The decade of the 2000s in film involved many significant developments in the filmmaking industries around the world, especially in the technologies used. Building on advancements from the 1990s, computers were widely utilized to create effects that would have previously been more expensive and time-consuming, from the subtle erasing of surrounding islands in Cast Away to the vast battle scenes in The Matrix sequels.
Trends
- The 2000s saw the resurgence of several genres. Fantasy film franchises dominated the box office with The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Star Wars prequel trilogy (beginning in 1999), The Chronicles of Narnia, etc. Comic book superhero films became a blockbuster subgenre following the releases of X-Men, Unbreakable, and Spider-Man; culminating in the unprecedented achievements of The Dark Knight in both revenue and acclaim. Gladiator sparked the revival of historical epics set in ancient times (e.g., 300), and the Bollywood-inspired Moulin Rouge! did the same for live action musical films in the Western world (e.g., Chicago). Hong Kong fight choreographers like Yuen Woo-ping continued their influence in Hollywood with such martial arts films as ' and ', even leading to the spread of wire fu into other subgenres alongside filmmaker John Woo's gun fu from the likes of '.
- Certain film categories that were generally not popular in North America became more attractive to western moviegoers. Subtitled non-English language films such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Amélie, Hero, The Passion of the Christ, Pan's Labyrinth, and Apocalypto (plus the majorities of Babel and Inglourious Basterds); as well as feature-length documentaries like Fahrenheit 9/11, March of the Penguins, Earth, and Michael Jackson's This Is It; ended up being very successful.
- Computer animation replaced traditional animation as the dominant technique for animated pictures in American cinema, especially after the release of Shrek, which is the first film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Further extending to the exploration of motion capture technology in such films as Robert Zemeckis' The Polar Express, Beowulf, and A Christmas Carol. However, hand-drawn anime films also gained more exposure outside of Japan with the releases of Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, and Ponyo; while stop-motion films earned significant audience interest thanks to Chicken Run, Corpse Bride, ', and Coraline. DreamWorks Animation was the top animation studio of the decade, with Pixar and 20th Century Fox Animation following close behind (the latter after Fox Animation Studios was shut down on October 31, 2000).
- Major film studios started to focus their budgets on established titles with built-in fandoms to lower the risk of commercial failures and maximize financial profits. Increasing the productions of sequels, prequels, remakes, reboots, adaptations, spin-offs, crossovers, and so on; often as attempts to create or revive franchises. Capitalizing especially on nostalgia induced by the likes of Shaft, Charlie's Angels, Planet of the Apes, Scooby-Doo, ', Freddy vs. Jason, Starsky & Hutch, Alien vs. Predator, ', The Dukes of Hazzard, King Kong, Superman Returns, Miami Vice, Rocky Balboa, TMNT, Live Free or Die Hard, Transformers, Rambo, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, ', and many others. Out of the 50 highest-grossing films of the decade worldwide, only nine (of which six are animated) are not based on another property, though one of these became the top-grosser of all time: late 2009's Avatar.
Highest-grossing films
The list has more 2008 and 2007 films in the top 50 than any other year, each with eight. They are followed by 2009, 2005 and 2004, each with six. Figures are given in United States dollars (USD).
Highest-grossing film per year
The fantasy genre became the annual top-grosser seven times in a row from four different franchises.
Most acclaimed films of the decade
According to Metacritic, which analysed many of the notable 'best films of the decade' lists to compile the results, the top twenty films most often and most notably included in these lists are:
- There Will Be Blood
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
- Mulholland Drive
- No Country for Old Men
- '
- '
- Spirited Away
- 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
- '
- The Dark Knight
- Amélie
- Children of Men
- Memento
- Pan's Labyrinth
- United 93
- WALL-E
- Almost Famous
- Brokeback Mountain
- Far from Heaven
- Lost in Translation
The ten films released in the 2000s which got the highest average critic scores according to Metacritic are:
- Pan's Labyrinth
- 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
- Ratatouille
- Spirited Away
- The Hurt Locker
- '
- Sideways
- WALL-E
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
- 35 Shots of Rum
BBC's 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century poll of film critics listed the following as the top ten best films of the 2000s:
- Mulholland Drive
- In the Mood for Love
- There Will Be Blood
- Spirited Away
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
- Yi Yi
- No Country for Old Men
- Zodiac
- Children of Men
- 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
The New York Times list of "The 25 Best Films of the 21st Century So Far" selected the following as the top five best films of the 2000s:
- There Will Be Blood
- Spirited Away
- Million Dollar Baby
- The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
- Yi Yi
Moviefone's list of "50 Best Movies of the Decade" included the following films in the top five:
- Kill Bill
- City of God
- Battle Royale
- No Country for Old Men
- The Dark Knight
Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino selected the following as the best and most influential films of the decade:
- Battle Royale
- Anything Else
- Dogville
- The Host
- Joint Security Area
- Lost in Translation
- Memories of Murder
- Shaun of the Dead
- '
- Unbreakable
Awards
The following films received the most acclaim at the Academy Awards during the 2000s.
List of films
See also
References
Highest-grossing films
External links