Memorial Day weekend has been a launching pad for some of the biggest movies Hollywood has to offer—superhero features, animated family flicks, and sweeping action-adventure franchises that set the tone for the rest of the blockbuster-filled summer. Of course, this year, many people are wary about returning to movie theaters. But one film has already made this list of the biggest Memorial Day weekend movies ever. Here are the most successful films to open on Memorial Day weekend, ranked by their opening weekend earnings, according to data from Box Office Mojo. So grab your popcorn and get ready for prequels, sequels, and threequels galore!
Sylvester Stallone is the king of Memorial Day movies. In Rambo III, he plays John Rambo, a Vietnam veteran turned vigilante. It broke records for being the most expensive film and most violent film of its time; it had a $63 million budget and more than 108 depicted deaths.
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A departure from the romantic comedies that shot her to superstardom at the time, this Jennifer Lopez action thriller follows the triple-threat as Slim Hiller, a woman who seeks revenge on her abusive ex-husband.
The third film to pair Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore—after The Wedding Singer and 50 First Dates—Blended is a comedy about two single parents stuck on an international vacation together after a bad blind date. The film made nearly $18 million its opening weekend, which is nothing to scoff at, particularly for a romantic comedy. But it pales in comparison to the nearly four dozen other films released on Memorial Day weekend on this list.
Never forget that the beginning of the millennium had a film franchise set in the Wild West led by Owen Wilson and Jackie Chan. This unconventional action comedy, which blended elements of both westerns and kung fu films, made nearly $20 million on Memorial Day weekend in 2000.
Sylvester Stallone is back at it again, this time with an original movie in which he plays a mountain ranger who is tricked into helping people try to find $100 million in cash that fell from a plane during a heist. Cliffhanger made $20.5 million during Memorial Day weekend in 1993, which was good news for the filmmakers because it included the costliest aerial stunt to ever appear on film: A stuntman was paid $1 million to cross from one plane to another without any safety equipment.
An early comic book adaptation success story, this live action version of Harvey Comics character Casper the Friendly Ghost made more than $22 million at the box office. It also introduced many audience members to '90s heartthrob Devon Sawa.
Now widely considered one of the biggest bombs at the modern day box office, this rare misstep for Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson only made about $23 million on Memorial Day weekend in 2017. One silver lining for the film adaptation of the iconic '90s TV show may be that it won Zac Efron a Teen Choice award for Choice Movie Actor: Comedy.
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Did you know that David Fincher—the director behind Fight Club and The Social Network—made his directorial debut with Alien 3? Well, Fincher would prefer you didn't. As he told The Guardian, "to this day, no one hates it more than me." Ouch!
This Dreamworks animated movie about a wild stallion (voiced by Matt Damon) that refuses to be tamed made more than $23 million during Memorial Day weekend in 2002.
This was the final film in the groundbreaking Back to the Future trilogy, placing Marty (Michael J. Fox) and Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) in the Wild West. It had the second biggest opening weekend of the franchise, with nearly $24 million. Still, the 1990 movie was the least commercially successful Back to the Future film overall, failing to crack the $100 million mark set by its predecessors.
This sequel to Crocodile Dundee sees the eponymous character played by Paul Hogan take his love, Sue, back to Australia to avoid some New York gangsters who are after her. Crocodile Dundee II's opening went on to become the biggest opening weekend of 1988.
The second film in the aforementioned Rambo franchise, Rambo: First Blood Part II, placed war veteran John Rambo back in the jungles of Vietnam. The film had the biggest opening weekend of 1985, and is an early screenplay credit for ultra-successful writer/director James Cameron (who you may know for a couple little films like Titanic and Avatar).
Buried deep in the Christopher Nolan oeuvre is this crime drama that pairs Robert De Niro with Robin Williams to solve a murder in a town where the sun doesn't set. It made more than half its $46 million production budget back in just four days by grossing more than $26 million during Memorial Day weekend 2002.
A remake of the iconic 1982 haunted house film penned by Steven Spielberg, the 2015 Poltergeist had the best opening weekend of any of the four Poltergeist films, making more than $26 million during the holiday weekend.
