Worldwide gross figures have been rounded up or down to the nearest million or billion dollars and are sourced from Box Office Mojo.

By and large, 2024 proved to be an excellent year for cinema across the board. The best movies of 2024 boasted a diverse lineup of genres and styles from familiar faces and new upstarts alike, featuring everything from spectacular sci-fi epics and riotous action comedies all the way to wickedly satirical body horrors and smash-hit musicals. Among the year's best cinematic offerings, 2024 also played host to a number of standout movie sequels that beat their predecessors at the box office.

Whether the movie in question was the latest outing in an up-and-coming series, or a seemingly long-dead franchise triumphantly shaking off the cobwebs years after the original debuted, a number of 2024's most prominent sequels shattered box office records despite receiving mixed reviews from fans and critics. In a world where many superb movies never receive a sequel despite deserving one, this may seem desperately unfair, but serves to underline the inescapable fact that commercial returns will always trump critical acclaim in Hollywood.

10 Terrifier 3

Worldwide Gross: $89 Million

The third installment in Damien Leone's Terrifier movie franchise, 2024's Terrifier 3 continued the supernatural slasher film series' remarkable run of critical and commercial success. Chronicling the return of David Howard Thornton's Art the Clown against the backdrop of the Christmas holidays, Terrifier 3 received glowing reviews, clocking in with an impressive Rotten Tomatoes score of 78% after premiering at Fantastic Fest in September.

However, the 2024 film wasn't just an unlikely critics' darling. Making Terrifier 2's worldwide gross of $15.7 million look like chump change, Terrifier 3 earned just under $89 million at the box office worldwide against a paltry budget of a little over $2 million. Quadrupling its predecessor's financial returns with a considerable amount of change left over, Leone's chaotically violent picture was one of the highest-grossing horror movies of 2024.

9 Detective Conan: The Million-Dollar Pentagram

Worldwide Gross: $108 Million

The twenty-seventh installment in the Japanese Case Closed film series, Detective Conan: The Million-Dollar Pentagram is conceivably the most successful movie of 2024 that most casual cinema-goers won't have heard of. An animated mystery offering from Chika Nagoaka chronicling the latest adventures of the titular character, The Million-Dollar Pentagram received largely mixed reviews from critics.

The first Case Closed movie, Case Closed: The Time Bombed Skyscraper, debuted in Japanese theaters in 1997.

Fortunately for the team behind the film, these misgivings did not translate into the movie's titanic commercial returns. Nagoaka's picture commercially successful Case Closed movie ever made.

8 Alien: Romulus

Worldwide Gross: $351 Million

A standalone spin-off sequel set between the events of Alien and Aliens, 2024's Alien: Romulus proved to be a glorious return to the silver screen for one of sci-fi horror's most beloved franchises. Evil Dead director Fede Álvarez's foray into the storied series follows six young colonists who encounter the Xenomorphs aboard a derelict spaceship. The film received excellent reviews, with some going as far as to label the director's efforts as the best Alien movie since 1986's Aliens.

Unsurprisingly, Alien: Romulus produced the box office returns to match the film's laundry list of glowing reviews, with Alvarez's picture highest-grossing horror movie of 2024.

7 Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Worldwide Gross: $451 Million

The follow-up outing to 1988's Beetlejuice, Tim Burton's 2024 horror-comedy Beetlejuice Beetlejuice saw Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder reprise their roles from the original to a fanfare of positive . Chronicling Betelgeuse's return as he reappears in Lydia Deetz's life, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice received similarly positive reviews to the original movie, courtesy of Burton's inimitable style of direction and a memorable lead performance from Keaton as the titular character.

Earning a whopping $84.6 million against a budget of $15 million, Beetlejuice was a veritable success story from a commercial perspective, but still paled in comparison to 2024's follow-up outing. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice took home an enormous worldwide gross of more than $451 million, justifying the sequel's considerable budget of approximately $100 million and cementing its status as one of the year's standout cinematic offerings.

6 Kung Fu Panda 4

Worldwide Gross: $548 Million

Featuring the return of Jack Black as the titular character following a hiatus of more than eight years, Kung Fu Panda 4 chronicles Po's efforts to train a new Dragon Warrior and defeat a powerful new villain; an evil shape-shifting sorceress known as the Chameleon. The movie received generally positive reviews from critics, despite an inescapable sensation that the long-running animated martial arts comedy franchise had largely begun to run out of steam.

2011's Kung Fu Panda 2 is the highest-grossing entry in the franchise with a worldwide gross of more than $665 million.

With that being said, Kung Fu Panda 4's enviable box office success is an extremely strong indication that audiences haven't seen the last of Po just yet. The movie took home nearly $548 million worldwide against a budget of $85 million, eclipsing Kung Fu Panda 3's return of $521 million. However, despite landing as the eighth-highest-grossing movie of 2024, Kung Fu Panda 4 is only the third-highest-grossing entry in the series, highlighting the franchise's stratospheric commercial returns in sharp relief.

