Orlando Bloom was one of the biggest breakout stars of the 2000s, with numerous major franchises and blockbuster films to his name following his star turn as Legolas in Peter Jackson’strilogy of movies based on The Lord of the Rings. Though he had already appeared in smaller films like Brian Gilbert’s Wilde,and he had been featured in a few episodes of the television series Casualty, it was the role of Legolas that introduced the world to Bloom. In the over 20 years since the debut of The Fellowship of the Ring, Bloom has continued to appear in many different films and TV series, both large and small.
A few weeks after that film’s debut, he was also featured in a small role in Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down. Since then, he has appeared in blockbusters like 2011’s The Three Musketeers and this year’s Gran Turismo, as well as romantic comedies like New York, I Love You, a Broadway production of Romeo and Juliet,the Prime Video fantasy series Carnival Row,and much more.
Throughout the first decade of the 2000s, Bloom became one of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood. In the 2000s, Bloom had a film of his crack the list of the top ten highest-grossing movies of the year in six years of the decade, with him being in the #1 film of the year in four of those years. Although he may not be featured in the same kinds of starring roles that he used to be, Bloom has built a solid career for himself. With that in mind, we’ve decided to look back at his catalog and highlight the ten films of his that have done the best at the box office. With data courtesy of The Numbers, these are the ten highest-grossing films of Orlando Bloom’s career:
10 Troy (2004) – $483,152,040
Troy
- Release Date
- May 3, 2004
- Director
- Wolfgang Petersen
- Cast
- Julian Glover, Brian Cox, Nathan Jones, Adoni Maropis, Jacob Smith, Brad Pitt
- Rating
- R
- Main Genre
- Adventure
- Runtime
- 163
Troy was the latest entry in the craze of sword-and-sandals movies in the early 2000s that followed the success of Gladiator in 2000. Directed by Wolfgang Peterson, the movie was a loose adaptation of Homer’s Iliad, with the lead role being played by Brad Pitt. Orlando Bloom was cast as one of the chief supporting characters, along with an extensive cast that included the likes of Eric Bana, Diane Kruger, Brian Cox, Sean Bean, Peter O’Toole, Rose Byrne, and Brendan Gleeson. It was also the second feature film to be written by David Benioff, one half of the duo that would go on to be the showrunners for HBO’s Game of Thrones.
How it Performed at the Box Office
Although the response from critics and audiences was not overwhelmingly positive, Troy still managed to perform strongly at the box office. On a budget of $150 million, the movie grossed a global total of $483 million. $133 million of that came from the North American box office, while $349 million (nearly 75% of the total gross) came from overseas markets. This was enough to make Troy the eighth highest-grossing movie of 2004, just ahead of Ocean’s Twelve and Shark Tale, while falling short of movies like The Passion of the Christ, Spider-Man 2, The Incredibles and Shrek 2.
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9 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) – $654,310,819
After the success of The Fellowship of the Ring in 2001, the first major blockbuster film to pick Bloom up was Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean. Bloom was cast as one of the film’s leads, Will Turner, for which other stars like Heath Ledger, Jude Law and Ewan McGregor were considered. The role was a step up for Bloom, as it saw the actor jump from the supporting role of Legolas to one of the lead characters at the center of a $150 million blockbuster. At that point, The Curse of the Black Pearl was viewed as a wildcard in Hollywood. Many people doubted that a movie based on a popular Disney theme park ride could excite audiences, but Pirates managed to do just that. It became an instant sensation and would become one of the biggest film series of the 21st century over the course of a handful of sequels that would follow over the next 15 years.
How it Performed at the Box Office
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl quickly became one of the biggest films of 2003, and it established Bloom as one of the first actors from The Lord of the Rings to transition that success into a career outside that series. On a budget of $140 million, the movie grossed $305 million in North America and $348 million internationally, bringing its global total to $654 million. It also became the fourth highest-grossing movie of the year. 2003 was an outstanding year for the actor, as he was also featured in the top grossing movie of that year, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
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8 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017) – $794,861,794
Pirates of the Caribbean 5
- Release Date
- May 23, 2017
- Director
- Joachim Rønning, Espen Sandberg
- Cast
- Johnny Depp, Javier Bardem, Geoffrey Rush, Brenton Thwaites, Kaya Scodelario, Kevin McNally
- Rating
- PG-13
- Main Genre
- Action
- Runtime
- 153
Signing on to the Pirates of the Caribbean series wound up being one of the best moves of Bloom’s career, as the franchise has continued to pay dividends for the actor long after its 2003 debut. The latest film in the series was 2017’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, in which Bloom returned for a small but crucial role in the movie. Much of the film’s marketing centered around his return to the series, after he was left out of the fourth entry, On Stranger Tides.