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Often regarded as one of the greatest romantic comedies of all time, this film pairs a neurotic London bookstore owner with an audacious Hollywood actress, played by Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts respectively. It made nearly $28 million its opening weekend in 1999, which still wasn't enough to dethrone Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace from the top spot at the box office that year.
Speaking of the Star Wars franchise, Return of the Jedi, which preceded The Phantom Menace and ended the original Star Wars trilogy, was both the top opening weekend and highest-grossing movie of 1983.
This sequel, which brought fish-out-of-water Detroit cop Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) back to Beverly Hills to solve a near-fatal cop shooting, had the highest-grossing opening weekend of 1987.
One of Disney's more recent box office bombs, Alice Through the Looking Glass, a sequel to the live action Alice in Wonderland from 2010, made under $34 million its opening weekend in 2016. That opening weekend gross might not have even covered half of Johnny Depp's salary for the film (he made nearly $64 million for the first Alice movie), making him Hollywood's most overpaid actor for the second year in a row.
The second film released in the massively successful Indiana Jones franchise, this Harrison Ford action adventure flick had the most successful opening weekend of 1984. Still, Temple of Doom—which many forget is actually a prequel—made the least amount of money out of any Indiana Jones film.
Despite all the bad reviews surrounding the film's existence—it has a 16 percent on Rotten Tomatoes—the TV adaptation sequel that brought Carrie Bradshaw and her three best friends to Abu Dhabi still managed to make about $34 million in its opening weekend in 2010.
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Like Sex and the City 2, this third entry in the Indiana Jones franchise doubles as a travelogue of the Middle East. Pairing Ford with Sean Connery as Jones' father, Last Crusade became the highest-grossing movie worldwide of 1989.
The 1994 The Flintstones movie was a live-action version of the famous 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon, starring John Goodman as Fred. It made more than $37 million during its opening weekend—the second highest opening weekend gross of that year. (The first was Interview with the Vampire.)
The casting of Jake Gyllenhaal as the title character in the Prince of Persia was, at best, viewed as ill-fitting and, at worst, downright offensive. The video game adaptation, which took place in the Middle East, made nearly $38 million its opening weekend in 2010, and went on to become the fifth most successful video game movie of all time. (The top four are The Angry Birds Movie, Rampage, Detective Pikachu, and Warcraft.)
While other films based on Disney World attractions have fared much better at the box office, this 2015 sci-fi film starring George Clooney made less than $43 million its opening weekend, which was near half its overall gross but less than a quarter of its $190 million production budget.
Before she graced the new The Lion King with her vocal talent, Beyoncé voiced Queen Tara in this animated fantasy that grossed nearly $43 million on Memorial Day weekend in 2013.
The R-rated comedy franchise that started out as a surprise hit ended up failing to recapture the magic of the first film. But this closer to the trilogy still made more than $50 million in its opening weekend 2013, which helped make it one of the most successful films set in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The only Terminator film without Arnold Schwarzenegger in it, Salvation still managed to be the third highest-grossing film in the franchise. Still, unfortunately, the movie's lasting legacy will most likely be the leaked audio of Christian Bale yelling a crew member.
While it is one of the more forgotten films in the long-running Godzilla franchise, this Americanized remake, starring Matthew Broderick and a computerized giant reptile, had the best opening weekend of 1998.
The first entry in the impossibly successful Tom Cruise spy movie franchise, Mission: Impossible made nearly $57 million its opening weekend in 1996.
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The sequel to John Krasinski's directorial debut (starring his wife, Emily Blunt) is making its mark on Memorial Day weekend 2021. As of May 29, the horror film has brought in almost $57.5 million, but it could very well climb up the ranks by the time the weekend is over.
This Adam Sandler-led remake of Burt Reynolds' iconic 1974 comedy centers on an incarcerated professional quarterback who has to organize a football game with inmates versus guards. It's one of the highest-grossing comedy remakes, highest-grossing sports comedies, and highest-grossing football movies ever.
The sequel to the Dreamworks animated movie, which has Jack Black voicing a reluctant hero panda and Gary Oldman voicing a villainous peacock, was once the most successful film ever directed by a woman, Jennifer Yuh Nelson. (It's since been surpassed by Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman in 2017, Anna Bowden's Captain Marvel in 2019, and Jennifer Lee's Frozen II in 2019.)
