20 Top Grossing Movies of 2011: THR Year in Review

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Worldwide Gross: $1.3 billion

The final film in the Harry Potter franchise broke domestic and international box office records. On its opening Friday, it had the biggest single-day gross of all time at the domestic box office, earning a massive $92.1 million. It also smashed records around the globe, capped by scoring the best worldwide debut of all time at $481.5 million.

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2. Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Worldwide Gross: $1.1 billion

Transformers: Dark of the Moon became the franchise's top earner when it opened in theaters in 2011. The threequel's $180.7 million opening over the long July 4 holiday aided Paramount in becoming the first studio to reach $1 billion in domestic grosses for the year.

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3. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Worldwide Gross: $1 billion

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides was a global hit, becoming Disney's biggest release of all time at the international box office, grossing $695.9 million overseas.

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4. Kung Fu Panda 2

Worldwide Gross: $663 million

The DreamWorks Animation and Paramount animated film had a strong showing overseas, breaking box office records in China and grossing, to date, $497 million in foreign markets.

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5. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1

Worldwide Gross: $648 million

While the Summit Entertainment penultimate film was not able to quite match the $142.8 million opening of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, it still nabbed the fifth largest opening of all time domestically. But combining the opening numbers of $139.5 million domestically and $144 million overseas helped Breaking Dawn Part 1 reach a franchise best $283.5 million for opening weekend worldwide.

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6. Fast Five

Worldwide Gross: $626 million

Universal's Fast Five grossed $34.4 million on its opening Friday. It went on to gross $86.2 million at the domestic box office its opening weekend, the best showing in months and the top number ever for Universal.

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7. The Hangover Part II

Worldwide Gross: $581.5 million

The Hangover Part II accomplished a rare feat: It outpaced the original at the box office. Not only did Warner Bros.' sequel to the 2009 comedy score the best opening of all time for a comedy at the domestic box office, it grossed the most of any R-rated film in its first five days.

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8. The Smurfs

Worldwide Gross: 562.4 million

In a shocking upset, The Smurfs nearly beat Cowboys & Aliens in its opening weekend, opening to $35.6 million. Smurfs was also popular overseas, since the characters were created by Belgian cartoonist Peyo.

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9. Cars 2

Worldwide Gross: $551.9 million

Disney/Pixar's Cars 2 easily won the domestic box office race its opening weekend, grossing $68 million and beating the $60.1 million debut of the original Cars. 

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10. Rio

Worldwide Gross: $484.6 million

In April, Twentieth Century Fox’s 3D cartoon Rio became the top grossing 2011 release at the time, ending Easter weekend with a new worldwide cume of $286 million.

11. Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Worldwide Gross: $481.2 million

20th Century Fox's Rise of the Planet of the Apes opened to an outstanding $54 million at the domestic box office. Overseas, the prequel also exceeded expectations, grossing a stellar $23.4 million from 25 territories.

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12. Thor

Worldwide Gross: $448.5 million

Paramount and Marvel Studios successfully launched a new superhero franchise with Thor, which opened to a strong $66 million at the North American box office. Internationally, Thor decisively claimed its first weekend's No. 1 box office spot on the foreign theatrical circuit with a gross of $87 million.

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13. Captain America: The First Avenger

Worldwide Gross: $368.4 million

Captain America: The First Avenger was not only a domestic hit, winning opening weekend with $65 million, but went on to have international success as well. The film jumped $100 million during its second weekend of international release even though it had rolled out in only 41 markets, many of them smaller territories.

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14. X-Men: First Class

Worldwide Gross: $353.6 million

Directed by Matthew Vaughn and co-starring James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence, X-Men: First Class, the fourth sequel of the five-title franchise, won its opening weekend with a $56 million debut at the domestic box office in June.

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15. Puss in Boots

Worldwide Gross: $331.3 million

Puss in Boots not only had a strong opening weekend, but, in a shocking upset, went on to a $33 million second weekend--a mere 3 pecent drop from its $34.1 million debut-- and beat out that weekend's newcomer, Brett Ratner's Tower Heist. 

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16. Bridesmaids

Worldwide Gross: 288.4 million

In July, Universal’s sleeper hit Bridesmaids became the top R-rated female comedy of all time, surpassing Sex and the City. It’s also the top-grossing film ever for producer Judd Apatow, beating Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Knocked Up.

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17. Real Steel

Worldwide Gross: $276.4 million

DreamWorks' robot boxing drama starring Hugh Jackman won its opening weekend taking in $51.7 million domestically and $56.6 million and worldwide cume of $108.3 million.

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18. The Adventures of Tintin

Worldwide Gross: $274.9 million

The motion-capture animation film directed by Stephen Spielberg was always expected to do well overseas because of the cartoon's international popularity. And, true to form, its foreign grosses made up 87 percent of Tintin's total grosses.

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19. Super 8

Worldwide Gross: $259.9 million

After an aggressive eleventh hour marketing blitz by Paramount, J.J. Abrams’ Super 8 opened to a better-than-expected $37 million at the domestic box office.

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20. Rango

Worldwide Gross: $245.1 million

Gore Verbinski's Rango, had a high star quotient with Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher and Abigail Breslin lending their voices to characters, but even so, it was still a surprise hit, opening to a very positive $38 million at the domestic box office. 

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