The Panda's 100 Most Important Blockbusters (From 1975 to Now)

[The Panda]

74

Rocky

This is Stallone's biggest success story, it is a movie that took off as a major hit, won best picture, and started one of the biggest movie franchises that is out there.  There is so much cultural relevance in this and it's evident by the underdog impact it bestowed in many other movies that strived to be like that.  It has worn the test of time and stands a definitive blockbuster classic.

[The Futurist]

THe story behind the making of Rocky is as fascinating as the movie.

The parallels between the ROcky franchise and Stalonne s life are uncanny.

[The Panda]

73

The Waterboy

An odd pick, especially to put ahead of a lot of these movies, but I do have my reasons for this Sandler movie out of any of them that I could pick.  Mostly it's because the Waterboy represents Sandler in his prime as a box office pull, actually that's the sole reason this is on the list, I am using this more to represent Sandler and his importance to the domestic box office than anything else.  He played a massive impact on the way many stylized comedies, many would say for the worse, and despite being at career low is still able to crank out hits such as Hotel Transylvania and Grown Ups 2.  I mean even Sandler's flops such as Blended aren't losing money anymore since they cut the budget down from Jack and Jill and That's My Boy.  Throughout all of these years, despite the growing hate, Sandler has remained fairly consistent as a box office pull, and it doesn't look like he'll be going away any time soon.

[AniNate]

Yeah, I suppose you have to acknowledge Sandler somewhere. Still, he should be further down.

[The Panda]

72

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Why is the lowest grossing Potter film the first of the three Potter films you are going to mention?  Most importantly because this Potter movie is the one that cemented the darker more action PG-13 oriented tones that the rest would soon follow.  This movie changed the true demographic of who went to see Harry Potter and was genius because the maturity of the level of the film grew just as the young audience who was first captivated by the first Potter film had grown.  It is in my opinion one of the three essential Potter films.

[Noctis]

One of the THREE? I'm not sure how you're going to avoid DH1, DH2, or PS. Those three also need to be on the list. And two of them in a very high spot. SS is easily top ten.

[Ethan Hunt]

One of the THREE? I'm not sure how you're going to avoid DH1, DH2, or PS. Those three also need to be on the list. And two of them in a very high spot. SS is easily top ten.

.Why DH1?

[The Panda]

71

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

An absolutely massive hit, especially for how small of a film that this really is.  But I am putting this on here not just because of the absolutely incredible box office but because of how culturally influential it really became and how resonant it still is today (which is part of the reason it made as much money as it did).  What I find truly important about it now is to think about how spectacularly vocal people had to be about this movie in order to drive it to its successes because this would be the equivalent of 12 Years a Slave breaking out and reaching 400m domestically today.  Absolutely unimaginable.

Edited August 19, 2014 by The Panda

[The Panda]

70

Frozen

A recent movie that pulled off a fantastic, classic Disney run and has become the number 1 animated movie Worldwide of all time, there are very few movies that are able to pull off the type of Word of Mouth Frozen managed to pull.  Not only that but it fully capitalized on its overseas markets by makes over 200m in Japan alone.  With that in mind, it'll be extremely interesting to see how much of an impact Frozen has on movies in the coming years.

[baumer]

What kind of impact do you think Frozen could have?  What kind of lessons could other studios learn from Frozen?  This is not sarcasm, I actually like the inclusion of it, but I'm curious.

[AniNate]

I'm actually surprised it's this low. Figured with the craziness of the fandom it'd be in the top 50, at least.

 

I'm not sure what it means for other studios. They'll try to imitate it, but it's the subtleties that are the difference between a forgettable mediocrity and a $400 million blockbuster.

Edited August 21, 2014 by tribefan695

[Lazer]

74

Rocky

This is Stallone's biggest success story, it is a movie that took off as a major hit, won best picture, and started one of the biggest movie franchises that is out there.  There is so much cultural relevance in this and it's evident by the underdog impact it bestowed in many other movies that strived to be like that.  It has worn the test of time and stands a definitive blockbuster classic.

 

I think Rocky should have a much better ranking. Besides one of the most loved film scores, or at least the opening. How many small or independent people went into movies and succeeded because of Stallone and his work on Rocky.

[The Panda]

I'm actually surprised it's this low. Figured with the craziness of the fandom it'd be in the top 50, at least.

 

I'm not sure what it means for other studios. They'll try to imitate it, but it's the subtleties that are the difference between a forgettable mediocrity and a $400 million blockbuster.

 

I think it's to new and to unknowing on how impactful it could be on future Disney Movies and animated movies as a whole.  If we start seeing more female lead animations and animated musicals we will know Frozen made an impact.

[The Futurist]

What kind of impact do you think Frozen could have?  What kind of lessons could other studios learn from Frozen?  This is not sarcasm, I actually like the inclusion of it, but I'm curious.

More Princesses coming out movies is my best guess.

[Jay Beezy]

78

Mission: Impossible

A blockbuster that spawned a large franchise all because of the star power of Tom Cruise.  Everything about it has now become iconic, and it is still holding its power to pull in an audience after Ghost Protocol.  Although none of the other movies in the franchise have been able to reach the height of the first one, it doesn't make the entire franchise any less impressive for becoming a smaller version of 007.

And now that film's plot is easy to follow because there are a good number of movies that do the same plot.

[Jay Beezy]

Anyway, I hope to see The Rock on this list.

[The Panda]

69

Animal House

Adjusted this is the biggest comedy of all-time, and not only that it has the R rating on it as well yet it still neared 500m in its adjusted domestic total.  Animal House is a true breakout and has proven its relevance in culture and staying power through how much it has influenced comedies that would follow it.  I'd be tempted to say there won't be another comedy that adjusts over this one, and it'll be a long time till we get a comedy that is able to get over its adjusted total unadjusted.

[Noctis]

Can you hurry up?

[Lazer]

69

Animal House

Adjusted this is the biggest comedy of all-time, and not only that it has the R rating on it as well yet it still neared 500m in its adjusted domestic total.  Animal House is a true breakout and has proven its relevance in culture and staying power through how much it has influenced comedies that would follow it.  I'd be tempted to say there won't be another comedy that adjusts over this one, and it'll be a long time till we get a comedy that is able to get over its adjusted total unadjusted.

Your own write up shows why it deserves to be higher....

And as I am about to write on Chinatown......talk about a small messed up movie that beat the odds, especially since it couldn't be seen or paid fog by the teens cause of the R rating.

[Lazer]

71

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

An absolutely massive hit, especially for how small of a film that this really is.  But I am putting this on here not just because of the absolutely incredible box office but because of how culturally influential it really became and how resonant it still is today (which is part of the reason it made as much money as it did).  What I find truly important about it now is to think about how spectacularly vocal people had to be about this movie in order to drive it to its successes because this would be the equivalent of 12 Years a Slave breaking out and reaching 400m domestically today.  Absolutely unimaginable.

Comparing this to Slave is a joke in any regard, IMO, as just because of Jack, it had a big following based on his roles in the 5 years before, including Chinatown the year before that only made 125 Million....as well as many awards.....which is very similar to Cuckoos Nest.