2023 in film
2023 in film is an overview of events, including award ceremonies, festivals, a list of country- and genre-specific lists of films released, and notable deaths. Warner Bros. and Disney Studios (division)|Walt Disney Studios] celebrated their 100th anniversaries this year. The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Barbie were the two movies that made $1 billion in 2023.
A large number of the year's films significantly underperformed at the box office, attributed to high budgets and low marketing due to the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes.
Evaluation of the year
In his article highlighting the best movies of 2023, Richard Brody of The New Yorker said, "Though a year in movie releases is a small and arbitrary sample size, it's nonetheless clear that, at the moment, the art of cinema is in good shape in the United States. The overwhelming commercial success of two of the year's strangest big-budget films, Oppenheimer and Barbie, released on the same day this summer, is an obvious sign of the vigor of the cinemascape. But the more crucial indicator of vitality preceded their release by several years—namely, the moments when these projects got the green light from their respective studios. One has blown far beyond the billion-dollar mark, and the other is approaching it, at precisely the moment that the superhero-industrial complex seems to be tottering. However, the studios are hardly the artistic center of the American cinema; they're just one element in an environment that is fostering ongoing artistic progress. Deep-pocketed streaming services that can afford to compete with the studios—and even outbid them—have an incentive to prove themselves as purveyors not just of quantity but of quality, including by competing for awards. As for independent production companies, they can—and must—take chances on inexperienced filmmakers with big ideas and on audacious projects by acclaimed filmmakers with the name recognition to help sell them."The year saw an unusually large number of high-profile, big-budget films which subsequently under-performed at the box office, leading to the coining of the term "flopbuster". Several of the most prominent tent-pole films of 2023 which under-performed include Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, The Flash, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Blue Beetle, Expend4bles, Haunted Mansion, The Marvels, and Wish. Many reasons have been given for the phenomenon, with the most common being the high budgets, low marketing due to the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes, and a general perception that audiences had grown tired of the abundance of superhero-themed movies, a trend which came to be known as "superhero fatigue".
Highest-grossing films
| Rank | Title | Distributor | Worldwide gross |
| 1 | Barbie | Warner Bros. | $1,448,232,531 |
| 2 | The Super Mario Bros. Movie | Universal | $1,360,847,665 |
| 3 | Oppenheimer | Universal | $975,594,978 |
| 4 | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 | Disney | $845,555,777 |
| 5 | Fast X | Universal | $704,875,015 |
| 6 | Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse | Sony | $690,542,303 |
| 7 | Full River Red | China Film Group Corporation | $670,491,959 |
| 8 | Wonka | Warner Bros. | $634,402,312 |
| 9 | The Wandering Earth 2 | China Film Group Corporation | $615,023,132 |
| 10 | Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One | Paramount Pictures | $571,125,435 |
Box office records
- Barbie became the 53rd film overall to gross $1 billion worldwide.
- * It became the highest grossing comedy film, surpassing Hi Mom.
- * It surpassed Jia Ling's Hi, Mom to become the highest-grossing movie with a solo female director.
- * It had the largest domestic opening weekend for a film that is not a sequel, remake, or superhero property, totaling $162 million.
- * It also achieved the largest opening weekend for a female-directed film, surpassing the record set by Captain Marvel.
- * It had the highest opening weekend for a Margot Robbie film and a Ryan Gosling film, surpassing Suicide Squad and Blade Runner 2049 simultaneously, later becoming both actors' highest-grossing films.
- * It surpassed The Secret Life of Pets to have the highest non-sequel July opening weekend.
- * It became the fastest Warner Bros. film to reach the $1 billion mark, doing so within 17 days of release, surpassing the previous 19-day record held by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.
- * Its second weekend domestic earnings of $92 million was the largest sophomore weekend ever for a Warner Bros. film and the seventh-largest ever.
- * It became the highest-grossing Warner Bros. film in the United States and Canada, surpassing The Dark Knight.
- * It became the highest-grossing film released by Warner Bros. at the global box office, surpassing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.
- * It became the first comedy film to gross over $1 billion.
- * It became the first film since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared no longer a global emergency to gross $1 billion.
- The Super Mario Bros. Movie became the first film based on a video game, the eleventh animated film, and the 52nd film overall, to gross $1 billion worldwide.
- * It became Illumination productions#Box office performance|Illumination's highest-grossing film], as well as the highest-grossing non-Disney animated film of all time, surpassing Minions. It was later surpassed as the highest-grossing non-Disney animated film by Ne Zha 2 in 2025 but remains Illumination's highest-grossing film.
- * It surpassed 2019's Frozen II as having the highest-grossing opening worldwide for an animated film, grossing $375.6 million.
- * It achieved the highest-grossing opening for a video game adaptation worldwide, surpassing 2019's Detective Pikachu.
- * The film achieved the second-highest-grossing opening weekend in the US and Canada for an animated film behind Incredibles 2, earning $146 million in a 3-day frame and $204 million in a 5-day frame over Easter weekend.
- * It set the record for the biggest five-day opening weekend in North America, surpassing Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
- * It set the record for Illumination's biggest opening, surpassing Despicable Me 2.
