The 12 Best Blake Lively Movies Ranked By Box Office
Appearing in IF, Deadpool & Wolverine, and It Ends With Us throughout 2024, Blake Lively is certainly having a moment. And while she's been an A-lister for quite some time, not all of her movies have been smash hits. These are the 12 biggest box office bangers in Lively's filmography.
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00:00Appearing in If, Dimple, and Wolverine, and It Ends With Us throughout 2024, Blake Lively
00:06is certainly having a moment. And while she's been an A-lister for quite some time, not
00:10all of her movies have been smash hits. These are the 12 biggest box office bangers in Lively's
00:16filmography.
00:17Most Blake Lively movies are firmly grounded dramas or comedies. However, for her January
00:222020 feature The Rhythm Section, Hollywood dared to ask, what would happen if Blake Lively
00:27had a gun? An adaptation of the Mark Burnell novel of the same name, The Rhythm Section
00:32follows Lively as Stephanie Patrick, a woman who goes on a violent revenge spree to avenge
00:37her murdered family. This Rio Morano directorial effort then follows Patrick as she goes from
00:42being over her head in violent skirmishes to channeling Liam Neeson in Taken in how
00:47easily she disposes of baddies. This globetrotting, explosion-laden enterprise was a drastic departure
00:53from other Lively movies, and unfortunately, that risk didn't translate into a box office
00:58hit. This $50 million budgeted feature grossed just $5.9 million worldwide, nearly all of
01:04that coming from a $5.4 million domestic haul. Its box office run was instantly marked a
01:09disaster after its North American opening weekend. The Rhythm Section scored the worst
01:13opening weekend ever at the time for a feature debuting in over 3,000 theaters. It was eventually
01:19estimated that The Rhythm Section would lose over $30 million for its financiers, a staggering
01:25loss.
01:26Action movie mode was just not a mold audiences wanted to see Lively inhabit. Notably, competition
01:31from a lighter January 2020 smash hit, Bad Boys for Life, also restricted the chances
01:36that The Rhythm Section had a box office success.
01:38You don't have what it takes. So drown. Or quit.
01:45Blake Lively was one of the countless big-name actors in the anthology film New York, I Love
01:49You. The expansive scope of this feature, which comprises 10 distinct short stories,
01:54allowed Lively to work with performers like Anton Yelchin, Olivia Thurlby, and James Caan
01:59in a story written by The Terminal Scribe Jeff Nathanson and directed by Brett Ratner.
02:04Taking part in New York, I Love You also allowed this gossip girl veteran to flex her talents
02:09in indie cinema. While most of her career is confined to mainstream studio releases,
02:13this particular production saw Lively inhabiting a more cash-strapped and intimate affair.
02:18The budget came out to about $1 million per short, with each story directed on location
02:23in 48 hours. Anthology films don't have the greatest box office track record. New York,
02:28I Love You was no exception to this phenomenon. An army of recognizable actors couldn't bolster
02:33the box office potential of the film, which topped out at just $9.7 million worldwide
02:38— about $5 million shy of the budget.
02:41Nearly all of the box office sums came from its overseas haul, with the movie only scoring
02:45$1.5 million in North America. In addition, New York, I Love You was partially doomed
02:50thanks to poor reviews — a kiss of death for any limited Artyles release. Lively may
02:55have tried something new here, but it clearly didn't pay off at the box office.
02:59In recent years, Lively has consistently demonstrated her strong comic chops. She excels with dry,
03:05dark humor in a simple favor, and she's also proven hysterical in promo videos for Ryan
03:10Reynolds' blockbusters like Pokemon Detective Pikachu. Given these skills, one would expect
03:14that she'd be consistently delivering outstanding line deliveries in Steven Pink's 2006 comedy,
03:20Accepted.
03:21Alas, this is a 2000s comedy centered on wacky male leads. Lively plays Monica Moorland,
03:27the love interest for protagonist Bartleby, and she's mainly around to function as a prize
03:31Bartleby can eventually secure and to play straight man to the funny boys.
03:35Why can't the opposite be true?
