The top ten grossing movies of 2014

Optimus Prime in action in Transformers: Age of Extinction, 2014's highest grossing film. Photo / supplied.

Transformers Age of Extinction topped the worldwide earnings for 2014 bringing Paramount Studios a whopping US$1.08 billion.

Costing US$210 million after rebates and starring Mark Wahlberg, the film was widely panned by critics. It didn't do that well in the US, grossing less than a third of its total there. However it more than made up for that overseas and was comfortably the box office success of 2014.

The list of the best performing films of 2014 was compiled and released by film website Box Office Mojo.

It was a good year for comic book heroes with X-Men, Spider-Man and Captain America all performing well.

The two films that topped the US box office chart - Guardians of the Galaxy and Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part One - didn't fare so well overseas, barely doubling their money.

Peter Jackson's final Hobbit movie, The Battle of the Five Armies was sitting at number 11, however with a day to go it could just nudge in to the top ten.

The top ten box office hits for 2014 are:
(All earnings in US$ and as of December 30)

1 Transformers: Age of Extinction - $1,087,400
2 Guardians of the Galaxy - $772,500,000
3 Maleficent - $757,800,000
4 X-Men: Days of Future Past - $746,000,000
5 Captain America: The Winter Soldier - $714,100,000
6 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - $709,000,000
7 Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - $708,300,000
8 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 $671,900,000
9 Interstellar - $648,800,000
10 How to Train Your Dragon 2 - $618,900,000