The 8 Biggest Movies of 2008, and Whether They Were Any Good

2008 handed over $5.1 billion to these eight movies. Only two scored above a 6. Here's who earned it and who just had great timing.

Number one will start a fight with every Marvel fan in your group chat.

1. 8
   Twilight (2008)4.6

   A $37M teen romance that outran its own reviews.

   Reported $37M budget, $405M worldwide. Critics gave it 48% on Rotten Tomatoes and the movie.guru score is 4.6. The baseball scene still has more fans than the dialogue.
2. 7
   The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)5.9

   Spent like an epic, plays like a very long recess.

   A reported $225M budget, the biggest here, for $419.7M worldwide and a 5.9. That's a lot of money for a polite sword-fighting field trip.
3. 6
   Iron Man (2008)9.0

   Sixth in money, second in quality. The box office blew it.

   $585.8M worldwide on a reported $150M budget, with a 9.0 movie.guru score and 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. Downey's fast-talking banter does more lifting than the suit.
4. 5
   Quantum of Solace (2008)4.9

   Outgrossed Iron Man, and nobody can explain the plot.

   $589.6M worldwide off a reported $200 to 230M budget, and a 4.9 movie.guru score. The editing chops every action scene into confetti. A villain hoarding water deserved better.
5. 4
   Hancock (2008)4.2

   Lowest score on this list, and I still kinda like it.

   $629.4M worldwide, 42% from critics, a 4.2 movie.guru score. My Guru's Take is a kinder 5.4, because Will Smith as a grumpy, wrecking-ball hero is a legit great pitch.
6. 3
   Mamma Mia! (2008)5.1

   Critics shrugged, the world sang along, and the world won.

   $708.2M worldwide on a reported $52M budget. Critics gave it 54%, audiences an A− CinemaScore. Pierce Brosnan sings like he's reading a ransom note, and it doesn't matter.
7. 2
   Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)4.8

   Critics went easy on it. Audiences didn't, and audiences were right.

   $786.6M worldwide and 77% on Rotten Tomatoes, but a B CinemaScore and a 4.8 movie.guru score. The fridge scene arrives early and the movie never climbs back out.
8. 1
   The Dark Knight (2008)9.3

   Still the best superhero movie ever made. It's not close.

   The top grosser here at $1.008B worldwide, a 9.3 movie.guru score, 3.2 million IMDb votes. Heath Ledger's Joker turned a summer blockbuster into a crime thriller that happens to have a cape.

$743.61 says at least one of you defends Crystal Skull in the comments and somehow brings up the fridge.

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Current mood: ready to fight about it