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A Look at The Biggest Box Office Stories from 1972-present (THABOS: The History of Amazing Box Office Stories) | IT'S FINALLY COMPLETE!!!!!!!

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While not one of the strongest years for movies in terms of quality, I have very fond memories of 2006 as it was one of the best years of my childhood, the highlight of which was being in Euro Disney during the last few games of the World Cup. My level of excitement for Dead Man's Chest was ridiculously high, given that I had watched the first film on DVD countless times. One of the things I loved about being a kid during this era was that the way to get hyped for a highly anticipated upcoming blockbuster sequel was just to watch the previous installment over and over again. I would only get a glimpse of images or footage of the new entry through magazines or seeing a trailer on TV/in the cinema. To this day, the screening I attended for Dead Man's Chest while I was on a family holiday in the UK is one of the most packed I've ever been a part of. For whatever reason, people were allowed to sit on the steps of the auditorium and watch the movie. I ended up sitting in between a group of teenagers while my dad and sister sat on one of the steps. Madness.

Ultimately, that summer movie season is full of flicks I remember being incredibly excited for and convincing myself I loved before realising years later weren't all that great. Superman ReturnsX-Men: The Last Stand and Cars are examples of this, but I'd also like to raise you Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker, which I believed would become my new movie franchise obsession. Thankfully Casino Royale came along in November to show me what a proper spy action film looked like. 

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2007

Nancy Pelosi becomes the first woman Speaker of the House, Baghdad saw a series of attacks early in the year, and Greece sees its worst heat wave in a century. An 8.0 earthquake hits Peru, Queen Elizabeth II becomes the oldest-living monarch, Al Gore wins the Nobel Peace Prize, and the first iPhone hits store shelves. 

 

In television, the biggest event was the Writer’s Guild of America strike, lasting from November 2007 to February 2008. This had its impacts on film, and we’ll get into some of that, but TV was hit especially hard, with production shutdowns, shortened seasons, and straight up cancellations. And in 2007, Netflix also saw the birth of their streaming platform, allowing subscribers of their DVD-by-mail service to enjoy movie and TV content online on their computers. There’s plenty to talk about with this new Netflix streaming service, but that’s a story for another day. Bob Barker left The Price is Right after 35 years, replaced by Drew Carey the same year. The most notable premiere was The Big Bang Theory, which became one of the most successful comedies in television history and launched the career of Jim Parsons. 

 

Another notable premiere was High School Musical 2, the follow-up to the surprise smash first film. Earning 17.5 million viewers on its debut, it became the highest-rated Disney Channel airing ever and the biggest made-for-cable TV movie premiere ever. Disney Channel also saw Wizards of Waverly Place, which launched the career of Selena Gomez, and Phineas and Ferb, arguably Disney’s biggest success story in TV animation. Other television premieres include iCarly, Californication, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and Mad Men. Departures were The O.C., Gilmore Girls, Veronica Mars, and The Sopranos, which had one of the most infamous endings in television history. 

 

Gaming’s biggest hit that year was Halo 3, which had one of the biggest marketing campaigns for any video game ever, was considered one of the greatest video games ever, and sold over 14.5 million copies. Other releases include Mass Effect, Bioshock, Call of Duty 4, Portal, Assassin’s Creed, Super Mario Galaxy, God of War II, and Uncharted.

 

2007 also saw many losses, with WWE star Chris Benoit tragically taking his own life, while Swedish director Ingmar Bergman passed away at the age of 89. Other deaths include Lady Bird Johnson, Boris Yeltsin, Max Roach, Luciano Pavarotti, Deborah Kerr, Jean Baudrillard, Kurt Vonnegut, and Yolanda King.

 

At the box office, the best way to summarize this year was one month. As if the planets themselves aligned for this to happen, May 2007 featured three blockbusters. All of them were the third installments of their respective franchise, and all of them were fresh off massive critical and commercial hits. And they were each only a couple weeks apart. And coincidentally, all three would go on to be critical disappointments. It’s like God himself wanted this to happen.

 

And of the Big May Three, the victor of the bunch, at least domestically, was Spider-Man 3. After the events of Spider-Man 2, with Peter ready to propose to Mary-Jane, this adventure finds Spider-Man coming into contact with an alien symbiote that changes his personality, dons him a black suit, and brings out his anger, influencing his behavior for the worse. All the while, he has three different villains he has to face.

