The Highest-Grossing Movies To Never Finish Number One At The Box Office

Like it or not, money makes the world go round. That old adage might not be more true anywhere than in the world of film, with new movies and even some of the most popular existing franchises either living or dying based on their bottom line. But with all the discussion around the biggest moneymakers in Hollywood, a certain less prestigious achievement often goes overlooked. We're talking, of course, about the best-performing films that never finished at #1 in ticket sales.

Since it can be tricky to determine exactly what it means to finish first at the box office, we'll only be looking at the highest-grossing films that never secured the coveted top spot for a weekly return. Additionally, we'll focus strictly on domestic returns while discussing all of these second-place runners-ups. So with all that in mind, let's dive right in to the highest-grossing movies to never reach #1 at the box office.

With an all-star cast of voice talent, featuring the likes of Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, and Seth MacFarlane among others, 2016's "Sing" managed to claim the top spot among Hollywood's second place finishers before being toppled years later by "Oppenheimer." The animated family flick is centered around a down-on-its-luck theater at risk of closing for good, whose plucky owner hopes to stage one last big show to save it from certain doom. Despite the fairly cliched plot, "Sing" lived up to its name with an impressive roster of both talent, popular music, and quirky animal characters, which all combined to help it soar to huge box office bucks.

With a final domestic take of $270 million, it would take a seriously heavy hitter to keep "Sing" from ever clinching a first place finish in weekly ticket sales. That came in the form of the first standalone "Star Wars" film, "Rogue One." With the latter closing at just shy of double the competition with $532 million in domestic sales alone, there was little hope of "Sing" ever coming close to beating it, despite its impressive haul.

Next up, and just barely falling short of beating its sequel, is the first live-action adaptation of "Alvin and the Chipmunks," which introduced audiences to a new spin on the classic cartoon characters. After losing their home, the chipmunks cross paths with Dave, a musician in the midst of tough times, and decide to join forces to try and become the next pop music sensation. But when Dave's former boss Ian hatches his own nefarious scheme, both Dave's career and the chipmunks' well-being hang in the balance.

Like its sequel, "Alvin and the Chipmunks" was bested at the domestic box office, this time by the Will Smith-led "I Am Legend," which saw Smith wandering a post-apocalyptic world infested with mutants. Opening weekend wasn't favorable, with "I Am Legend" debuting to $77 million, against $44 million for "Alvin," and going on to make $256 million total domestically against the $217 million earned by "Alvin." it wasn't quite the same blowout we'd see two years later, but still enough of a margin for "Legend" to stay comfortably on top.

Like we've said, the end of 2009 going into 2010 proved to be a competitive few weeks at the box office. Just two days after the "Alvin and the Chipmunks" sequel dropped, a live-action adaptation of "Sherlock Holmes" set out on Christmas day to try and topple the reign of "Avatar" to no avail. Starring Robert Downey Jr. as the titular detective alongside Jude Law as Watson, it took the classic exploits of the crime-solving duo and cranked the action up to 11. After putting away a crazed serial killer seemingly for good, Holmes finds himself on the wrong side of the law, all while trying to foil a scheme for world domination with a unexpected supernatural twist.

Like the rest of the competition in late 2009, "Sherlock Holmes" fell short of snatching a first place weekly finish thanks to the complete dominance by "Avatar" in theaters. Still, with a hefty domestic pull of over $200 million and a few hundred million more globally, the film was a solid foundation for an ongoing series, and one that may still see future installments.

Arriving in cinemas in 2014, "Interstellar" imagines a world in the not-too-distant future in which the human race is on the brink of total destruction by our own hands. In the hopes of escaping the dying planet, former astronaut Joseph Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) is tasked with leading a mission off planet Earth and into a newly formed wormhole to try and find a new home for humanity's survivors. But beyond the obvious risks that come with the desperate plan, there are deeply personal ones for Cooper thanks to the unexpected differences between our world and what lies on the other side.

Given the prestige (no pun intended) that Christopher Nolan's name carries as a filmmaker nowadays, his projects frequently wind up as the hottest in Hollywood upon release, sometimes for several weeks in a row. That's why it's so surprising that in the past decade alone, two of his films have been heavy hitters at the box office, only to miss the mark of a #1 release. Earning $188 million at home overall but just $47 million its first weekend in theaters, "Interstellar" suffered an early defeat at the hands of Disney's "Big Hero 6," before being further doomed by the release of that year's "Hunger Games" installment, "Mockingjay — Part 1."

More than 20 years after DreamWorks Animation kicked off the "Shrek" franchise back in 2001, the series is still going strong today, with 2022's "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" revisiting the smooth-talking feline swordsman first introduced in "Shrek 2." Now on the last of his nine lives, and understandably not ready to die just yet, he sets off to find an elusive and magical star that'll grant any wish. He's not alone in the search, however, as everyone from Goldilocks and the Three Bears to Death himself aren't far behind.

Though it wasn't as lucrative for the studio as titles like "Shrek 2" proved to be, the latest in the "Puss in Boots" series still walked away with a cool $185 million after its run in domestic theaters. Unfortunately, it was up against some stiff competition. Just like its predecessor, the long-awaited sequel to "Avatar" proved to be a killer at the box office, securing a solid lead over anything else unlucky enough to be released alongside it and keeping "The Last Wish" firmly in second place.

Another historical epic based on a real-life figure, and the second entry on our list set during the American Civil War, 2012's "Lincoln" was a worthy biography of the larger-than-life president. Directed by master filmmaker Steven Spielberg, the two-and-a-half-hour drama is set during the closing days of the war, as the country is on the verge of a hard-fought Union victory. The struggle is far from over for Lincoln, however, as he grapples with the still tumultuous politics at play, and the delicate future of the 13th Amendment.

An incredible performance by Daniel Day-Lewis as America's 16th president earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor at that year's Oscars, and helped propel the film to a favorite for both history buffs and general audiences. Unfortunately, after a first week on just 11 screens, the wartime period piece wound up on the losing side of a wide-release brawl with both "Twilight: Breaking Dawn — Part 2" and the James Bond epic "Skyfall," never getting above #3 on the box office chart while still compiling an impressive $182 million domestic box office total.

After "How to Train Your Dragon" made nearly half a billion dollars in global ticket sales back in 2010, it was obvious that a franchise was in the works, which was confirmed by its eventual 2014 sequel. Continuing the story of Hiccup and his dragon Toothless, the second entry picks up five years later, with the unlikely pair facing off against an evil warlord named Drago with a personal grudge against dragons. He threatens to destroy the tenuous peace between man and dragons, with Hiccup and Toothless the only ones who can prevent the worst from coming to pass.

This time around, a smaller domestic take than its predecessor meant that "How to Train Your Dragon 2" was snubbed from a first place finish, despite earning even more than the last entry when adding in overseas profits. As a result of its lackluster performance on the domestic side, it lost that coveted top spot to the Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum-led "22 Jump Street," which premiered to $57 million against the $49 million of "Dragon.". But despite the hiccup in box office supremacy, the "How to Train Your Dragon" series returned in 2019 with a third entry, "How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World," which held #1 at the box office for two straight weeks.