The 8 Biggest Movies of 2014, and Whether They Were Any Good

Money and quality had a messy breakup in 2014. Here are the year's top eight worldwide grosses, and how good they actually were.

Number one made over a billion dollars. Nobody admits buying a ticket.

1. 8
   The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)4.8

   Too many villains, zero room to breathe. Garfield deserved better.

   $728 million worldwide on a reported $200 to 293 million budget, and a 4.8 movie.guru score. Jamie Foxx and Dane DeHaan spend the whole movie fighting over the same screen time.
2. 7
   X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)8.8

   The best X-Men movie, and it isn't especially close.

   8.8 movie.guru score, 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, an A CinemaScore. Two casts and a time travel plot that should collapse, and it holds. Still leans on Jackman way too hard.
3. 6
   Maleficent (2014)6.1

   Jolie is the whole movie. The script just follows her around.

   $759.9 million worldwide and an A CinemaScore, but critics rated it above only 38% of movies. It's a 6.1 because audiences loved Jolie more than anything she was handed.
4. 5
   The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014)6.0

   Half a book stretched into a full movie. You felt it.

   $337 million domestic, the most of anything on this list. Still just a 6.0 movie.guru score, because it's mostly a warmup for Part 2 that charged full price.
5. 4
   Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)9.0

   The best movie in 2014's top eight. Not up for debate.

   9.0 movie.guru score, the only Elite on this list, with 1.39 million IMDb votes. A Marvel B team outplayed every franchise that year. The villain is still instantly forgettable.
6. 3
   Interstellar (2014)7.6

   IMDb loves it more than critics ever will. IMDb is right.

   8.7 on IMDb from 2.6 million votes, but 73% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.6 movie.guru score. Guru's Take is 8.3, even if the love speech plays like a physics lecture.
7. 2
   The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)6.5

   One small book, three long movies. This was the leftovers.

   $962.7 million worldwide, but 59% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.5 movie.guru score, mostly fans being polite. Peter Jackson ran out of book long before he ran out of armies.
8. 1
   Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)3.1

   The biggest movie of 2014 is the worst one here.

   $1.1 billion worldwide, 18% on Rotten Tomatoes, a 3.1 movie.guru score. Audiences still handed it an A minus CinemaScore. You all did this. Every single one of you.

$1,109 says somebody in the comments admits they saw number one twice in theaters and isn't sorry.

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Current mood: ready to fight about it