, and weird for the MCU. Both Doctor Strange and Wanda get powerful character arcs in the movie. And the movie uses cameos in just the right ways. But this is a movie that has about 2 hours and 20 minutes worth of plot, but is only 2 hours and 6 minutes long (with the credits). So the movie is moving between so much plot that it’s hard to follow and things don’t hit as well as they should. And for a title called in the multiverse of madness, there isn’t a lot of multiverse fun, or madness in this movie.
8. Jurassic World: Prior to rewatching this movie, it probably would have been a few spots lower. But after rewatching it, I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. Where this movie pays homage to the original movie with scenes and the music, and it honors that movie. Chris Pratt is always fun to see in these types of movies, and him as Owen is great casting that works as the action hero. What holds this one back, is I think this movie has the laziest and worst excuse that leads to the events of the movie taking place.
7. Incredibles 2: A sequel that is both worthy and respectful to the original movie. But one that I don’t think is nearly as good as the original movie is the top 20 favorite movies of all time. But it has all of the stuff that you liked about the original movie. You get great action, fun characters, and a fantastic score by Michael Giacchino. Jack-Jack is a scene stealer in this movie, easily the best character. Now the twist with Screensaver is pretty predictable, and not the most exciting as villains.
6. The Dark Knight Rises: I know this is a movie that a bunch of people really don’t like. I’m not one of those people, I’ve always loved this movie and preferred it over Batman Begins. And I love how ambitious Christopher Nolan got with the story, it’s spanning months and you feel this epic weight of everything taking place. I love Bane as a villain, and he has so many great quotes that are great for a trailer. And this movie does provide an emotional satisfying conclusion to this trilogy of movies.
5. The Avengers: The first team-up within the MCU and started this trend of so many studios trying to do a team-up movie. But all of them failed and none of them lived up to this movie. And what Joss Whedon was able to do with this movie by combining four different movie franchises into one movie. The story here is fairly straightforward so that gives everybody a moment to shine. And the banter between the team is really funny, and some of the best of the MCU in my opinion.
4. Top Gun: Maverick: A movie that when they first announced it I was confused, because Top Gun didn’t scream for a sequel. But I’m so glad we got this movie, because it was awesome. It’s a true blockbuster that doesn’t feel like any of modern day blockbusters. The third act doesn’t have a bunch of CGI or this big laser beam in the third act. It’s an entertaining blockbuster with great characters and high flying action. So I haven’t been able to see this movie for a second time, but I really want to.
3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2: I love the Harry Potter franchise, and there are so many of these movies that I love. But the one that has always been my favorite is this one. And this movie delivers on what we wanted, which was the epic battle between Harry and Voldemort and this movie delivers an awesome version of that. And the last hour of this movie is about the Battle of Hogwarts, and it’s emotionally satisfying and awesome to see all of it. So easily, this is one of my favorite movies of all time.
2. Captain America: Civil War: One of my favorite MCU movies of all time. And one that provides logically conflict between Steve and Tony. The previous MCU movies did such a great job of building their different worldviews there causing a bunch of conflict to happen. The airport battle is one of the best action sequences in the entire MCU. And the introductions of both Black Panther and Spider-Man are great.
1. The Dark Knight: One of the great movies of all time, that is so perfectly crafted. Where instead of taking inspiration from other comic book movies, Nolan took inspiration from great crime thrills. So much so that I think this movie would still be just as good if everything Batman related was taken out. With this movie you have to talk about Heath Ledger’s legendary performance as The Joker, one of the greatest movie performances of all time. And the score by James Newton Howard is fantastic.
There you have it, my ranking of the 20 biggest summer blockbuster openings. Which of these movies is your favorite? Thanks for reading!
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