How it Performed at the Box Office
Although it was not the same smash box office success that many of the previous Pirates films were, Dead Men Tell No Tales was still a solid success. It under-performed somewhat in North America, pulling in just $172 million on a $230 million budget, but it was a massive hit overseas. Internationally, the movie grossed $622 million, bringing the global total to $794 million. While it may not have cracked the top ten, Dead Men Tell No Tales was the 12th highest-grossing movie of 2017, ahead of other major blockbusters like Logan, Justice League and the first new film based on Stephen King’s It. It was only about $25 million short of beating out Coco and Wonder Woman to claim the #10 spot on that list.
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7 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) – $891,210,039
While it wasn’t his first Hollywood film, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was certainly the first movie of Bloom’s career that made people around the world take note of who he was. He was cast in the role of Legolas just a couple of days after graduating from the arts school at which he studied acting. Though the role of Faramir was the one for which he’d originally auditioned, Peter Jackson decided he was a better fit for Legolas, and Bloom’s career was forever changed as a result.
How it Performed at the Box Office
In a surprise to nobody these days, The Fellowship of the Ring was a massive box office success. However, at the time, the production of The Lord of the Rings was a big risk, as it was hard to gauge how much the movies would actually connect with audiences ahead of time, and the immense budget needed to make the films was a hurdle to their success. However, The Fellowship of the Ring quickly cleared that hurdle. With a budget of $93 million, the movie made $315 million in North America alone. Overseas, it brought in an additional $575 million, which totaled its box office haul out to $891 million globally. It was the second highest-grossing movie of the year, only behind the debut of the Harry Potter series with The Sorcerer’s Stone. It was an undeniable hit, and it was only the beginning of the franchise’s (and Bloom’s) incredible box office run.
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6 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) – $919,148,764
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
- Release Date
- December 18, 2002
- Director
- Peter Jackson
- Cast
- Bruce Allpress, Sean Astin, John Bach, Sala Baker, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom
- Rating
- PG-13
- Main Genre
- Action
- Runtime
- 179
Next on the list was the follow-up to The Fellowship of the Ring,which hit theaters a year after its predecessor, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. The biggest gamble with the Lord of the Rings films was the decision to film all three movies back-to-back, an almost unheard of approach at that time. If The Fellowship of the Ring had crashed and burned, then New Line Cinema would have been stuck in a commitment to still release two sequels. However, this approach really paid off with the success of The Fellowship of the Ring, as it ensured that audiences did not have to wait long for the eagerly anticipated next chapter. Bloom’s role in The Two Towers was increased from the first film, as the relationship between Legolas and Gimli was given more of a spotlight and all the film’s characters had a lot more room to stand out from the crowd in general.
How it Performed at the Box Office
As expected, The Two Towers built upon the wild success of The Fellowship of the Ring. In North America, the movie opened with $62 million in its first weekend, which was $15 million more than Fellowship had. Overall, it brought in $342 million in domestic markets and $576 million overseas – almost exactly the same gross that the first film had internationally – which totaled out to an incredible $919 million worldwide. This secured it as the highest-grossing movie of 2002, even surpassing films like the Harry Potter series’ second installment, The Chamber of Secrets, as well as Sam Raimi’s first Spider-Man movie and the latest Star Wars prequel, Episode II – Attack of the Clones.
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5 The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014) – $940,323,039
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
- Release Date
- December 10, 2014
- Director
- Peter Jackson
- Cast
- Lee Pace, Evangeline Lilly, Benedict Cumberbatch, Richard Armitage, Luke Evans, Orlando Bloom
- Rating
- PG-13
- Main Genre
- Adventure
- Runtime
- 144
At this point in the article, you may have noticed a trend. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is the sixth movie on this list, and it is also the third within the Lord of the Rings franchise; meanwhile, two other entries have been from the Pirates of the Caribbean series. The only non-franchise entry has been the first one, Troy. That is going to remain to be the case with the rest of the list. Nine of Orlando Bloom’s ten highest-grossing films come from these two major franchises.
While some pessimists may view this as a negative, we choose to view it as a testament to the strengths of these two series and Bloom’s activity within them. The actor has had plenty of smaller successes elsewhere in his career, and with the enormous residual checks he probably still gets from both major series, the actor doesn’t have any need to hitch himself to another massive blockbuster ever again. He could likely just retire now if he wanted to, and never have to work a day in his life again.
How it Performed at the Box Office
The decision to include Bloom’s Legolas in the latter two films of the Hobbit trilogy was a divisive one among fans. That's because the character was not in the original Hobbit novel, despite the fact that the core heroes of the story travel through his home and have extensive interactions with his father. The exclusion of Legolas from the original story was less of a specific decision from J.R.R. Tolkien and more of a result of the character simply not having been created yet.
Regardless, the Hobbit films were massive box office successes, and the return of Bloom as Legolas played a significant role in that. The final of the three movies, The Battle of the Five Armies, grossed $255 million in North America and $685 million overseas, with its global haul totaling out to $940 million, making it the second highest-grossing movie of the year, having beat out Guardians of the Galaxy and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part One and coming in just behind Transformers: Age of Extinction.