5 Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire

Worldwide Gross: $572 Million

The fifth film in the Monsterverse franchise depicting the titular behemoths' efforts to defeat the malevolent ape, Skar King, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire serves as the sequel to 2021's Godzilla vs. Kong. Adam Wingard's picture garnered an approval rating of just 54% on Rotten Tomatoes, with many arguing that the film didn't present anything compelling outside its blockbuster visual effects and monster-on-monster action sequences.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire proved to be a monster hit at the box office, raking in more than $572 million globally to trump Godzilla x Kong's earnings by more than $100 million.

However, as is often the case in cinema, this state of affairs didn't prove to be a stumbling block from a commercial perspective. Boasting a stunning opening weekend at the box office, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire proved to be a monster hit. The movie raked in more than $572 million globally, trumping Godzilla x Kong's earnings by more than $100 million. Wingard's picture ended 2024 as the seventh-highest-grossing movie of the year, as well as the Monsterverse's most commercially successful endeavor to date.

4 Dune: Part Two

Worldwide Gross: $714 Million

The sequel to 2021's Dune, it speaks volumes to the wave of acclaim received by 2024's Dune: Part Two that the film is already being touted as one of the best movie sequels of all time. Chronicling Paul Atreides' crusade to retake the desert world of Arrakis from House Harkonnen, Denis Villeneuve's movie received rave reviews from critics, with the vast majority labeling the sci-fi epic as superior to its predecessor across the board.

This enviable state of affairs was decidedly not limited to the sequel's reviews. While Dune's worldwide gross of $408 million was nothing to sniff at, Dune: Part Two blew its predecessor out of the water with a jaw-dropping global return of more than $714 million. Landing as the fifth-highest-grossing movie of 2024, Villeneuve's sequel stands as one of the most impressive sophomore attempts in cinematic history.

3 Moana 2

Worldwide Gross: $960 Million

Picking up the story three years after the events of 2016's Moana, 2024's Moana 2 saw the majority of the original film's cast reprise their roles against the backdrop of a hunt for the mysterious lost island of Motufetu. However, in contrast to the first movie, Moana 2 received considerably more mixed reviews from critics, with many deeming the follow-up outing as inferior to the original across the board.

Ending 2024 as the fourth highest-grossing movie of the year just behind Despicable Me 4, the animated musical adventure offering grossed more than $960 million worldwide...

With that being said, a lukewarm critical response had absolutely zero bearing on Moana 2's stratospheric box office results. Landing as the fourth-highest-grossing movie of the year just behind Despicable Me 4, the animated musical adventure offering earned nearly $300 million more than Moana's return of $687 million, almost a decade after the original debuted. By the time the curtain had rolled on 2024, Moana 2 had grossed more than $960 million worldwide.​​

2 Deadpool & Wolverine

Worldwide Gross: $1.3 Billion

Following a six-year hiatus for popular culture's favorite foul-mouthed mercenary, Deadpool & Wolverine proved to be a much-needed shot in the arm for the flagging MCU. Ryan Reynold's third appearance as Deadpool saw him forces with Hugh Jackman's Wolverine to save the world in one of the best action-comedies in recent memory, with the nostalgia-tinged buddy-superhero effort garnering a respectable approval rating of 78% on Rotten Tomatoes to match the movie's tidal wave of fanbase acclaim.

Carrying on the proud tradition of its predecessors, Deadpool & Wolverine toppled Joker and Oppenheimer to become the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time in short order; a top five that incidentally features every single Deadpool movie. Shawn Levy's picture also obliterated predecessor Deadpool 2's global return of $785 million, flexing an eye-watering worldwide gross of more than $1.3 billion as 2024 drew to a close.

1 Inside Out 2

Worldwide Gross: $1.7 Billion

The sequel to 2015's Inside Out, Kelsey Mann's Inside Out 2 has proved to be an unmitigated success story that highlights why Pixar is reversing its long-held stance on sequels. An animated coming-of-age story depicting an array of personified emotions housed in a young girl's mind, the movie boasts an ensemble cast including the likes of Amy Poehler, Maya Hawke, and Lewis Black. Mann's picture received glowing reviews, but Inside Out 2's critical accolades pale in comparison to the movie's commercial laurels.

The original 2015 installment earned more than $850 million worldwide; a staggering return in any other context that didn't even come close to making a dint in the sequel's final tally of nearly $1.7 billion worldwide. In addition to easily beating its predecessor at the box office in 2024, Inside Out 2 was the highest-grossing movie of the year, as well as the highest-grossing animated film of all time.