03:37Perhaps if Accepted gave Lively, or any other female actress in the movie, more substantive
03:41gags to handle, its box office haul would have improved. Worldwide, Accepted only took
03:45in $38.3 million on a $23 million budget. Profitability eluded the feature theatrically,
03:52likely because PG-13, college-centric comedies aren't super popular with audiences.
03:57"...anything you want, not money related."
03:58The most iconic features in this genre are raunchy, R-rated fare. And how can sanded
04:03down PG-13 titles compete with the likes of Animal House or Old School?
04:07Competition from August 2006 comedy juggernaut Talladega Nights The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
04:12sealed this one's box office fate. Thankfully for Lively, she'd score more high-profile
04:17and lucrative places to demonstrate her comic abilities in the decades that followed Accepted.
04:22In 2001, the Ambrishare's novel The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants hit store shelves.
04:27The immediately eye-catching title became a must-read by tapping into people's memories
04:32of their own equivalent to the book's titular pants that kept them connected to their friends
04:36no matter where they were. Such a popular text could not be confined to the Land of
04:39Borders bookstores forever.
04:41And in 2005, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants hit movie theaters under the direction
04:46of filmmaker Ken Korpis. Lively plays Bridget Vreeland in the film, one of the story's four
04:51lead characters. Working alongside fellow leads Amber Tamblyn, Alexis Bledel, and America
04:56Ferreira, this production was one of Lively's first big lead movie roles. Its eventual box
05:01office run kicked off her silver screen exploits solidly.
05:04Worldwide, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants took in $41.5 million on a $25 million
05:10budget. Nearly all of that gross came from its North American performance, with only
05:14$2.5 million stemming from its international performance. It was not a massive moneymaker
05:19in theaters, struggling to keep up with June 2005 rom-com blockbusters like Monster-in-Law
05:24and Miss Congeniality 2, but it outgrossed other PG-rated competition like the Hilary
05:29Duff film The Perfect Man.
05:31And so, distributors of Warner Bros. clearly thought something went right with The Sisterhood
05:35of the Traveling Pants, and a sequel arrived in theaters in August 2008.
05:40Summer 2008 was chock-full of highly anticipated sequels. Indiana Jones returned for his first
05:45adventure in 19 years in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Brendan
05:50Fraser's Mummy exploits entertained theatergoers again after a seven-year hiatus with The Mummy
05:55Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
05:56Then, of course, there was the return of Christopher Nolan's vision of Batman in The Dark Knight.
06:01Among those follow-ups was The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. The first film's
06:04main cast reunited for further exploits involving friendship and denim three years after that
06:09original feature resonated so deeply with certain audience members. Any hopes distributor
06:14Warner Bros. had that the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants fandom would grow in between
06:18installments quickly dissipated after the film's so-so opening weekend.
06:22Costing a smidge more to make, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 only made $44.2 million
06:28worldwide, just 8 percent more than its predecessor. The film's financial shortcomings might be
06:33blamed on audiences not necessarily craving a Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants franchise.
06:37To give credit where credit is due, though, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 did at
06:41least marginally improve on its predecessor's domestic gross. That's an achievement much
06:46costly as summer 2008 sequels like Tomb of the Dragon Emperor could not claim.
06:50Do you know if this movie's any good? Well, that depends.
06:53The Woody Allen's 2016 movie Café Society lively channeled the spirit of the 1930s,
06:59portraying Veronica, the eventual partner of protagonist Bobby. Her role in the feature
07:04isn't especially meaty, with more screen time devoted to Bobby and his initial romantic
07:08interest Varnie, and eventual rival Phil Stern. Still, Lively inhabits a stacked ensemble cast
07:14also containing Parker Posey, Corey Stoll, and Anna Camp, among other acting champions.
07:20Sadly, all those big names weren't enough to make Café Society immediately profitable
07:24for Amazon Studios when it hit theaters in July 2016. On a $30 million budget, Café
07:30Society only grossed $44.3 million worldwide. The vast majority of that sum hailed from
07:36international territories, with Café Society only drumming up $11.1 million domestically.