 

It was a given that Spider-Man 2 was going to be huge, with development for a third film starting in March 2004 for a summer 2007 release. January 2005 saw Sony make a seven-figure deal with Alvin Sargent, the writer of Spider-Man 2, to return to this one. Sam Raimi was also on board, and wanted to use this film as a way to explore Peter’s vigilantism. Peter finds himself to be a sinless hero, but it’s through this film he could explore that the criminals he fights have dimension and humanity. The world isn’t black and white, but fueled by complex emotions.

 

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For the villains, Raimi was adamant in having three. He wanted Harry Osborn to conclude his storyline, after learning Peter Parker was the Spider-Man who killed his father. Sandman was another villain Raimi decided to put in, as he was a visually interesting character. While a petty crook in the comics, Raimi altered his backstory, making him the man who killed Uncle Ben, challenging Peter's simplistic perception over the event, and giving him a story where he learns about forgiveness.

 

For the third villain, things got tricky. Sam Raimi wanted the Vulture and be played by Ben Kingsley. However, producer Avi Arad instead suggested the film should include Venom, a fan-favorite character, especially since Eddie Brock was already a minor character in the script. Raimi was not a fan of the character because of his perceived “lack of humanity”, but Arad felt the films relied too much on Raimi’s personal favorite villains instead of the characters fans love. Raimi reluctantly decided to put Venom in to please the fans, and ended up liking the character more in return. The film’s producers also wanted the film to include Gwen Stacy as an “other girl” character type. The massive cast of characters was a struggle for Alvin Sargent, and he almost planned to split the script into two parts. However, he failed to find a good intermediate climax, so it was a single film.

 

For the visual effects, Spider-Man 3 had heavy shoes to fill. John Dykstra, the visual effects supervisor for Spider-Man 2, won an Oscar for his work on the Marvel film, but he rejected working on this one. His colleague Scott Stokdyk took his place, working with 200 programmers at Sony Imageworks. Working on over 900 different visual effects shots, Stokdyk and his crew designed specific computer programs that didn’t even exist when production began in order to make Raimi (and Sony’s) dream a reality. This would rack up serious costs, with estimates between $258 million and $350 million, making it the most expensive movie ever up to that point.

 

For the Sandman, the VFX team experimented with twelve different types of sand. Experiments include splashing, launching it at stuntmen, and pouring it over ledges. These experiments would thus be replicated in the computer in all the Sandman sequences. The black suit Spider-Man wears was also quite different from the original comics. While the symbiote suit in the comics was a plain black suit with a large white spider on the front and back, the one in the movie is a black version of Spider-Man’s traditional outfit, with a webbing motif intact. Venom also saw a webbing motif in his design. This decision allowed the symbiote to have more character and a sense of life, appearing as if it is gripped onto the character’s body.

 

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So with a packed script, innovative effects, and immense hype from fans and general audiences, Spider-Man 3 was set to dominate on its release date, May 4. Incidentally, this marked a tradition that is still going on to this day where a Marvel movie opens as the big summer kick-off. Well, up until 2020, but...more on that later. The film opened in a record number of theaters, 4,252. Ticket sales were through the roof, six times greater than Spider-Man 2. Theaters set up 3 AM showings to keep up with the demand. And on that fateful day, its opening was a record breaker.

 

Opening day was $59.8 million, the biggest domestic opening day since Dead Man’s Chest one year ago. Saturday would see $51.3 million, and Sunday $39.9 million. All told, Spider-Man 3’s domestic opening weekend was $151.1 million. These numbers resulted in Spider-Man 3 earning the title of the biggest opening weekend of all time. The film also saw a record IMAX turnout with $4.8 million.

 

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Its success here was obvious. The first two Spider-Man films were gargantuan hits and were intensely loved. This one promised incredible effects, incredible action, more of the same things people loved from the last few movies, and offered fun hooks like a symbiote suit and baddies like Venom to really seal the deal. Its worldwide opening was also incredible stuff. Its opening Saturday was the biggest single day for any movie with about $117.6 million in all territories, and its first six days amounted to a very impressive $382 million, already more than half of Spider-Man 2’s worldwide haul. This was destined to be a giant. And it very much was.

