Steven Spielberg's Biggest Box Office Hits All Have One Big Thing In Common

Warner Bros.

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Steven Spielberg has made his name synonymous with cinema. Even dating back to his earliest contributions, he helped change the way we view movies. "Jaws" literally reshaped the box office forever, becoming the first true summer blockbuster as we know it. Spielberg has had many, many success stories since then, ranging from sweeping adventures like "Raiders of the Lost Ark" to war epics like "Saving Private Ryan." But every one of Spielberg's biggest hits have one crucial thing in common.

Spielberg is the highest-grossing director of all time at the box office. That doesn't happen by accident. And he only has one $1 billion hit to his name. That sort of success happens with consistency, which he's been able to sustain for more than five decades. But more than anything else he's done, audiences have shown up each and every time that Spielberg has dabbled in the science fiction genre — so much so that his six biggest movies all fall under the sci-fi umbrella. Here's the breakdown:

1. "Jurassic Park" – $1.05 billion worldwide

2. "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" — $797 million worldwide

3. "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" — $786 million worldwide

4. "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" — $618 million worldwide

5. "Ready Player One" – $607 million worldwide

6. "War of the Worlds" — $606 million worldwide

Spielberg has made eight sci-fi movies of varying quality during his career prior to this year — his latest, "Disclosure Day," brings his total to nine. 1977's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and 2001's "A.I. Artificial Intelligence" also fall into this category. The only one that wasn't an outright success in theaters, hampered by its large budget, was "A.I." Other than that, Spielberg's journeys into the realm of science fiction have generally performed better than any other genre he's dabbled in, and it's not particularly close.

Universal Pictures

While I'm not going to adjust every movie in the director's filmography for inflation, to help illustrate the point, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" made $340 million worldwide. If we adjust that number accounting for inflation, that would be roughly $1.8 billion in today's dollars. Granted, that movie wasn't competing with streaming services and it wasn't even competing with VHS at the time, so it's not an apples to apples comparison to modern blockbusters.

All the same, it helps demonstrate that yes, audiences really love it when Steven Spielberg makes sci-fi movies. "E.T." held the number one spot at the box office longer than any other movie in history. It was, at the time of its release, the highest-grossing movie of all time. Spielberg would once again find himself with the biggest hit ever on his hands when "Jurassic Park" was released in 1993. It remains his biggest theatrical hit, and the only one to cross the $1 billion mark, thanks to the 2013 20th anniversary re-release.

"Jurassic Park" also changed movies forever, due to its groundbreaking blend of CGI and practical effects. It also kickstarted a franchise that has made nearly $7 billion globally, with Spielberg also directing the first sequel, "The Lost World." Despite that movie's mixed reputation, it's another one of his biggest hits.

Similarly, "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" was a monster hit no matter how much you hate it. That film's reputation is downright lousy and remains so to this day. All the same, it's the third-biggest movie of Spielberg's illustrious career. Yes, people kind of hated that he brought aliens into Indy's world, but that made it sci-fi. That also helped make it a huge hit.

Universal Pictures

There's also "War of the Worlds," which was nearly derailed by Tom Cruise and his off-screen antics. But even the height of media scrutiny shining on one of the world's biggest stars couldn't dissuade audiences from seeing Spielberg's take on the H.G. Wells classic. Spielberg previously worked with Cruise on "Minority Report," which was also a sizable hit, taking in $358 million worldwide.

Then there's "Ready Player One," a movie not oft-ranked high in terms of Spielberg's overall filmography. And yet, it made over $600 million worldwide, with a massive turnout internationally. It did so in 2018, which was a record-setting year at the box office overall. That's no small thing, and it's a reminder that, despite what conversation exists online surrounding a given movie, those conversations don't always mirror broad, real-world sentiment.

Another interesting note: Of the six movies that top Spielberg's own box office chart, five of them were scored by the great John Williams. The only exception was "Ready Player One," which featured a soundtrack by Alan Silvestri. So, if we limit it to the top five, the two things these movies have in common are sci-fi and Williams. That makes sense, given that Williams is the highest-grossing movie composer of all time.

This is also to say nothing of Spielberg's career as a producer. Let's not forget that he's produced all of the "Jurassic World" movies, as well as the "Transformers" franchise, plus "Men in Black" and "Back to the Future." Therein lies further billions in box office receipts. Sci-fi and Spielberg is, more often than not, a recipe for success.

You can grab "Steven Spielberg: The Spotlight Collection" on 4K from Amazon.