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4 The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) – $959,358,436
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
- Release Date
- December 11, 2013
- Director
- Peter Jackson
- Cast
- Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Ken Stott, Graham McTavish, William Kircher
- Rating
- PG-13
- Main Genre
- Adventure
- Runtime
- 170
Bloom’s initial return to the role of Legolas came in the second Hobbit movie, The Desolation of Smaug. Released in 2013, ten years after Bloom’s last appearance in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, the film’s marketing campaign heavily played up the actor’s reprisal of the fan-favorite character. Legolas crossed paths with Bilbo Baggins and the Dwarves of Erebor as they traveled through Mirkwood and were subsequently captured by the elves of the Woodland Realm. While he only played a supporting role in the movie, his inclusion did add some connective tissue to the core Lord of the Rings films that these Hobbit movies were set prior to.
How it Performed at the Box Office
While the first Hobbit movie, An Unexpected Journey, managed to gross over $1 billion thanks to the allure of returning to Middle-Earth on the big screen for the first time in a decade, The Desolation of Smaug didn’t quite match those numbers. It was still undeniably a massive success, though, falling just $40 million short with a global total of $959 million. $258 million of that gross came from North American cinemas, while $701 million was from overseas markets. It was the fourth highest-grossing movie of the year, above The Hunger Games: Catching Fire but behind Despicable Me 2, Iron Man 3 and Disney’s Frozen.
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3 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007) – $960,996,492
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
- Release Date
- May 19, 2007
- Director
- Gore Verbinski
- Cast
- Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Jack Davenport, Bill Nighy
- Rating
- PG-13
- Main Genre
- Action
- Runtime
- 169
The third film in the Pirates of the Caribbean, and the conclusion to the original trilogy of films directed by Gore Verbinski, was 2007’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. The second and third films in the Pirates series took a note from the Lord of the Rings movies, as they were two connected stories that were conceived together and then filmed back-to-back. At World’s End was the epic conclusion that saw Bloom’s Will Turner, Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow, and Keira Knightley’s Elizabeth Swan coming together to stop the evils of the ghastly Davy Jones and the East India Trading Company that sought total control of the seas.
How it Performed at the Box Office
The third Pirates movie was a must-see cinematic event in 2007, and as such, it was the highest-grossing movie of the year with a global total of $960 million. It grossed $309 million of that in North America, with the other $651 million coming from international markets. At the time, At World’s End was the most expensive movie ever produced, with an estimated budget of $300 million. Thankfully for Disney, that paid off, as it out-grossed a number of major hit films, such as Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Spider-Man 3, Transformers, Shrek the Third and Ratatouille.
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2 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006) – $1,066,179,725
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
- Release Date
- July 6, 2006
- Director
- Gore Verbinski
- Cast
- Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Jack Davenport, Bill Nighy, Jonathan Pryce
- Rating
- PG-13
- Main Genre
- Action
- Runtime
- 150
Although At World’s End was a certified hit, it didn’t quite replicate the same astronomical success of the second Pirates movie, 2006’s Dead Man’s Chest. The second film in the series was coming off a three-year gap following the cultural sensation of the first film, 2003’s Curse of the Black Pearl. In that time, the first Pirates movie had built an even larger audience through its immense DVD sales, and Bloom had starred in a number of films ranging from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King to Troy, Kingdom of Heaven,and Elizabethtown.
How it Performed at the Box Office
When Dead Man’s Chest finally hit theaters in the summer of 2006, it instantly exploded with success. It successfully expanded the story and lore of the Pirates franchise in new directions, while also recreating much of the same atmosphere that people loved about the first movie. It easily became the highest-grossing movie of the year, with an over $300 million gap separating it from the #2 film, The Da Vinci Code. On a budget of $225 million, Dead Man’s Chest brought in a total of $423 million in North America, while its international box office was an immense $642 million. This made Dead Man’s Chest only the third film in history to gross more than $1 billion at the box office, with a global total of $1.066 billion. The only two films that were in that club, at the time, were 1997’s Titanic and another film of Bloom’s, which also happens to be the next entry on this list.
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1 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) – $1,121,386,981
The highest-grossing movie of Bloom’s career to date is none other than The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. This trilogy of movies was the defining cinematic event of the early 2000s, and so it’s no surprise that the final chapter became one of the most successful films of all time. There were sky-high expectations for The Return of the King, and the movie somehow managed to exceed them all. In addition to its box office success, the movie was also nominated for 11 Academy Awards, of which it won every single one – including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Score.
How it Performed at the Box Office
The success of The Return of the King cannot be overstated. With a budget of just $94 million, the movie grossed $379 million in North America and $742 million overseas, bringing its global total to a whopping $1.121 billion. It became only the second film to ever gross more than $1 billion worldwide, and it did so on a (relatively) restrained budget while also completely sweeping that year’s awards circuit. This series kick-started and has largely defined Bloom’s career, so it feels fitting and justified for The Return of the King to take the top spot on this list.
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