 

However, things weren’t 100% rosy. While the last two saw immense acclaim, Spider-Man 3 saw a very polarizing response, with complaints that the film was too busy and convoluted. Almost as if forcing in so many characters and plot details in one movie wasn’t such a bright idea. And because of this mixed response, as well as competition from the other members of the Big May Three, Spider-Man 3 saw poor legs, only 2.23 times its opening. Its final domestic run was $336.5 million, the worst of the Raimi trilogy.

 

However, Sony wasn’t crying over this. With record openings across the globe, Spider-Man 3 was huge overseas, repping $558.3 million, the highest of the franchise. This would result in a colossal worldwide gross of $895 million, the highest film in the Raimi trilogy and the highest Spider-Man movie ever for 12 years. So despite mixed reception and some studio meddling, the executives won in the end. Heartwarming to see the underdog megacorporation win in the end.

 

Sony naturally wanted to go forward with a fourth movie and a spin-off featuring Venom. However, things did not go as planned. I would go into those details, but I already have way too many movies to look over and I’d rather finish this whole THABOS thing, so we’ll talk about some of this stuff in the future.

 

 

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Second place domestic would see another member of the Big May Three, Shrek the Third. After the death of King Harold, Shrek and Fiona are now the King and Queen of Far Far Away. But because Shrek feels he is unfit to rule and would rather enjoy his time back in the swamp, he, Donkey and Puss go off on a quest to find Fiona’s dorky underacheiving teenage cousin Arthur Pendragon, voiced by Justin Timberlake. All the while, Prince Charming is looking to overthrow the monarchy and take the throne.

 

After Shrek 2 became the biggest animated movie in history, Jeffrey Katzenberg was understandably eager to capitalize on its success, with not one, not two, but three follow-ups. Shrek 3 and 4 were set to reveal unanswered questions, while Shrek 5, the final film in the series, would show viewers how Shrek came to be in that swamp. Truly a question man was pondering. For this installment, Andrew Adamson did not return as director due to his commitment with Narnia, though he was an executive producer and gave advice every four months over the state of the film. This time, the film would be directed by Chris Miller, no relation to Lego Movie Chris Miller, and Raman Hui, both of whom worked on the previous two movies.

 

Initially the film was set to be titled Shrek 3. However, the title was changed to Shrek the Third so as to make the film stand out. Says Miller, “[we] didn't want to just sort of title it like it was just a sequel. [We wanted] something to make it stand on its own, give it its own personality and really try to treat it as a chapter in Shrek's life.” And since Shrek was set to be king in this installment, it also made the title seem more royal. The film was also supposed to come out in November 2006, but it was changed to May 2007. This was because as a summer release, the DVD could release in time for the Christmas season and earn bigger bucks in the process.

 

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Like Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third had a giant marketing campaign, with trailers, toys, books, clothes, and video games. However, one thing that Shrek the Third had help with in terms of advertising were two comedians who didn’t even like Shrek in the first place. Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, who most people know better as Tim and Eric, were a comedy duo that were arguably the faces of Cartoon Network’s late night programming block Adult Swim, producing several of their shows.

 

Tim and Eric were both annoyed by the constant advertisements they were seeing over the film. So in their own weird comedic flair, they produced satirical, low-quality, low-budget commercials and promos for Shrek the Third that encouraged their fans to watch the film in an ironic sense. An odd decision to be sure, and I doubt it really got people to go out and see it, but it at least showed that advertising for the film was everywhere and everybody was talking about the film up to its release, even with Spider-Man 3 releasing earlier.

 

On its May 18 release, Shrek the Third’s opening day consisted of $39.3 million when accounting for early Thursday shows, becoming the biggest opening day for an animated movie ever. This would all amount to $122.5 million for its opening weekend. This resulted in the third-biggest opening weekend of all time, only behind Dead Man’s Chest and Spider-Man 3, the biggest opening weekend for both Dreamworks and Paramount, who made a distribution deal for all future Dreamworks productions at that time, as well as the biggest animated opening weekend of all time. Shrek the Third would go on to hold the animated record for nine whole years.

 

Like Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third saw a record opening thanks to immense goodwill and intense marketing that promised both familiar and new elements. However, like Spider-Man 3, this would also see poor reception. Critics were discouraged from the film, feeling it failed to capture the same comedy and wit of the last two, and with the intense competition in the weeks to come, the film suffered. Legs were poor for the film, resulting in only 2.65 times its opening. It would thus go on to gross $322.7 million domestically and $813.4 million worldwide, serving as the second-biggest film in the series.

