# List of 2003 box office number-one films in the United States

This is a list of films which have placed number one at the weekend box office in the United States during 2003.

## Number-one films

| † | This implies the highest-grossing movie of the year. |
| # | Weekend end date | Film | Box office | Notes |
| 1 | January 5, 2003 | The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers | $25,017,279 | |
| 2 | January 12, 2003 | Just Married | $17,548,993 | |
| 3 | January 19, 2003 | Kangaroo Jack | $16,580,209 | |
| 4 | January 26, 2003 | Darkness Falls | $12,024,917 | |
| 5 | February 2, 2003 | The Recruit | $16,302,063 | |
| 6 | February 9, 2003 | How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days | $23,774,850 | |
| 7 | February 16, 2003 | Daredevil | $40,310,419 | Daredevil broke John Q.'s record ($20.3 mil) for the highest President's Day weekend debut, and Hannibal's record ($29.7 mil) for the highest President's Day weekend gross. |
| 8 | February 23, 2003 | Daredevil | $18,092,309 | |
| 9 | March 2, 2003 | Cradle 2 the Grave | $16,521,468 | |
| 10 | March 9, 2003 | Bringing Down the House | $31,101,026 | |
| 11 | March 16, 2003 | Bringing Down the House | $22,054,934 | |
| 12 | March 23, 2003 | Bringing Down the House | $16,204,468 | |
| 13 | March 30, 2003 | Head of State | $13,503,484 | |
| 14 | April 6, 2003 | Phone Booth | $15,021,088 | |
| 15 | April 13, 2003 | Anger Management | $42,220,847 | Anger Management broke The Scorpion King's record ($36.1 mil) for the highest weekend debut in April. |
| 16 | April 20, 2003 | Anger Management | $25,005,588 | |
| 17 | April 27, 2003 | Identity | $16,225,263 | |
| 18 | May 4, 2003 | X2 | $85,558,731 | |
| 19 | May 11, 2003 | X2 | $40,032,160 | |
| 20 | May 18, 2003 | The Matrix Reloaded | $91,774,413 | The Matrix Reloaded's $37.5 million opening day gross broke Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones' record ($30.1 mil) for the highest-grossing Thursday of all-time. It also broke Hannibal's record ($58.0 mil) for the highest weekend debut for an R-rated film and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone's record ($90.2 mill) for the highest opening for a Warner Bros. film. The Matrix Reloaded had the highest weekend debut of 2003. |
| 21 | May 25, 2003 | Bruce Almighty | $67,953,330 | |
| 22 | June 1, 2003 | Finding Nemo † | $70,251,710 | Finding Nemo broke Monsters, Inc.'s records ($62.6 mil) for the highest weekend debut for an animated film, a non-sequel animated film, a G-rated film, as well as for an original film overall. |
| 23 | June 8, 2003 | 2 Fast 2 Furious | $50,472,480 | |
| 24 | June 15, 2003 | Finding Nemo † | $28,384,483 | Finding Nemo reclaimed #1 in its third weekend of release. |
| 25 | June 22, 2003 | Hulk | $62,128,420 | Hulk broke Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me's record ($54.9 mil) for the highest weekend debut in June. |
| 26 | June 29, 2003 | Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle | $37,634,221 | |
| 27 | July 6, 2003 | Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines | $44,041,440 | |
| 28 | July 13, 2003 | Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl | $46,630,690 | |
| 29 | July 20, 2003 | Bad Boys II | $46,522,560 | |
| 30 | July 27, 2003 | Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over | $33,417,739 | Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over broke Jaws 3-D's record ($13.3 mil) for the highest weekend debut for a 3-D film. |
| 31 | August 3, 2003 | American Wedding | $33,369,440 | |
| 32 | August 10, 2003 | S.W.A.T. | $37,062,535 | |
| 33 | August 17, 2003 | Freddy vs. Jason | $36,428,066 | Freddy vs. Jason broke Scream 3's record ($34.7 million) for the highest weekend debut for a slasher film. |
| 34 | August 24, 2003 | Freddy vs. Jason | $13,152,967 | |
| 35 | August 31, 2003 | Jeepers Creepers 2 | $15,269,324 | Jeepers Creepers 2 broke Jeepers Creepers' record ($13.1 mil) for the highest Labor Day weekend debut. |
| 36 | September 7, 2003 | Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star | $6,660,540 | |
| 37 | September 14, 2003 | Once Upon a Time in Mexico | $23,424,118 | |
| 38 | September 21, 2003 | Underworld | $21,753,759 | |
| 39 | September 28, 2003 | The Rundown | $18,553,765 | |
| 40 | October 5, 2003 | School of Rock | $19,622,714 | |
| 41 | October 12, 2003 | Kill Bill: Volume 1 | $22,089,322 | |
| 42 | October 19, 2003 | The Texas Chainsaw Massacre | $28,094,014 | |
| 43 | October 26, 2003 | Scary Movie 3 | $48,113,770 | Scary Movie 3 broke Red Dragon's record ($36.5 mil) for the highest weekend debut in October as well as for any fall release, and broke Lara Croft: Tomb Raider's record ($47.7 million) for highest weekend debut for a film featuring a female protagonist. |
| 44 | November 2, 2003 | Scary Movie 3 | $20,017,468 | |
| 45 | November 9, 2003 | The Matrix Revolutions | $48,475,154 | |
| 46 | November 16, 2003 | Elf | $26,325,613 | Elf reached #1 in its second weekend of release. |
| 47 | November 23, 2003 | The Cat in the Hat | $38,329,160 | |
| 48 | November 30, 2003 | The Cat in the Hat | $24,459,685 | |
| 49 | December 7, 2003 | The Last Samurai | $24,271,354 | |
| 50 | December 14, 2003 | Something's Gotta Give | $16,064,723 | |
| 51 | December 21, 2003 | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | $72,629,713 | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King's $34.4 million opening day gross broke Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace's record ($28.5 mil) for the highest Wednesday gross of all-time. It also broke The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers' record ($62.0 mil) for the highest weekend debut in December. |
| 52 | December 28, 2003 | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | $50,598,104 | |