07:42Among Allen's features, Café Society was a middling domestic performer coming in beneath
07:46the North American hauls of titles like To Roam with Love and Zellig. Perhaps by 2016,
07:52audiences had grown weary of Allen's filmmaking and default narratives, as well as a controversy
07:57swirling around the director. Maybe the starry cast assembled here wasn't as enticing as
08:01the cast of higher-grossing Allen features like Blue Jasmine and Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
08:06Whatever the reason, this particular title featuring Lively failed to make much of a
08:10splash in North America.
08:12The Age of Adeline is a deeply important movie in Blake Lively's filmography. For the
08:16first time in her career, she anchored an original film all on her own. There would
08:20be no trio of other ladies sharing the spotlight like in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,
08:25nor two male leads front and center in the marketing like with Savages.
08:29That is a tough one.
08:30The Age of Adeline is a Blake Lively-style vehicle. Full stop. This production was an
08:34enormous test of whether or not Lively was a bankable star. In the end, the film's box
08:38office results turned out promising. Lively might not have immediately became the next
08:42Leonardo DiCaprio or Sandra Bullock, but she did prove that she could be a draw without
08:46any other famous co-stars on the poster.
08:49Opening over the final week of April 2015 in North America, The Age of Adeline kicked
08:54off its domestic run with a solid $13.2 million and legged it out in this territory to $42.6
09:00million. Throw in another $26.3 million overseas and the feature had a worldwide haul of $68.9
09:07million, a little more than double its $13 million budget.
09:11Impressively, The Age of Adeline had come in ahead of the box office hauls of both Sisterhood
09:15of the Traveling Pants and Stormers, despite having no famous source material at its back.
09:19Putting Lively in the right kind of romantic drama proved enough to get Adeline to box
09:23office success.
09:25In Oliver Stone's 2012 romantic drug drama Savages, Lively plays Ophelia, a woman in
09:30a polyamorous relationship with weed dealers Charne and Ben. This being a 21st century
09:35crime thriller, conflict eventually emerges thanks to shady cartel forces from Mexico.
09:40These figures kidnap Ophelia and plan to destroy Charne and Ben's business. Lively is the leading
09:45lady in all of this crime mayhem, though she wasn't at the forefront when it came to the
09:49box office performance of Savages. Instead, all eyes were laser-focused on her co-star,
09:54Taylor Kitsch, who was fresh off two massive 2012 bombs, Battleship and John Carter.
10:00Opening over the July 4th weekend in 2012, Savages didn't provide Kitsch or anyone in
10:04the production with a surprise smash hit for the ages.
10:07"...my hope is still alive."
10:09However, it didn't flame out, either, scoring an $82 million worldwide gross on a $45 million
10:15budget. Narrowly avoiding profitability, Savages likely would've done better with two more
10:20high-profile leading men. Hinging this motion picture on two untested male actors was a
10:24risk that didn't pay off.
10:26Opening just days after R-rated hits Magic Mike and Ted also didn't do Savages any favors
10:31in attracting adult moviegoers.
10:34After starring in two back-to-back hits for The Age of Adaline and The Shallows, Lively's
10:38next out vehicle paired her with two more famous faces, Anna Kendrick and writer-director
10:42Paul Feig. The twisty-turny thriller A Simple Favor revolves around potential murder and
10:47double-crosses and features Lively as the ideal mom, before transforming into something
10:52more morally complicated than her previous big-screen characters.
10:55"...you just seem highly motivated. I don't know what it is, though."
10:59Watching Lively depart from her typical cinematic persona proved enough of an attractive offer
11:03for a solid crop of moviegoers to check out A Simple Favor theatrically. Preceded by a
11:08stylish and colorful marketing campaign from domestic distributor Lionsgate, A Simple Favor
11:13grossed $97.6 million worldwide, including $53.5 million domestically. On her $20 million
11:20budget, A Simple Favor was already plenty profitable just from its North American performance.
11:25It also went on to have a second life on streaming, topping Netflix charts six years after its
11:30premiere.
11:31Kendrick's lucrative performance wasn't just a step up from the box office hauls of many
11:34past Lively movies. It also gave Kendrick one of her most lucrative box office performances
11:39outside of the Pitch Perfect and Twilight franchises.
