The summer of 2024 was filled with incredible blockbuster films that had audiences rushing to the theaters, but which one reigned supreme?
Judging by just financial success, Deadpool & Wolverine — the third installment in the Deadpool franchise — easily takes the cake. In addition to having the biggest R-rated opening ever with its $444 million global debut, the superhero flick had the biggest domestic opening week of 2024. It was also a personal win for stars Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, who had the biggest openings of their careers.
“This is kind of hard to process,” Reynolds wrote via Instagram after the film’s July opening. “But thank you to everyone who went to see the film this weekend.”
Jackman also took to social media to celebrate the news at the time, sharing fan art of his character, Wolverine, longingly staring at a framed image that reads “#1 MOVIE IN THE WORLD.” He captioned the post, “Wolverine and Deadpool is the #1 movie in the world. Thank you ALL!”
Deadpool & Wolverine certainly also made its mark in the pop culture zeitgeist, with a stellar marketing campaign, a slew of millennial pop bops and endless surprise cameos. But Deadpool wasn’t the only sequel to bring in the big bucks this summer — Twisters, Alien Romulus, Inside Out 2 and Bad Boys: Ride or Die also crushed it with their respective box office numbers. (And a couple of them were able to do it with entirely new casts.)
Every big summer blockbuster in 2024 was worth spending an evening at the theater — but Us Weekly is ranking our top 10 favorites of the season:
10. ‘Despicable Me 4’
The fourth installment of the Despicable Me franchise was an undeniable box office smash, raking in $350 million domestically in just less than two months. The movies are anniversary adored — as anything with Steve Carell and minions should be — but faced a few challenges when it came to keeping the narrative from becoming a little too overstuffed after seven years away.
Despicable Me 4 is still a worthy addition to the franchise that is fun for the entire family. In a summer filled with slasher scares, R-rated superheroes and themes of domestic violence, the return of Gru is something we all needed.
9.’ Trap’
Trap is an absolute romp, so it’s hard to rank this thriller, which stars Josh Hartnett as infamous serial killer The Butcher, at No. 9. The reason this movie isn’t higher is because it’s missing the signature M. Night Shyamalan plot twist — something we’ve become accustomed to in his movies.
However, knowing father and daughter Saleka Shyamalan wrote the film and composed the soundtrack as a duo warms our hearts. Plus, Hartnett brings his absolute best performance, which means we will be tuning in for multiple rewatches once it hits streaming.
8. ‘Bad Boys: Ride or Die’
A fantastic fourth installment to the franchise, Bad Boys: Ride or Die raked in nearly $200 million at the domestic box office, with critics gushing over Will Smith and Martin Lawrence’s latest team-up. The action-packed sequel was an exciting ride from start to finish, leaving the audience hungry for more.
There’s really nothing better than sitting in a dark theater, grabbing a popcorn and watching things explode in the unbearable summer heat.
7. ‘It Ends With Us’
Since hitting theaters in August, It Ends With Us has been wrought with rumored behind-the-scenes drama — but is the adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s 2016 best-selling novel actually any good? According to the box office, the answer is yes. The film has garnered more than $200 million worldwide since its August 9 debut.
Any book-to-screen adaptation is going to have missing pieces, but director/star Justin Baldoni clearly paid attention, adding flourishes and nods to the novel anywhere possible. This also may be one of Blake Lively’s best performances, delivering a more mature but still emotionally complex version of her character, Lily Bloom.
6. ‘A Quiet Place Day One’
Summer 2024 was the season of sequels, but Day One took things back to the beginning. There’s no Emily Blunt and John Krasinski in this thrilling prequel, but Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn bring a fresh energy with the unlikely friendship that forms on the day the world went quiet.
Day One is a fascinating backstory to how these sound-sensitive monsters came to take over Earth, with A Quiet Place’s signature emotional gravitas. There’s also a cat, so what else can you ask for? (Spoiler alert: the cat lives!)
5. ‘Alien Romulus’
Alien Romulus introduced an entirely new cast to the Alien world, but proved the iconic franchise still has plenty of steam. The movie has already raked in $78 million at the domestic box office and has garnered acclaim for its fresh take, well-planned scares and performances from its young stars Cailee Spaeny, Isabela Merced, Archie Renaux, Aileen Wu and David Jonsson.
The story also honors its predecessors by weaving in Easter eggs for Alien fans to enjoy, and with Sigourney Weaver recently stating that she’d reprise her role as Ellen Ripley, who knows what the future holds.
4. ‘Longlegs’
After an unbelievably successful marketing campaign by Neon, horror fans went into Longlegs expecting the spectacular — and they were not disappointed. The terrifying story of a satanic serial killer is elevated by a nearly unrecognizable and unhinged Nicolas Cage — whose face was not revealed in any of the movie’s promos — and grounded just as strongly by scream queen Maika Monroe’s performance as FBI agent Lee Harker.
Even secondary characters like Kiernan Shipka’s Carrie Anne and Alicia Witt’s Ruth Harker deliver, and the sense of unease and dread that Longlegs instills will keep you haunted much longer than any jump scares ever could.
3. ‘Inside Out 2’
Like Despicable Me 4, Inside Out 2 was a family-friendly breath of fresh air in a summer filled with R-rated movies. Amy Poehler returned to lead the charge of this Disney juggernaut, which brought in $650 million at the domestic box office, making it the most successful film of the season.
The movie earned its flowers, too. The story of a maturing Riley as she enters her tween years and faces a myriad of new emotions like ennui, embarrassment, envy and most centrally, anxiety, make Inside Out 2 something all people can relate to. The fan-favorite original characters — although some with different voices behind them this time — are also still around, leaving no dry eyes in sight by the time the credits roll.
2. ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’
There are endless reasons to love this summer smash, and it was a hard choice deciding if it should take up the No. 1 or 2 spot on this list. The cameos. Hugh Jackman’s return as Wolverine. The Deadpool variants. The meta humor. The “Bye Bye Bye” choreography. Everything about Deadpool & Wolverine has become an immediate staple in the pop culture zeitgeist, and Marvel’s first R-rated superhero film did not disappoint.
The film dominated the box office with nearly $600 million domestically, becoming the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time. Ryan Reynolds, Jackman and director Shawn Levy clearly put their heart and soul into this project and it shows. So … when is the Gambit movie coming out?
1. ‘Twisters’
This may not be everyone’s first choice for the top spot — although it was no slouch at the domestic box office, bringing in more than $250 million — but Twisters has everything needed to be an epic blockbuster smash. The year 2024 was a Glen Powell summer, and this movie had just that: Powell as a snarky cowboy with a heart of gold, whose charm, wit, relatability and overall hotness helped this movie land at No. 1 on this list.
The film also has a stellar ensemble with the likes of Daisy Edgar Jones, Anthony Ramos, David Corenswet and Kiernan Shipka, plus a truly gripping opening sequence that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Twisters also managed to be a successful sequel that lives up to its predecessor — even with an entirely new group of characters and no returning faces.
The stakes are higher than ever, the soundtrack goes crazy, and we’ll always vote for anything that brings a boy and his dog together (we’re looking at you, Brisket).
