$1 Billion Universal Movies Ranked

$1 Billion Universal Movies Ranked

The Odyssey continues to break box office records; the other day it recently surpassed Jurassic World (2015) to be Universal’s highest grossing movie. Because of this, I thought I would rank all 11 Universal movies to have grossed $1 billion at the box office. Here we go!

11. Minions: This is a movie that I really did enjoy when it first came out, but with 11 years of reflection and rewatching the movie I do not care for this movie, and I do not think it works. The big problem here is that the Minions themselves are spice characters, they are not designed to be the lead characters. You drop them as side characters in the Despicable Me films, and they are great and a ton of fun. You drop them as the leads in their own movies and suddenly, they are not interesting and they are not as fun. They do not speak a language for humans, so they constantly talk in gibberish and get old after a while. They do not have character arcs so you cannot connect with them on a personal level, and you do not want to see them grow because if the Minions grow and change then everything that makes them interesting is suddenly gone. The individual bits and jokes I do not are particularly great or memorable. There is just not much here for me to latch onto and enjoy as a 21-year-old. I know I am not the target audience, but I should still be able to get entertainment out of an animated movie. 

10. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie: A film that turned out to be one of the more polarizing films of the year and a film that had this toxic discourse surrounding it when it came out. For better or for worse, this movie was designed for the fans. So, everything in this movie from the characters to the story to background details are designed for Mario fans to get something out of it. That is the problem with the movie, it is designed for the fans and focused on easter eggs, references, and cameos that it forgets to tell a compelling story. It feels like they wrote the film based around the references they wanted to include instead of telling a great story and finding ways to cleverly incorporate references into it. As somebody who is a very casual Mario fan, I was exhausted by this movie because it was throwing so much at the screen and there was not enough there for me to latch onto and connect with. If fans of the video games and the lore loved this movie, cool, but a movie that is only designed for the fans is not a good thing. 

9. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom: I do get a lot of enjoyment out of the Jurassic sequels, they are not as good as the 1993 original, but they are still fun. This is my second least favorite Jurassic film, but I do not hate this movie, and it is a lot of fun. This film does a few things better than the 2015 film. The director, JA Bayona, can create some thrilling and exciting dinosaur sequences. He can find the little moments in each dinosaur sequence that would make the sequence terrifying. You have Chris Pratt stuck in a cage with a dinosaur and must get out of it, with Pratt having to jump through the dinosaur’s mouth to get out, it is intense at points. I think the dynamic between Owen and Claire in this movie is much better, where they are together for most of the movie and we learn more about each of them. Pratt might have his flaws as a person, but I think as a movie star he does have this charisma about him. With that said, this movie does have a few issues. I think the third act here at the mansion with the laser guided raptors is not the stuff that I want out of this franchise. It is a flawed concept that does not really work and from there, there’s ideas that feel so unexplored and underwhelming like human cloning which feels like it should be a bigger reveal then it is.

8. Despicable Me 3: Of all the movies on the list, Despicable Me 3 is the one that’s just sort of there for me. It is not offensively bad, but it is also not a top tier animated movie or a movie in general. There are still some fun moments to be had here with Gru and the Minions, some of the bits here are fun and more memorable than some of the bits in Minions and the weaker films in this franchise. The idea of doing this ‘80s inspired villain with this disco vibe to him is fun, and the ideas they produce are related to that work. Gru, Dru’s brother is fun and it is great to have two Steve Carrell’s in this movie, he is a fun and lively actor so getting two of him does work for me. But as I said earlier, there is nothing really in this movie that makes it stand out amongst the other movies on the list or the other Despicable Me movies. I have used the word “fun” to describe this movie, and that is the best thing about the movie but beyond that there is nothing here that is interesting to me. I do not remember the specific plot elements, and that is a bit frustrating, and it does hold the movie back. 

7. The Super Mario Bros Movie: A better Mario compared to its sequel, as it does a better job of balancing the fun and the story. But it is only #7 on the list so I clearly do not think this is a great movie. What is frustrating about this movie is that it has the pieces to be a good movie, where you can see the clear character arcs for Mario and Luigi and give a classic hero’s journey arc to Mario. They do have that in there, but the problem is that it is focused too much on the sight gags and Easter eggs that the emotional moments of the film do not hit as hard. It is a Mario movie, I am not expecting a super complex emotional story, but I think some substance to what is going on is good. With that said, I think it’s still a fun adventure where you get some fun sequences with the Mario Kart race or the Donkey Kong that I do work and are some of the better scenes of this franchise as a whole. I think the reason this movie made $1 billion is because they got the vibe of it right. Where the characterizations and the design for the characters works and that is what the fans cared about over a great story. 

6. Jurassic World: Dominion: I know ranking this movie at #6 is a crime to so many people. So many people think this is a dud of a movie and one of the worst blockbusters of the decade. I can totally get that; it completely wastes a lot of ideas. The last film ends with dinosaurs being unleashed into the world, but most of the movie takes place at this evil corporation. When you have Alan Grant, a character who famously hates technology at this evil corporation it does not feel right. Even the return of Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler, and Ian Malcolm feels a little bit disappointing because there are a lot of other things going on. It is a flawed movie and not as good as it could have been, but that does not mean that it is not fun. If you view this as just a dumb creature feature blockbuster, it works as a Jurassic movie. We have a lot of problems. Even though the usage of Grant, Sattler, and Malcolm might not be the best, it is still fun to see them again and together. They have fun moments as they are catching up with each other and seeing where they are at in life. As I have said about the other Jurassic movies, I do get a lot of fun out of this franchise. Dinosaurs eating people does put a smile on my face and this movie delivers plenty of that. I know this is not everybody’s favorite, and it is not mine, but it is entertaining. 

