Tom Hanks has built a successful reputation as one of Hollywood's nicest and most beloved celebrities among both his peers and the fans who pay to see his work. In an entertainment industry where so many actors in his field were exposed as not who they were thought to be, Tom Hanks is one of the few actors to remain consistent throughout his nearly 45-year career.
As a result of gaining and continually maintaining the trust of his followers, his audience continues to support Hanks and his work. It's why he has such a high rate at the box office. Looking at The Numbers, his highest-grossing movies in his filmography also are some of the highest-grossing movies ever made in Hollywood's box office history.
10 'Toy Story' - $365,270,951
Toy Story was a huge leap in the progression and evolution of Hollywood's animation department. In addition to being Pixar's first movie, it was the first movie to be made entirely using CGI, which was unheard of at the time, per EDN. Among its groundbreaking accomplishments, most audiences recall it best for perfectly animating Hanks and his heartwarming demeanor through the guise of a toy cowboy beside a space astronaut voiced by Tim Allen. Together, their chemistry is electric.
9 'Cast Away' - $427,230,516
In what had to have been one of Tom Hanks most physically demanding roles and challenging performances to date, he spends about 90% of the movie acting with no one but himself - and, of course, a plastic rubber ball he named Wilson - as a character who crash lands and gets stranded on an island.
His unique efforts to spring life into a character all by himself were recognized with an Oscar nomination for Best Actor by The Academy.
8 'Saving Private Ryan' - $485,035,085
In many ways, Steven Spielberg is an actor's director. The kind of movie director who not only knows how to pull the perfect performances from his cast, but he's the director every actor should want to work with.
He and Tom Hanks certainly produced great work together every time they collaborated, with their most memorable collaboration coming from the much-celebrated war movie, Saving Private Ryan.
7 'Angels And Demons' - $490,875,846
When The Da Vinci Code released as both a book and as a movie (more on that later), it was something of a major event that just about everyone felt like they needed to get their hands on. So when a sequel released by the name of Angels and Demons, it produced the same event-worthy effect. Not to the same extent as the first one, but still a notable hit nonetheless. The book that this is adapted from actually hit shelves before The Da Vinci Code, making this movie a prequel.
6 'Toy Story 2' - $511,358,276
Speaking of sequels arriving with immensely high expectations, all eyes were on Toy Story 2 and how it would decide to follow-up its groundbreaking three-time Academy Award-nominated predecessor.
The filmmakers did so by centering the story a little more around Tom Hanks' character Woody this time around, as the story got to the root of his origins.
5 'The Simpsons Movie' - $527,071,022
This one might be cheating a little bit, as it is not quite a movie that can be correctly listed as a "Tom Hanks movie." Whereas other movies on this list showcase Tom Hanks as the star, The Simpsons Movie simply features him in a brief cameo playing himself. Still, it ranks incredibly high as far as top-grossing movies in his filmography.
4 'Forrest Gump'- $679,838,260
While not the highest-grossing movie of his career, Forrest Gump is arguably Hanks' most critically successful movie release, as far as accolades are concerned. Not only did his leading role result in his second Oscar win for Best Actor, but the movie also picked up a win for Best Picture.
3 'The Da Vinci Code' - $767,820,459
As mentioned earlier, the release of The Da Vinci Code was big enough to warrant its own event. When the best selling novel of 2003 by Dan Brown received the Hollywood treatment with Tom Hanks at the helm, it was bound to be a huge success at the box office.
2 'Toy Story 3' - $1,068,879,522
The first two Toy Story movies were highly successful in their own right, with the second movie largely exceeding its predecessor in money it made at the box office. While expectations were high for the second sequel, realistically, it would be easy to doubt that a "threequel" could match the two previous movie's success when this one was released in theaters more than a decade after the last one and the kid audience from the originals had long grown up.
On the contrary, though, the Toy Story filmmakers played to the nostalgia of their now-adult past viewers while also catering to a new, modern child audience. This combination helped attract enough moviegoers to the point that the movie became the first in the franchise to reach a billion dollars at the box office.
This movie also managed to exceed critical expectations as well, moving on to both win the Oscar for Best Animated Film and be nominated for Best Picture.
1 'Toy Story 4' - $1,073,080,329
It is a production miracle to think about how much the Toy Story franchise built upon in high financial expectations from the first movie and managed to exceed the growing expectations with each sequel. The latest Toy Story movie managed to become the most successful in the franchise to date, crossing well past the billion-dollar mark.
To no one's surprise, the neverending success of the franchise convinced the studio to pursue making a fourth sequel (the fifth movie in the franchise overall) that is as of now currently slated for a 2023 release date.