This Dreamworks animated movie also opened Memorial Day weekend and also centered on animals, but, sadly, featured no kung fu. Madagascar made $61 million over the holiday weekend in 2005.
Released nearly a decade after the second Men in Black movie, this threequel made more than $69 million during Memorial Day weekend in 2012.
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Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian had the best opening weekend of the three movies in the Night at the Museum franchise. The 2009 Ben Stiller vehicle has appearances by everyone from Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart to Bill Hader as General Custer.
This first Mission: Impossible sequel, the first of many follow-up installments to come, had the best opening weekend of 2000, and went on to become the highest-grossing movie worldwide that year.
Considering how many action-packed sequels Michael Bay has made, it's interesting to see Pearl Harbor as his only film to have one of the biggest Memorial Day weekends at the box office.
While this fifth entry in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise notably added Oscar winner Javier Bardem as its villain, it still had the lowest opening weekend gross of any of the Pirates sequels, making nearly $79 million.
Apocalypse is the third X-Men film in the rebooted cinematic universe (after First Class and Days of Future Past). And while its near $80 million gross puts it high among Memorial Day opening weekends, the 2016 film barely lands among the top 10 highest-grossing X-Men films of all time. And with a 47 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, it's one of the most reviled, too.
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Until 2019, Bruce Almighty was the only comedy among the top 10 highest Memorial Day releases ever. But the movie that sees Jim Carrey playing God was pushed out of the top 10 by the new No. 4 entry.
An opening weekend gross of nearly $86 million would normally be massive, especially for an original movie released in 2004, but The Day After Tomorrow failed to debut at the top of the box office due to continued box office domination by Shrek 2 (which was in its second weekend at the time).
The first sequel in the long-running Jurassic Park franchise, The Lost World actually broke the record for biggest opening weekend for a film ever when it was released in 1997. That might just be enough money to fix the damage the dinosaurs do to San Diego in the movie.
While Solo had the fifth best opening weekend of any Star Wars movie, and is in the top 10 of this list, the 2018 film is still considered the franchise's biggest flop. Part of the blame is on general Star Wars fatigue, and the rest is likely due to behind-the-scenes drama: Original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were loudly, publicly fired and replaced by Hollywood vet Ron Howard.
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The Hangover Part II has one of the highest-grossing openings ever for an R-rated movie. While the 2011 film was basically a rehash of the first movie—except based in Thailand instead of Vegas—it still made enough to warrant the aforementioned third installment.
While the less successful X-Men: First Class breathed new air into the X-Men franchise, Days of Future Past showed the franchise's staying power with an opening weekend gross of almost $111 million. The 2014 superhero movie managed to cleanly tie all the X-Men movies together and leave room for more experimental X-Men movies, like Logan.
The live-action Aladdin, which saw Will Smith take over for Robin Williams as the Genie, was ultimately one of Disney's biggest live-action movies ever (behind only The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, and The Jungle Book.)
After Fast Five really revitalized the franchise, 2013's Fast & Furious 6 nitrous-boosted its way to the top of the box office with a $117 million opening weekend. It'd go on to become the third highest-grossing movie in the franchise, behind only The Fate of the Furious and Furious 7, the final movie starring beloved lead Paul Walker.
RELATED: Ranking Every "Fast & Furious" Movie, From Worst Reviewed to Best.
X-Men: The Last Stand is a tricky film because, yes, it was the second biggest opening weekend of 2006, but it's also the film that nearly killed the X-Men franchise. It took half a decade for the X-Men series to get going again after this botched adaptation of the famous "Dark Phoenix" comic book arc. Eventually, the franchise tried to right that wrong with 2019's Dark Phoenix, but critics and fans agreed it was another fail.
Here is another sequel that made a boatload of money without a lot of fanfare. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull made just under $127 million its opening weekend in 2008, pretty much quadrupling the opening weekends of the two other Indiana Jones sequels.
The third Pirates of the Caribbean film had Depp return again as the iconic pirate Captain Jack Sparrow and became the third highest-grossing opening weekend of 2007 (behind Spider-Man 3 and Shrek the Third). By the end of its run, it'd be the highest-grossing movie worldwide of 2007.
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