The Biggest Angelina Jolie Movies Of All Time

Angelina Jolie isn't just a famous actor — she's one of those rare modern stars who evokes the aura of classic movie glamour (that she comes from Hollywood royalty doesn't hurt; her father is Jon Voight). Her life off-screen is just as widely publicized as her exploits on the silver screen, and her most famous movies derived much of their success from audiences wanting to see her rather than just tuning in for the latest franchise installment. In establishing this kind of public persona, Jolie has managed to score numerous box office hits that have ensured her fame is in no danger of evaporating. Such hits span a whole variety of genres, from family movies to challenging dramas to exciting action films where Jolie makes big things explode.

This level of versatility ensures that, no matter what your interests are, it's likely Jolie has starred in a movie that's up your alley. Such dexterity also explains how Jolie's films have managed to gross a combined $6.4 billion at the worldwide box office. Much of that impressive haul comes from her highest-grossing movies of all time. It must be said that a handful of these features weren't successful, with some failing to turn a profit on particularly hefty budgets. However, across Jolie's biggest movies, one does begin to appreciate the qualities that have made her such a compelling rarity among 21st-century movie stars. Here's a selection of Angelina Jolie's top-grossing hits. Note: Using this criterion means we're omitting some of the roles she's most famous for, like the cult favorite Girl, Interrupted. We've also left off fully animated flicks like Kung Fu Panda.

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and star Nicolas Cage had delivered a number of box office hits for Disney's Touchstone Pictures division throughout the 1990s. With their 2000 film Gone in 60 Seconds, they aimed to keep that track record alive and well in the 21st century. For this feature, Cage paired off with Angelina Jolie as the film's female lead. Put those together in a movie dropped in the middle of June and Gone in 60 Seconds was poised for box office glory.

Though not as big as then-recent Cage vehicles like The Rock, Gone in 60 Seconds still grossed $232.6 million worldwide, a slight improvement over the worldwide gross of then-recent Cage action film Con Air. Sometimes, all audiences want to see is famous people delivering cheesy one-liners and cars going fast, especially when it's boiling hot outside. The fact that this project was a remake of a famous 1970s movie also gave it brand recognition with moviegoers. Those qualities fueled the worldwide haul of Gone in 60 Seconds, which became the highest-grossing movie Jolie had appeared in up to that point. It wouldn't be long before Jolie would no longer have to play second fiddle to Cage, but would get to headline her own explosion-laden summer blockbusters. Interestingly, the box office run for Gone in 60 Seconds was later overshadowed by subsequent and controversial reports that Disney claimed the film lost $212 million for the studio.

With the first live-action Lara Croft movie, audiences were getting something they hadn't seen before. The famous video game character was now a flesh-and-blood person inhabited by one of the most famous movie stars of the moment. With that novelty worn off and the initial feature generating mixed word-of-mouth from moviegoers, though, the 2003 sequel, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider — The Cradle of Life, was going to need to work overtime to convince audiences to return to the theater.

Unfortunately, the film's marketing rested on its laurels, which included refusing to emphasize new exciting villains for Lara Croft to face as well as releasing a poster whose title was largely obscured by the body of Lara Croft. Without promising anything new to prospective ticket buyers, The Cradle of Life underwhelmed at the box office with just $157 million worldwide. Not only was that beneath the worldwide gross of its predecessor, but it simply wasn't good on its own terms. That kind of gross didn't put the movie anywhere near being profitable given that it carried a $90 million price tag. The allure of seeing Jolie play Lara Croft was enough to turn the first movie in this franchise into a hit. The Cradle of Life, proved, though, that this prospect wasn't enough to get people to show up a second time. This put an end to the franchise until 2018's resurrection with Alicia Vikander. 

Mr. and Mrs. Smith was a throwback to an era when the presence of a celebrity couple was enough to get people to buy ticket. Though today it's the presence of a Marvel Studios or DC Comics logo that gets people into multiplexes, throughout the years, there have been plenty of examples of movies headlined by lovestruck stars that became box office hits. So it was with 2005's Mr. and Mrs. Smith, which starred then-lovers Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. The press couldn't get enough of this duo and neither could the public.

