The 8 Biggest Movies of 2019, and Whether They Were Any Good

Eight movies, a pile of billions. Here's what each one made worldwide and whether it was any good. Money and quality barely spoke to each other.

Number one made the most money and will start the most arguments.

1. 8
   Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)6.4

   A fun sequel that is mostly the first one again.

   It made $801.7 million worldwide and lands a 6.4 movie.guru score. Swapping who lives in which avatar is the whole trick, and it works about half the time.
2. 7
   Aladdin (2019)6.8

   Will Smith had an impossible job and mostly survived it.

   Critics gave it 57% on Rotten Tomatoes, audiences gave it an A CinemaScore, and it pulled $1.05 billion worldwide. Loud, shiny, fine. The cartoon still wins.
3. 6
   Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)4.8

   Nine movies of buildup, landed like a dropped lunch tray.

   A C− CinemaScore from opening-weekend fans. For Star Wars. It still made $1.08 billion worldwide, but a 4.8 movie.guru score says the crowd left confused.
4. 5
   Joker (2019)7.3

   Great Phoenix performance stuck inside a borrowed Scorsese movie.

   Made for a reported $55 to 70 million, it grossed $1.08 billion worldwide. IMDb users rate it 8.3, Metacritic sits at 59. That gap is the whole argument.
5. 4
   Captain Marvel (2019)5.9

   Fine. Just fine. A billion dollars of fine.

   $1.13 billion worldwide and 79% on Rotten Tomatoes, but a 5.9 movie.guru score parks it near average. Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn carry the fun parts.
6. 3
   Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)8.5

   Smaller, funnier and smarter than its $1.13 billion suggests.

   An 8.5 movie.guru score, 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, an A CinemaScore. A Europe field trip that lets Peter Parker be an actual teenager. Only gripe: Zendaya deserved more scenes.
7. 2
   The Lion King (2019)6.7

   Photoreal lions can't make faces. That's kinda the whole problem.

   $1.66 billion worldwide on a reported $250 to 260 million budget. Gorgeous and emotionally on mute. Critics landed at 52% on Rotten Tomatoes, and Guru's Take sits at 4.9.
8. 1
   Avengers: Endgame (2019)9.4

   Great finale. Not a 9.4 movie on its own.

   $2.94 billion worldwide and a 9.4 movie.guru score. Guru's Take: 7.8. Strip away the homework from the earlier movies and the middle is a time-travel scavenger hunt.

$617.38 says the first comment defends The Rise of Skywalker and the second one regrets it.

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Current mood: ready to fight about it