But looking at the franchise as a whole, Jurᴀssic Park has performed extremely well, with four of the six movies earning more than a billion dollars each (via The Numbers). Jurᴀssic World Rebirth is evidently in good company, but it does have the misfortune of following a downward trend with the last three movies earning less each time. Despite this, if the movie gets anywhere close to the last movie in the series, Jurᴀssic World: Dominion, it’s still looking at close to a billion dollars at the box office.

9

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Next up, Marvel has had some serious ups and downs in recent years. While the mega-franchise had an epic run with hit after hit earning a billion, and sometimes nearly $3 billion, the Multiverse Saga has been less reliable. Despite this, the most H๏τly anticipated movies in the lineup have managed to earn over a billion dollars. This includes ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine, and Spider-Man: No Way Home (via The Numbers).

While The Fantastic Four: First Steps technically highlights new heroes in the MCU, it is being set up to be a pivotal point in the series that introduces Marvel’s First Family, and could even provide the first official look at Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom. As a result, it appears that this movie will certainly be raking in hundreds of millions, if not crossing that billion dollar threshold.

8

Superman

Now, the DCU is a little more precarious. Over the run of the DCEU, the predecessor to Warner Bros.’s new dedicated DC Studios franchise, DC’s superhero movies were in rough shape. However, with the DCEU now laid to rest, James Gunn taking the helm to create a cohesive and singular vision for his shared comic book universe, and Superman appearing as the first hero who will set the tone for this franchise, Superman has a high chance of being a major box office hit.

This is also bolstered by the fact that Superman is likely the most popular superhero ever made. In previous releases, Superman has proven to be a character that fans around the world resonate with, and seeing a new version come to the big screen in 2025 is an event that is not to be missed. With so much riding on this movie, it needs to be a hit, but Superman is more than capable of making those dreams into a reality.

7

Avatar: Fire & Ash

James Cameron is a visionary filmmaker. Over the years, he has single-handedly directed and created the highest-grossing movies of all time. Not some of, and not the top five, but literally the highest-grossing movies ever made. In 1997, when he released тιтanic, it wasn’t long before the movie became the highest-grossing film ever made, and it remained at the top for more than a decade. Then, in 2009, тιтanic was knocked off the top spot by a new release.

Fortunately, this movie was also made by James Cameron. Avatar then held onto its spot at the top of the box office for another 10 years, until Avengers: Endgame narrowly beat it out. But with a cheeky re-release ahead of the sequel, Avatar regained the number one position and is dangerously close to being the first movie ever made to gross $3 billion. Now, the third entry in the series is likely to earn a little less than the sequel, in line with this trend (via The Numbers), but that still places it in the high $2 billion range.

6

Mission Impossible – The Final Reckoning

Tom Cruise is one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. In terms of how much his movies make, it’s nearly always hundreds of millions. And recently, when the long-awaited sequel to Top Gun came out, it managed to bank nearly $1.5 billion (via Box Office Mojo). As a result, he is an undeniable action star who adds enormous weight to movies.

And in 2025, his long-running, beloved franchise, Mission Impossible, is coming to an end with Mission Impossible – The Final Reckoning. The film has the biggest budget of the series (via The Numbers), but it also marks a milestone in Cruise’s career, and promises to feature some of the ᴅᴇᴀᴅliest, most death-defying, and intense stunts ever brought to the big screen. The result is a movie that is nearly guaranteed to rake in hundreds of millions of dollars.

5

Zootopia 2

Disney is one of the most successful production studios in the world. And ever since the company began, they have included animated films as a staple in their release schedule. Well, while they have dozens of popular series’ and solo films, there are a rare few that rack up billions of dollars, but Zootopia was one of them (via Box Office Mojo).

The film earned a healthy chunk of money in 2016 when it first released, and as has been the case with several of Disney’s animated franchises, the sequels often see larger returns at the box office than the originals. This is in spite of the long wait for a sequel, and it appears almost certain that the latest Zootopia movie will come close to or exceed the original.

4

Wicked: For Good

It’s not always as straightforward to calculate what trend will occur for live-action films. Some franchises see their profits expand with each sequel, and some start to dip. However, whatever happens with the sequel to John M. Chu’s incredible stage-to-screen adaptation of Wicked is likely to sit in the region of above $500 million.

The first part was released in 2024, and it managed to earn in excess of $750 million (via Box Office Mojo). This, paired with spectacular positive reviews, does lead to the film potentially expanding its audience and fanbase in the period between the first and second release, which may result in the sequel exceeding the original. The film also won’t be competing for space with Gladiator 2, which managed to pull in nearly $500 million and released on the same day (via Box Office Mojo).

3

The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2

In 2023, The Super Mario Bros. Movie shattered records when it became the highest-grossing video game adaptation of all time. In fact, with this one release, the movie managed to earn more than all three of the Sonic the Hedgehog movies combined. Now, with a sequel on the way, the beloved characters from Nintendo are likely to pull in huge crowds and rack up in excess of a billion dollars.

There is a chance that it could dip from the total box office of the last release, but considering the popularity of the series and characters, the positive reviews, and the appeal to kids and adults, it feels like this movie’s success is almost guaranteed.

2

Avengers: Doomsday

Returning to superhero movies for a moment, Avengers: Doomsday marks the first Avengers movie to be released by the MCU since 2019, with Avengers: Endgame. Both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame earned well over $2 billion, and these crossover тιтles have proved to be some of the absolute biggest hits from Marvel Studios.

Add in the fact that Robert Downey Jr., who previously starred as Iron Man, is returning to play Doctor Doom in this upcoming release, and it seems almost guaranteed to take home a huge box office return. There are variables that could see the total figure earned by this movie fluctuate, but the fact that the previous entries had such high returns, and some of the most anticipated MCU movies are releasing ahead of and around this film, it seems likely that it will hit the mark.

1

The Odyssey

Finally, The Odyssey is Christopher Nolan’s latest epic film. Nolan is another visionary director whose movies have gone on to earn widespread praise, accolades, and vast sums of money. His latest release, Oppenheimer, while being a historical biopic, managed to earn just shy of a billion dollars, and that was with it sharing a release date with Barbie.

Now, Nolan returns with a new star-studded cast, and one of the greatest stories in history, and the film is likely to pull in hundreds of millions, if not cross over that billion-dollar threshold. It will also release in the month previous to Spider-Man 4, which also stars Tom Holland, and recent history has proven that moviegoers enjoy a crossover or event to further build excitement. All of this together suggests The Odyssey will be yet another huge earner at the box office.