A Skyline student’s ranking of the top 5 highest-grossing movies of the decade, from best to worst:
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021): Grossed $1.95B
Spider-Man: No Way Home tells the continued story of our hero Spiderman as he struggles to get into college and move onto the next phase of his life, while balancing his old friends and superhero duties. No Way Home provides him with solid development, leaving viewers hungry for more. Tom Holland and Willem Dafoe deliver great performances as Spider-Man and Green Goblin. Seeing Holland, Andrew Garfield, and Toby Maguire together on the screen is electric, with their chemistry as actors, plus their humor and emotional growth together. The movie is easily the best Marvel movie to come out this decade..
Avatar 2: The Way Of The Water (2022): Grossed $2.3B
Avatar 2 is about Jake’s life after the original movie, where he is now living in the Pandora forest and has to continue to fight against the organization aiming to capture him. The visuals are impressive and the story it tells about Jake’s family is engaging. The main focus of the movie is the stunning CGI, picking up where Avatar 1 left off: its vibrant colors, and imaginative ecosystem, truly bringing the planet and its ecosystem to life and making the film believable.
Ne Zha 2 (2025): Grossed $2.17B
Ne Zha 2 continues the battle of gods, and takes us through Ne Zha’s inner turmoil as he tries to prove that he’s more than just a harbinger of chaos. Ne Zha must confront his destiny as a bringer of chaos, as ancient rivalries reignite. Ne Zha is very impressive visually, similar to Avatar 2. It’s a great sequel to the first film, but makes sense as a standalone film too. With its immense success as an international hit, it is the most successful animated movie ever – well deserved. It is a great watch.
Inside Out 2 (2024): Grossed $1.69 B
Inside Out 2 follows Riley into her teenhood as she struggles to acclimate to her new life. She has to either make new friends or stay with her old ones, while fighting to make her high school hockey team. Inside Out 2 tells a story about the struggles of transitioning from being a kid to a teenager, picking up where the first movie left off in a logical manner. The movie provides character development to the emotion characters and introduces new ones. The movie climaxes in a similar way to the first movie, which would be my only complaint, but overall it is a pretty solid movie.
Top Gun Maverick (2022): Grossed $1.46B
Top Gun Maverick is about Maverick returning as a teacher at Top Gun flight school. He fights to make sure his students are prepared for the daunting missions ahead of them. While being a solid overall film, it’s the least impressive of the five. The movie banks heavily on nostalgia with countless call-backs to the original. The first half is bland at best, and while the second half picks up and is far more entertaining, it is still not an impressive enough film to be any higher on the list.