## Highest-grossing films
### Calendar Gross

Highest-grossing films of 2003 by Calendar Gross
| Rank | Title | Studio(s) | Actor(s) | Director(s) | Gross |
| 1. | Finding Nemo | Walt Disney Studios | voices of Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould, Willem Dafoe and Geoffrey Rush | Andrew Stanton | $339,714,184 |
| 2. | Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl | Walt Disney Studios | Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley and Jonathan Pryce | Gore Verbinski | $305,398,779 |
| 3. | The Matrix Reloaded | Warner Bros. Pictures | Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Jada Pinkett Smith and Gloria Foster | The Wachowskis | $281,576,461 |
| 4. | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | New Line Cinema | Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Bernard Hill, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Miranda Otto, David Wenham, Karl Urban, John Noble, Andy Serkis, Ian Holm and Sean Bean | Peter Jackson | $249,445,927 |
| 5. | Bruce Almighty | Universal Pictures | Jim Carrey, Morgan Freeman, Jennifer Aniston and Philip Baker Hall | Tom Shadyac | $242,829,261 |
| 6. | X2 | 20th Century Fox | Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Anna Paquin, Rebecca Romijn, Brian Cox, Alan Cumming, Shawn Ashmore, Kelly Hu, Aaron Stanford and Bruce Davison | Bryan Singer | $214,949,694 |
| 7. | Elf | New Line Cinema | Will Ferrell, James Caan, Zooey Deschanel, Mary Steenburgen, Edward Asner and Bob Newhart | Jon Favreau | $167,547,000 |
| 8. | Chicago | Miramax Films | Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly, Lucy Liu, Taye Diggs, Colm Feore and Dominic West | Rob Marshall | $167,511,932 |
| 9. | Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines | Warner Bros. Pictures | Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes and Kristanna Loken | Jonathan Mostow | $150,371,112 |
| 10. | Bad Boys II | Columbia Pictures | Martin Lawrence, Will Smith, Jordi Mollà, Gabrielle Union, Peter Stormare, Theresa Randle and Joe Pantoliano | Michael Bay | $138,608,444 |

### In-Year Release

Highest-grossing films of 2003 by In-year release :
| Rank | Title | Distributor | Domestic gross |
| 1. | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | New Line Cinema | $377,027,325 |
| 2. | Finding Nemo | Disney | $339,714,978 |
| 3. | Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl | Disney | $305,413,918 |
| 4. | The Matrix Reloaded | Warner Bros. | $281,576,461 |
| 5. | Bruce Almighty | Universal | $242,829,261 |
| 6. | X2 | 20th Century Fox | $214,949,694 |
| 7. | Elf | New Line Cinema | $173,398,518 |
| 8. | Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines | Warner Bros. | $150,371,112 |
| 9. | The Matrix Revolutions | Warner Bros. | $139,313,948 |
| 10. | Cheaper by the Dozen | 20th Century Fox | $138,614,544 |
Highest-grossing films by MPAA rating of 2003 :
| G | Finding Nemo |
| PG | Elf |
| PG-13 | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King |
| R | The Matrix Reloaded |