All of that passion meant that pairing them up for the action/comedy vehicle Mr. and Mrs. Smith was bound to result in a box office smash. Still, nobody could have predicted that Mr. and Mrs. Smith would end up being as big as it was with a massive $486.1 million worldwide. The appeal of Pitt and Jolie was a large reason for this movie's success. However, its emphasis on big action set pieces and sultry romance ensured that it had plenty of appeal for moviegoers who weren't enamored with the real-world escapades of Pitt and Jolie. Not a lot of modern box office hits derive from their success from off-screen romances but Mr. and Mrs. Smith proved this element could still boost ticket sales in the modern world (a theory cast into doubt by the 2003 Ben Affleck-J. Lo vehicle and box office flop Gigli).

With Changeling, Angelina Jolie got to work with director Clint Eastwood for the first time. The collaboration centered on a mother who loses her son only to become embroiled in a larger conspiracy covering up the kidnappings of children. The movie's subject matter was extraordinarily bleak. That's not the kind of approach that usually results in a box office hit, and while Changeling was far from a smash hit, it still did OK business at the worldwide box office.

Grossing $113.8 million worldwide, Changeling took in a decent but not remarkable $35 million domestically. Competition from other adult dramas in November 2008 certainly played a role in this one not doing better domestically, as did the fact that audiences weren't accustomed to seeing Jolie heading such brutally dark fare. Changeling did very well overseas, though, as Jolie's star power proved attractive to international moviegoers. It more than doubled its domestic box office in the international markets with a $78 million haul. With those kinds of figures, Changeling was able to double its $55 million budget and became one of Jolie's higher-grossing forays into dramatic acting. 

With its harrowing premise, Changeling was never going to be a profit-making phenomenon and nobody was expecting to do Lara Croft-level business. Thankfully, its eventual worldwide haul proved adequate.

Fresh off Wanted, which proved that she could lure in action movie crowds even without a famous video game brand on the poster, Angelina Jolie headlined Salt in the summer of 2010. A mystery thriller all about pondering if a seemingly normal woman was actually an enemy spy, Salt was definitely made in the 2000s gritty spy movie mold of your average Bourne movie. Though it may not have been totally original, it certainly served up what audiences wanted and it managed to do well worldwide as a result.

In its worldwide box office run, Salt grossed $290.6 million, $118.3 million of which came from its domestic run. Those domestic figures were especially impressive given that Salt opened just one week after the sleeper blockbuster hit Inception. Turns out there was more than enough room in the July 2010 domestic marketplace for two big action movie hits. While its $130 million budget kept it from being a super profitable exercise, Salt still performed fine for a non-sequel feature that was basically getting by solely on the appeal of Angelina Jolie as an action star. Much like Wanted two years prior, Salt showed that Jolie was somebody audiences loved to see beating people up.

A little over five years after the first Maleficent, Disney released Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, which aimed to chronicle the further exploits of this revised version of the classic Disney villain. The feature arrived in a different marketplace than its predecessor. For one thing, the film was opening in October 2019, when other major family movies were also opening. Compare that to the original Maleficent's May 2014 release date, which had far less family movie competition to deal with. An extended five-year gap between films didn't help matters.

In the end, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil ended up doing just fine overseas, where it made nearly $400 million. This was a lower overseas haul than the first installment, but still a fine gross. Domestically, though, that was a whole other story, with Mistress of Evil making less than half of its predecessor at just $113.9 million. That was even behind the $114.7 million domestic gross of notorious Disney box office bomb Dumbo from that same year, and that film didn't have Jolie's famous face to help it.

In the end, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil made a sizable $489.3 million worldwide on a $185 million budget. While domestically at least it looked like Jolie's take on the character had worn out its welcome, the strong worldwide haul reaffirmed Jolie's pull with international audiences.