- * It became the highest-grossing video game film of all time, surpassing Warcraft in nine days by 13 April.
- * It became the first animated film to gross $1 billion since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2019. Also, it became the last film to gross $1 billion before the Covid-19 Pandemic was declared no longer a global emergency. The last animated film to do so prior to this was Frozen II.
- * In Japan, its opening weekend gross of $14.3 million became the highest for a Hollywood animated film, as well as the highest for a film from Universal, surpassing Jurassic World Dominion.
- * In Mexico, it became the highest-grossing film of all time with $82.4 million, surpassing Spider-Man: No Way Home which made $81.16 million.
- Oppenheimer became the highest-grossing World War II films|World War II] film of all time, surpassing Dunkirk, also directed by Christopher Nolan.
- * It became the highest-grossing biographical film of all time, surpassing Bohemian Rhapsody.
- * It is the second-highest-grossing R-rated film of all time behind Joker and the highest-grossing opening weekend for an R-rated film since the COVID-19 pandemic.
- * It is the fourth-highest grossing IMAX release of all time, accumulating $184 million through IMAX theaters alone, including $17 million from 30 IMAX 70 mm film screens around the world.
- * It became Nolan's highest-grossing film in over 50 overseas markets, including Germany, India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom.
- The Marvel Cinematic Universe became the first film franchise to gross $29 billion with the releases of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and The Marvels.
- The Spider-Man franchise became the third film franchise to gross $10 billion with the release of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
- * Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse became the highest-grossing animated film distributed by Sony Pictures, surpassing Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation.
- * It also became List of [Sony Pictures Animation productions#Box office|Sony Pictures Animation's highest-grossing film], surpassing The Smurfs.
- * It had the highest opening weekend for a Sony Pictures Animation film, surpassing Hotel Transylvania 2.
- Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour became the highest-grossing concert film of all time.
- * It also became the highest opening for a concert film of all time, and the second-highest opening in October of all time behind Joker.
- Transformers franchise grossed $5 billion with the release of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.
- Mission Impossible franchise grossed $4 billion with the release of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning.
- The Hunger Games franchise grossed $3 billion with the release of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.
- John Wick franchise grossed $1 billion with the release of John Wick: Chapter 4.
Events
- 2 May – 27 September – The Writers Guild of America commences a 2023 [Writers Guild of America strike|strike] against film and television studios, its first labor stoppage since 2007 and the largest production stoppage for the American entertainment industry since 2020, after the union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers failed to agree on a new contract by the WGA's 1 May renewal deadline. Other writers unions such as the Writers' Guild of Great Britain, Australian Writers' Guild, Writers Guild of Canada subsequently announce their support for the strike and instructed their members to refrain from working on American projects during the duration of the strike, impacted several film productions and releases. The WGA later declared the strike over on 27 September, three days after the Guild and AMPTP reached a tentative agreement.
- 14 July – 9 November – SAG-AFTRA commences a 2023 [SAG-AFTRA strike|strike] against film and television studios, after the union and the AMPTP failed to agree on a new contract after their previous agreement expired on 30 June. This marks the first time that actors have initiated a labor dispute since the 1980 actors strike. With the concurrent WGA strike, this becomes the first time that actors and writers have walked out simultaneously since 1960. Film projects produced by these American studios but made outside the U.S. may also be affected by the strike. However, actors represented by another union, such as Equity in the UK, may instead be required to continue working on projects.
- 21 July – The Barbenheimer phenomenon occurs as Greta Gerwig's Barbie and Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer are released in theaters on the same day. The opening weekend box office was the first time two films opened with over $100m and $80m in the same weekend, the biggest box office weekend since before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the fourth-biggest weekend of all time.
Award ceremonies
Film festivals
Awards
Palme d'Or :Golden Lion :
Golden Bear :
'''People's Choice Award :'''
2023 films
By country/region
- List of American films of 2023
- List of Argentine films of 2023
- List of Australian films of 2023
- List of Bangladeshi films of 2023
- List of British films of 2023
- List of Canadian films of 2023
- List of Chinese films of 2023
- List of French films of 2023
- List of German films of 2023
- List of Hong Kong films of 2023
- List of Indian films of 2023
- List of Italian films of 2023
- List of Japanese films of 2023
- List of Mexican films of 2023
- List of Pakistani films of 2023
- List of Philippine films of 2023
- List of Russian films of 2023
- List of South Korean films of 2023
- List of Spanish films of 2023
- List of Turkish films of 2023
- List of Yemeni films of 2023
By genre/medium
- List of action films of 2023
- List of animated feature films of 2023
- List of avant-garde films of 2023
- List of crime films of 2023
- List of comedy films of 2023
- List of drama films of 2023
- List of horror films of 2023
- List of LGBT-related films of 2023
- List of science fiction films of 2023
- List of thriller films of 2023
- List of western films of 2023
Deaths
Film debuts
- Ansonbean – Tales from the Occult：Body and Soul
- Sasha Calle – The Flash
- Deva Cassel – The Beautiful Summer
- MrBeast – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
- Sofía Otero – 20,000 Species of Bees
- Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi – Red, White & Brass
- Dominic Sessa – ''The Holdovers''