Google's Top Trending Movies of 2023: A Look Back at the Year in Film

The Top Trending Movies of 2023

Google reveals their top trending movies of 2023. This year in film has brought releases from a number of major franchises, including Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Fast X, as well as original hits such as Oppenheimer. As 2023 comes to a close, the top-performing film at the box office remains Greta Gerwig’s Barbie.

Cillian Murphy as Oppenheimer celebrating above a cheering crowd with the American flag in the background

Distinct from top searches in purely numeric terms, this data tracks spikes in traffic that were then sustained over long periods of time, and only includes the United States. Those films were: Barbie, Oppenheimer, Sound of Freedom, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Creed 3, John Wick: Chapter 4, Five Nights at Freddy’s, and Cocaine Bear.

Mike (Josh Hutcherson) is looking forward in Five Nights at Freddy's. 

How Google's Top Trending Movies Related To 2023 Patterns

Barbie and Oppenheimer’s appearances on the top trending searches list come as no surprise when looking at 2023 in film. Released side-by-side on July 21, the movies’ shared release date was coined “Barbenheimer” and became a huge double-feature event. The Barbenheimer box office battle was the subject of memes and discourse for months before the films’ release, and both ended up doing impressively well.

A black bear climbing a tree in Cocaine Bear

Also high-performing at the box office was The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which appears on this list. Some major franchise films including Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One did not make the cut, and their omissions actually fall in line with 2023 box office trends, as these films underperformed expectations.

Michelle Yeoh's Evelyn with blood on her face in Everything Everywhere All At Once

Of the ten films featured on Google’s top trending searches of 2023, nine of them were released this year. The one exception is Best Picture winner Everything Everywhere All At Once, which hit theaters in 2022, but achieved Oscars glory in March. Overall, Google’s list is fairly reflective of 2023’s major box office successes and includes no streaming exclusives - especially notable given how streaming dominated the trending TV list.

Luigi is holding back a door in the Dark Lands in the Super Mario Bros Movie.