11:43Audiences love shark movies. Dating back to the historic box office haul of Jaws in 1975,
11:49the prospect of seeing ancient sea beasties chomping on plucky humans has been a constant
11:53draw for people. Whether it's Deep Blue Sea, The Meg, or 47 Meters Down, shark thrillers
11:59tend to make a pretty penny in theaters.
12:01In 2016, Lively entered this lucrative domain with The Shallows. This particular title was
12:06one of Lively's sparsest star vehicles. The story largely focuses on her alone on an island
12:11facing off against a hungry shark that's preventing her from returning to shore. Only a plucky
12:16bird named Steven Seagull is around to keep her company. This means Lively was the sole
12:20star attraction in The Shallows, beyond her character's great white adversary.
12:24The elegant simplicity of The Shallows seemed like a risk on paper. However, in execution,
12:29it was a key reason the film became a major sleeper hit. Worldwide, The Shallows became
12:33the first Lively star vehicle to crack $100 million worldwide, with a haul of $118.7 million
12:40worldwide, including $55.1 million domestically. The Shallows was exceedingly profitable on
12:45just a $13 million budget. Not only did it benefit from people's enduring interest in
12:50sharks, but it also flourished as compelling original counter-programming in a summer full
12:54of sequels.
12:55Fighting against Independence Day, Resurgence, and Now You See Me Too, Lively's 2016 thriller
13:00offered audiences something new while building on the longstanding moviegoer affection for
13:05sharks.
13:06For his second directorial effort, The Town, Ben Affleck assembled a stacked cast, combining
13:11new beloved actors with iconic faces that had been in cinema for decades. Blake Lively
13:16was one of those hot new faces in this feature, taking on one of her first dramatic performances.
13:21Here, she plays Krista, the ex-lover of Affleck's bank robber protagonist, Douglas. The Town
13:25certainly wasn't sold as a Lively movie in its marketing. However, her casting spoke
13:30volumes about how much confidence Hollywood had in her career. Putting all those recognizable
13:34names in one crime thriller turned out to be a potent recipe for box office success,
13:39and The Town furthered Affleck's directorial career with a box office smash hit. This motion
13:43picture grossed $152.5 million on a $37 million budget. This feature did roughly 2.5 times
13:51its price tag in the U.S. alone, thanks to a hefty $92.1 million domestic gross.
13:57Beyond all those familiar actors in its cast, The Town also benefited from the strong box
14:01office track record of movies focused on organized crime. Audiences previously showed up in sizable
14:07numbers for titles like American Gangster and Get Shorty. Those features provided a
14:12great historical bedrock for The Town to build on.
14:15Strictly looking at Lively's box office history, the 2011 superhero movie Green Lantern looks
14:20like a big smash hit. The film is where she met her future husband, Ryan Reynolds, with
14:24Lively starring as his love interest. As of August 2024, it's the only movie featuring
14:30Lively in a live-action capacity to crack both $100 million domestically and $200 million
14:35worldwide. Its box office haul is also considerably ahead of any other movie she's appeared in.
14:40Green Lantern's domestic haul alone more than doubled a Simple Favor's North American gross.
14:45But box office matters are more complicated than all that. Green Lantern is technically
14:49the highest-grossing movie Lively has ever appeared in, and the only massive blockbuster
14:54she's acted in, not counting her voice cameo in Deadpool and Wolverine.
14:57Of course, a $200 million budgeted superhero film with a sprawling marketing campaign would
15:02bring in more cash than the Age of Adaline. Worldwide, Green Lantern made $219.5 million,
15:08$116.6 million of which came from North American territories. On a $200 million budget, the
15:14film was nowhere near profitable. Its gross also fell well behind other DC Comics blockbusters.
15:19Green Lantern failing was by no means Lively's fault. She was barely even featured in the
15:24movie's marketing. A wildly lambasted promotional campaign and dismal audience word of mouth
15:29doomed this costly flick.
15:31Even with the well-reported failures of Green Lantern, the film's sheer scale and summer
15:35blockbuster mold ensured it outgrossed all other motion pictures Lively has appeared
15:39in.