5. The Fate of the Furious: Another movie that a lot of people would have lower on their list. For me, this is right before the Fast and Furious franchise really jumped the shark and got crazy. There are some ridiculous ideas in here, but overall, it is still a fun time and delivers enough of what I want from this franchise. The basic plot here that involves Dom turning evil and working with Charlize Theron seems a bit far-fetched considering he is all about family. As you move into the third act and you see Dom’s plan in all of this, it feels a little bit contrived with just how many pieces there are and how many pieces have to come together at just the right moments. With that said, the dynamic between Hobbs and Shaw in this movie is fantastic, Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham have great chemistry with each other and is why Hobbs and Shaw became a movie. Statham’s plane rescue sequence in the third act with the baby is fantastic and one of the best sequences of the franchise. Some of the stunts here are unbelievable but here, they still feel grounded and put a smile on my face. I can see why other people might not like this movie or rank it lower, I however do like this movie. 

4. Jurassic World (2015): The best Jurassic film only behind the 1993 original, Jurassic Park. This is very much the blockbusterified version of Jurassic Park. It is bigger and it is dumber, but it is still a fun time. This is the first and only movie in this franchise where we explore what it is like to have a theme park filled with dinosaurs. There is some fun that comes with that premise of seeing this theme park filled with dinosaurs on this island and exploring everything that could go wrong. I think the idea of the government trying to turn the dinosaurs into weapons is an interesting idea that fits with this franchise and they play that out in this movie. The third act here is a lot of fun where you have velociraptors battling our new genetically engineered dinosaur. That is fun and delivers a solid crowd pleasing third act. This was the first big film that Chris Pratt starred in after Guardians of the Galaxy, and as previously mentioned he does have a lot of that movie star charisma and it’s always fun to see him starring in big, budgeted movies like this. It might not have the great character work or depth of the 1993 original but that does not mean its bad and it is a fun continuation of the mythology. 

3. Furious 7: For me, this has always been the best of the Fast and Furious franchise. I know a lot of people (my mom included) prefer Fast Five and that is my #2. But I just think what they were able to do with this movie is incredible and makes it feel unique in the franchise. This film had the near impossible task of finishing filming this movie when Paul Walker died during production. The way they were able to balance the silliness and fun that this franchise is known for, while also making you cry in the final moments of the film. The fact that you can say in a sentence that a Fast and Furious movie made you cry is incredible. The usage of Charlie Puth’s song in there with the montage, it is a great ending. It is such a great ending that many people argue should have been the end to the Fast and Furious franchise. From there, the actual mission and story of the film I think does work. I like the idea of doing a revenge story on two different fronts, where you have Dom and the family getting revenge for Han’s death while Shaw is getting revenge on them for killing his brother. Jason Statham is a great addition to this franchise; his energy and style of action fits this franchise so well. The action here is still fun, where you do get ridiculous situations taking place, but it is before the franchise went full blown cartoonish. This is the most well-rounded film of the franchise, and I do not think any film in the franchise could surpass it. 

2. The Odyssey: It is weird to call a Christopher Nolan movie a box office success when he was able to make Oppenheimer a movie about science and senate hearings and have made almost $1 billion. But the fact that The Odyssey has made $1.6 billion and easily surpassed Deadpool & Wolverine as the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time. But that is the magic of Nolan, he adapted the epic of all epics with The Odyssey and made a movie that felt like an event to see on the big screen. It was the first movie shot entirely with IMAX cameras and is still selling out IMAX tickets even after two months of release. I think the reason it has become this cultural event was because Nolan treats the audience with respect. In an era with so many movies feeling bland, generic, and like a corporate product. Nolan made a movie that demands the audience’s attention, and he put in the work to make sure it was worth seeing on the big screen. The fact that he used practical effects for so many of the film’s sequences is incredible. Whether that is building a 60-foot-tall cyclops puppet or burying actors underground for the Hades sequence. When it is practical, it feels more real and it makes you engrossed in this world even more. When people say “oh it’s worth seeing on the big screen” that can mean many different things depending on the film, but on purely technical levels The Odyssey is 100% worth seeing on the big screen. 

1. Jurassic Park (1993): I was born 11 years after this movie came out, but I have been lucky enough to see this film three times on the big screen. This is one of my favorite movies of all time, and it is my favorite Steven Spielberg movie. What is so incredible about this film is that it can be this fun, thrilling, and exciting blockbuster with the dinosaur action you want. But it also delivers some great character work and depth that makes you invested in the characters just as much as the dinosaur action. The movie is 2 hours and 8 minutes long and it spends an hour with just our characters talking. It is so interesting because all the characters have a different worldview on what a dinosaur theme park should look like. From there you get these incredibly quotable lines, especially from Ian Malcolm. Of course, “life finds a way” is iconic and still memorable 33 years later. But even his quote of “your scientists got so pre-occupied in thinking they could, they don’t stop to think if they should.” You can apply that logic to the context of the movie but also with so much of blockbuster filmmaking. John Williams’ score is of course fantastic; it might be my favorite film score of all time. I think the usage of the score when John Hammond says “welcome to Jurassic Park” is the single greatest usage of movie music of all time. You can talk about this movie for so long, without having to talk about the dinosaur action in the back half of the movie. That is what makes Jurassic Park so incredible, it is a great dinosaur movie but there is so much more to it that makes it this great blockbuster and movie in general.