- We looked back at the biggest movies of every summer at the box office since 2000.
- Disney had only one movie rule the summer in the 2000s, but the company has released seven of the 10 biggest summer movies this decade.
- The list includes critically acclaimed hits like "The Dark Knight," but also critical duds like "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
The summer movie season is home to some of the biggest blockbusters of the year. Every year, audiences can expect theaters to be packed with superhero movies, animated adventures, and other franchise favorites.
With the summer 2019 movie season officially over, we looked back at the biggest movie of every summer since 2000, based on how much it made in the US (per numbers from Box Office Mojo), adjusted for inflation. We counted movies that came out May through August (so no, "Avengers: Endgame" didn't make the cut for this list).
Superheroes, animated movies, and Disney have ruled most summers in this timeframe, and it shows just how quickly Disney has dominated the industry. In the 2000s, Disney had only one movie rule the summer: "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" in 2006.
"Finding Nemo" was the biggest summer movie of 2003, but Disney didn't acquire Pixar until 2006; similarly, Disney didn't purchase Lucasfilm until 2012, and "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith" was the biggest movie of the summer of 2005.
But this decade, Disney released seven of the 10 highest-grossing movies of each summer, including three from Pixar and three from Marvel Studios.
For this list, we've also provided the movie's original domestic gross, its worldwide gross, and its Rotten Tomatoes critic score for comparison. Some movies that raked in the big bucks performed terribly with critics (we're looking at you, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen").
Below is the highest-grossing movie in the US of every summer since 2000:
2000: "Mission: Impossible 2"
Release date: May 4, 2000
Adjusted domestic gross: $360,082,200
Original domestic gross: $215,409,889
Original worldwide gross: $546,388,105
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 57%
2001: "Shrek"
Release date: May 16, 2001
Adjusted domestic gross: $426,088,600
Original domestic gross: $267,665,011
Original worldwide gross: $484,409,218
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 88%
2002: "Spider-Man"
Release date: May 3, 2002
Adjusted domestic gross: $626,057,600
Original domestic gross: $403,706,375
Original worldwide gross: $821,708,551
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 90%
2003: "Finding Nemo"
Release date: May 30, 2003
Adjusted domestic gross: $507,600,600
Original domestic gross: $380,843,261
Original worldwide gross: $940,335,536
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 99%
2004: "Shrek 2"
Release date: May 19
Adjusted domestic gross: $640,168,900
Original domestic gross: $441,226,247
Original worldwide gross: $919,838,758
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 89%
2005: "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith"
Release date: May 19, 2005
Adjusted domestic gross: $534,514,500
Original domestic gross: $380,270,577
Original worldwide gross: $848,754,768
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 80%
2006: "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"
Release date: July 7, 2006
Adjusted domestic gross: $582,301,600
Original domestic gross: $423,315,812
Original worldwide gross: $1,066,179,725
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 53%
2007: "Spider-Man 3"
Release date: May 4, 2007
Adjusted domestic gross: $440,717,700
Original domestic gross: $336,530,303
Original worldwide gross: $890,871,626
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 63%
2008: "The Dark Knight"
Release date: July 18, 2008
Adjusted domestic gross: $669,163,900
Original domestic gross: $534,858,444
Original worldwide gross: $1,004,558,444
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 94%
2009: "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"
Release date: Jun 24, 2009
Adjusted domestic gross: $485,647,400
Original domestic gross: $402,111,870
Original worldwide gross: $836,303,693
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 20%
2010: "Toy Story 3"
Release date: June 18, 2010
Adjusted domestic gross: $480,588,300
Original domestic gross: $415,004,880
Original worldwide gross: $1,066,969,703
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 98%
2011: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2"
Release date: July 15, 2011
Adjusted domestic gross: $432,389,100
Original domestic gross: $381,011,219
Original worldwide gross: $1,341,511,219
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 96%
2012: "The Avengers"
Release date: May 4, 2012
Adjusted domestic gross: $692,699,700
Original domestic gross: $623,357,910
Original worldwide gross: $1,518,812,988
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 92%
2013: "Iron Man 3"
Release date: May 3, 2013
Adjusted domestic gross: $440,132,200
Original domestic gross: $409,013,994
Original worldwide gross: $1,214,811,252
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 79%
2014: "Guardians of the Galaxy"
Release date: August 1, 2014
Adjusted domestic gross: $371,009,900
Original domestic gross: $333,176,600
Original worldwide gross: $773,328,629
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 91%
2015: "Jurassic World"
Release date: June 12, 2015
Adjusted domestic gross: $691,874,600
Original domestic gross: $652,270,625
Original worldwide gross: $1,671,713,208
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 72%
2016: "Finding Dory"
Release date: June 17, 2016
Adjusted domestic gross: $505,984,400
Original domestic gross: $486,295,561
Original worldwide gross: $1,028,570,889
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 94%
2017: "Wonder Woman"
Release date: June 2, 2017
Adjusted domestic gross: $415,500,900
Original domestic gross: $412,563,408
Original worldwide gross: $821,847,012
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 93%
2018: "Incredibles 2"
Release date: June 15, 2018
Adjusted domestic gross: $597,356,200
Original domestic gross: $608,581,744
Original worldwide gross: $1,242,805,359
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 94%
2019: "The Lion King"
Release date: July 19, 2019
Domestic gross (so far): $523,578,926
Original worldwide gross (so far): $1,242,805,359
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 52%