What is notable about this list is that not many films released before the mid-to-late 1990s are on it. This is mainly because movies used to have small (by today's standards) opening weekends yet would go on to become blockbusters, whereas today, filmgoers tend to want to see the film when it first comes out, and for the most part, begin to lose interest in it after about its second weekend.

Perhaps the most important issue with this list is that it does not consider inflation whatsoever. For example, on the latter list, Return of the Jedi grossed about $23M on its opening weekend at 1983 pricing. However, using the consumer price index to adjust for inflation, the film grossed about $43M (2005 dollars), which would place it roughly halfway up this list. Due to the inherent instability of a monetary rating system, it could prove more accurate to rate films according by ticket sales rather than gross figures, but it definitely is more accurate to at least consider inflation.

Biggest worldwide openings

Main source: BoxOfficeMojo

1. Spider-Man 3 (2007) ($381,660,892) - 109 countries
2. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) ($343,972,864) - 104 countries
3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) ($332,715,157) - 46 countries
4. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) ($303,949,700) - 115 countries
5. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) ($272,150,927) - 57 countries
6. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) ($250,000,534) - 30 countries
7. The Da Vinci Code (2006) ($232,074,037) - 72 countries
8. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) ($207,197,367) - 26 countries
9. War of the Worlds (2005) ($203,061,125) - 82 countries
10. Iron Man (2008) ($201,174,140) - 25 countries
11. The Matrix Revolutions (2003) ($201,390,000) - 111 countries
12. The Dark Knight (2008) ($199,711,483) - 20 countries
13. Transformers (2007) ($191,659,373) - 12 countries
14. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) ($189,946,212) - 16 countries
15. Spider-Man 2 (2004) ($189,364,483) - 31 countries
16. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) ($188,185,961) - 21 countries
17. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) ($182,270,554) - 9 countries
18. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002) ($179,269,285) - 75 countries
19. X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) ($179,012,790) - 84 countries
20. The Simpsons Movie (2007) ($170,890,984) - 73 countries
21. The Matrix Reloaded (2003) ($165,882,716) - 15 countries
22. X2 (2003) ($154,829,031) - 95 countries
23. The Day After Tomorrow (2004) ($151,443,584) - 112 countries
24. King Kong (2005) ($149,181,645) - 57 countries
25. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) ($147,857,488) - 11 countries
26. Shrek the Third (2007) ($136,785,098) - 6 countries
27. Shrek 2 (2004) ($131,051,914) - 7 countries

Note: The number of countries the film was released in during its opening weekend is listed. Most films don't open in all markets at once, but expand worldwide during a couple of weeks. These figures are not for opening weekends, but figures from the opening to the first Sunday as most films don't open worldwide on a Friday. Figures before the year 2002 are not available.

Biggest opening weekends in the U.S. and Canada

Main source: IMDb

Opening weekend record holders in the U.S. and Canada

These are the films that, when first released, set the opening weekend record.