Steve Starr
- BetOnline allows you to bet on which blockbuster film will have the biggest opening weekend of 2023
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (-135) is favored to be the highest-grossing movie of the bunch
- Disney will open Little Mermaid (+500) on Memorial Day Weekend
Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water proved that people are ready and willing to head back to their local cinemas. And that’s a good thing because there are plenty of blockbusters just around the corner.
Which movie will have the biggest opening weekend in 2023? Before we look at the odds, check out the top betting sites for Entertainment in 2022 with predictions on the 2023 Academy Awards race for Best Picture.
Highest Opening Weekend of 2023 (USA)
| Movie |  |
| Guardian of the Galaxy Vol 3 | -135 |
| The Super Mario Bros. Movie | +400 |
| The Marvels | +450 |
| The Little Mermaid | +500 |
| Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania | +650 |
| Wonka | +650 |
| Mission Impossible - Dead Reckoning - Part 1 | +2000 |
| Transformers: Rise of the Beasts | +2500 |
| Spider-Man :Across the Spider-Verse | +2800 |
| Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny | +3300 |
| The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes | +3300 |
| Aquaman and the Lost Kingsdom | +4500 |
| Dune: Part 2 | +5000 |
| Fast X | +7500 |
| John Wick: Chapter 4 | +7500 |
| Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves | +10000 |
| The Flash | +10000 |
Intergalactic box office returns
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (-135) is favored to have the highest-grossing opening of 2023. The film’s predecessor pulled in $146,510,104 in its first weekend at the domestic box office. Chris Pratt’s star has faded in recent years, but Marvel’s latest will still draw a large audience. It will essentially open summer blockbuster season on May 5th.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (+650) opens in February and The Super Mario Bros. Movie (+400) hits the big screen in early April. Both release dates are well before moviegoers start heading to theaters in droves. A better bet than the beloved Nintendo characters might be The Marvels (+450). The original Captain Marvel opened with $153,433,423 back in 2019. That’s more than Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
MARVEL STUDIOS
GUARDIANS of the GALAXY .. Vol 3 pic.twitter.com/aznTDvgxqD— 🎬 POPCORN (@Rick_Popcorn08) January 17, 2023
The Little Mermaid
While Disney is opening The Marvels on July 28, it’s giving the coveted Memorial Day weekend slot to The Little Mermaid (+500). Both of Disney’s recent live-action adaptations of animated classics proved to be huge opening weekend hits. Beauty and the Beast grossed $174,750,616 in 2017 and The Lion King made $191,770,759 in 2019.
All of this points to The Little Mermaid being the highest-earner of the summer.
Tom Cruise and Transformers
No movie made more domestically than Top Gun: Maverick in 2022. A whopping $718,732,821. That suggests moviegoers may be eager to see Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning – Part 1 (+2000). However, the best opening weekend of the previous six editions of the spy thriller was a mere $61 million.
The Transformers series is on a downward trajectory. Age of Extinction in 2014 made less than Revenge of the Fallen in 2009. The Last Knight and Bumblebee did even worse in 2017 and 2018, respectively. That makes Rise of the Beasts (+2500) a longshot to be a runaway hit this summer.
First trailer for ‘#MissionImpossible – Dead Reckoning Part One‘ starring Tom Cruise. Hits theaters in 2023. Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/duehzzWoXi
— Lights, Camera, Barstool (@LightsCameraPod) May 23, 2022
Spiderman and Indiana Jones return
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (+2800) is yet more proof of the public’s insatiable demand for more and more Spiderman content.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull grossed $300 million domestically when it came out 15 years ago. And boomers will certainly have an appetite to see 80-year-old Harrison Ford reprise his role one last time in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (+3300).
Fast X (+7500) might be the best longshot of the bunch considering Fast & Furious 6 pulled in almost $100 million on its opening weekend back in 2013.
Best Bet: The Little Mermaid (+500)
See below the top sportsbooks where you can wager online and choose the best one for you:
