25 Years of July Fourth Box Office Winners, Ranked

Had the coronavirus pandemic not wiped out summer moviegoing in 2020, this July Fourth holiday weekend would have seen the release of Minions: The Rise of Gru—the latest entry in the Despicable Me franchise and its spinoffs—as well as Free Guy, a video game action-comedy starring Ryan Reynolds and Jodie Comer. (Maybe next year.) Instead, there are no new major movies at all—beyond the filmed version of Hamilton now streaming on Disney+. So, to fill the void left by closed theaters on what is normally a high-traffic weekend at the cinema, Vanity Fair has ranked every box office Independence Day weekend champion since 1995 from worst to best. Spoiler alert: expect to see lots of explosions, aliens, frantic chase scenes, and several Transformers.