The biggest blockbuster movie of every summer since 2000 at the US box office

Disney

• We looked back at the biggest movies of every summer at the box office since 2000.
• Disney had only one movie rule the summer in the 2000s, but the company has released seven of the 10 biggest summer movies this decade.
• The list includes critically acclaimed hits like "The Dark Knight," but also critical duds like "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The summer movie season is home to some of the biggest blockbusters of the year. Every year, audiences can expect theaters to be packed with superhero movies, animated adventures, and other franchise favorites. 

With the summer 2019 movie season officially over, we looked back at the biggest movie of every summer since 2000, based on how much it made in the US (per numbers from Box Office Mojo), adjusted for inflation. We counted movies that came out May through August (so no, "Avengers: Endgame" didn't make the cut for this list).

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Superheroes, animated movies, and Disney have ruled most summers in this timeframe, and it shows just how quickly Disney has dominated the industry. In the 2000s, Disney had only one movie rule the summer: "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" in 2006.

"Finding Nemo" was the biggest summer movie of 2003, but Disney didn't acquire Pixar until 2006; similarly, Disney didn't purchase Lucasfilm until 2012, and "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith" was the biggest movie of the summer of 2005.

But this decade, Disney released seven of the 10 highest-grossing movies of each summer, including three from Pixar and three from Marvel Studios.

For this list, we've also provided the movie's original domestic gross, its worldwide gross, and its Rotten Tomatoes critic score for comparison. Some movies that raked in the big bucks performed terribly with critics (we're looking at you, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen").

Below is the highest-grossing movie in the US of every summer since 2000:

2000: "Mission: Impossible 2"

Release date: May 4, 2000

Adjusted domestic gross: $360,082,200

Original domestic gross: $215,409,889

Original worldwide gross: $546,388,105

Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 57%

2001: "Shrek"

Release date: May 16, 2001

Adjusted domestic gross: $426,088,600

Original domestic gross: $267,665,011

Original worldwide gross: $484,409,218

Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 88%

2002: "Spider-Man"

Release date: May 3, 2002

Adjusted domestic gross: $626,057,600

Original domestic gross: $403,706,375

Original worldwide gross: $821,708,551

Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 90%

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