10. "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" — $675 million worldwide (estimate)*
*"Rogue One" is still a new release in theaters and will climb higher even by the end of the year.
US domestic: $400 million (by end of weekend)
With over $635 million worldwide at the time of this writing, we had to pull out the crystal ball for this one, since the latest "Star Wars" movie is rising up the box-office charts on a daily basis.
Though "Doctor Strange" is currently in 10th place with a $656.4 million worldwide take, "Rogue One" will surpass that within the next day.
As with "The Force Awakens" last year, Disney has masterfully made the last few weeks of the year its time to dominate the movie business with a "Star Wars" release. It should be just under first place at the domestic box office by the time the new year hits.
9. "Suicide Squad" — $745.6 million
Domestic: $363 million
Despite bad reviews, this DC title from Warner Bros. continued to plug away at the box office. After having the biggest opening weekend of all time for an August release and then sales dropping almost 67.5% in its second weekend domestically, the movie found its groove. And it certainly helped that it took in over $400 million internationally.
8. "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" — $746.1 million
Domestic: $217.3 million *Still in theaters
Though the "Harry Potter" spin-off movie isn't making the enormous figures that Warner Bros. saw with the "Potter" franchise, it still came in as the studio's third-highest earner of the year domestically.
7. "Deadpool" — $783.1 million
Domestic: $363 million
20th Century Fox pulled off the biggest shocker of the year thanks to some clever marketing and a unique comic-book movie with an R rating. "Deadpool" had the biggest winter, President's Day, February, and R-rated opening of all time with its $132.4 million take.
6. "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" — $873.2 million
Domestic: $330.3 million
Warner Bros. had to deal with negative critical reaction out of the gate for this one, too, but the movie still broke the record for biggest Easter, March, and spring opening weekend of all time with $166 million domestically. It was the studio's biggest earner of the year.
5. "The Secret Life of Pets" — $875.4 million
Domestic: $368.3 million
One of the big lessons of the last two years is audiences want to go see animated movies. "The Secret Life of Pets" was a great example of a fun story told perfectly for animation. And Universal is appreciative, as "Pets" was pretty much the only highlight after a record-breaking year at the box office last year.
4. "The Jungle Book" — $966.5 million
Domestic: $364 million
Remaking the classic cartoon of a "man-cub" and his adventures with the wild animals around him was a gamble for Disney but it turned out a huge success. "The Jungle Book" did strong domestically but even better overseas, where it earned over $600 million.
3. "Zootopia" — $1.023 billion
Domestic: $341.2 million
Another title Disney was ecstatic about was this first-quarter release that had some deep-seated themes about stereotypes. It worked big time, especially overseas where it doubled what it made domestically with $682.5 million.
2. "Finding Dory" — $1.027 billion
Domestic: $486.2 million
The long-awaited sequel was a huge hit for Disney/Pixar, as it's currently the top domestic earner of the year (though "Rogue One" should pass it by the first week of January 2017). Audiences who saw "Finding Nemo" back in 2003 were as excited to see it as the kids who grew up watching the original. It had the highest-grossing opening for a PG-rated movie ever ($135 million) and it's the highest-grossing PG movie in the US ever.