 

The only other notable bit post-release was a bit of controversy that rose with Eric Idle, who played Merlin in the movie. The beginning of the movie saw Prince Charming in a dinner theater, with a guy in the background using coconuts to make it sound like the horse’s hoof beats. This was a direct homage to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but when Idle saw that moment, he was reportedly so furious he left the premiere and threatened to sue Dreamworks for an unauthorized use of the gag. However, there has been no legal action made since then.

 

In November 2007, in time with its release on DVD, Shrek the Halls, a Shrek-themed Christmas special, aired on ABC, directly following up the events of the movie, and has played on TV just about every year. And despite mixed reception from the last one, Katzenberg promised more movies, and in 2010, we got yet another one. But that’s another story.

 

Third place wasn’t a part of the Big May Three, but was obviously still a monster hit: Transformers. Shia LaBeouf plays Sam Witwicky, a young teenager who through a wacky series of events, becomes caught up in an epic war between the Transformers, a group of alien robots who can disguise themselves by transforming into everyday machinery and vehicles. Both the heroic Autobots and evil Decepticons are currently in battle for the AllSpark. The Autobots need it to rebuild their home planet of Cyberton, while the Decepticons need it to build an army that will destroy the world. And the Earth hangs in the balance of it all.

 

Ever since its humble beginnings in 1984, after Hasbro rebranded two Japanese toys for Western audiences, the Transformers franchise had been an evergreen property. Toys, comic books, cartoon shows, even an animated movie that had Orson Welles of all people as a voice. So a live-action movie has been in development for a long time, first finding life in the year 2000. But this specific adaptation started in 2003. Producer Don Murphy was developing a G. I. Joe movie, but after the Iraq invasion, Murphy and Hasbro felt making a movie would have been inappropriate, so the two decided to look at Transformers instead.

 

Tom DeSanto would also join Murphy as a producer, both as a fan of the property, as well as wanting to make something unique in the blockbuster landscape. Said DeSanto, “In all the years of movie-making, I don't think the image of a truck transforming into a twenty-foot tall robot has ever been captured on screen. I also want to make a film that's a homage to 1980s movies and gets back to the sense of wonder that Hollywood has lost over the years. It will have those Spielberg-ian moments where you have the push-in on the wide-eyed kid and you feel like you're ten years old even if you're thirty-five."

 

Speaking of Spielberg, he attached himself to the project in 2004, being a fan of the comics and toys. John Rogers would then write the first draft, with Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman in charge of rewrites. Spielberg suggested to the duo that the main focus of the film should be “a boy and his car”, which helped the movie develop themes focusing on adulthood and responsibility. Initially, the producers did not allow the Transformers to talk, because the producers felt talking robots would be too ridiculous and silly...okay? However, the writers felt that even if it would look silly, not allowing the robots to talk would betray and alienate the fanbase. In perhaps the smartest way to keep that fanbase happy, Optimus Prime would be voiced by none other than Peter Cullen, who voiced Optimus Prime in the original 80s cartoon.

 

With a screenplay underway with Spielberg giving notes, the next quest was a director. Spielberg was insistent on getting Michael Bay for the film, but Bay was uninterested, thinking it was a “stupid toy movie”. However, upon Spielberg’s insistence and a visit from Hasbro, Bay signed on to the project. When reading the first draft, he felt it was too kiddie and wanted to expand the role of the military in the story so people could take a movie about giant fighting robots based on a toy line for 8 year olds seriously.

 

Filming began in April 2006, with Bay cutting his usual fee by 30%. One of the first things Bay was adamant about was shooting the film in the United States, because he gets to work with a crew he’s familiar with and understands his worth ethic. It also allowed for some very distinct locales and filming locations. Holloman Air Force Base was the first filming location, which was used to film the scenes set in Qatar. Los Angeles was the focus for the climax, with six weekends spent there, as well as some moments being filmed in the backlot of Universal Studios Hollywood.

 

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Two of the more notable filming locations come from the Hoover Dam and the Pentagon. Both were actually filmed on location, with Transformers making history as the first to film at these locations since 9/11. For the Hoover Dam, the crew had to shoot early in the morning, before it was opened to tourists at 10 AM. When the doors were open, the crew then shot inside for the remainder of the day.

 

The special effects were arguably the most important thing to get right, and one thing Bay was adamant on was making sure the robots, designed and animated by Industrial Light and Magic, were as detailed as possible. Says Bay, “"I just didn't want to make the boxy characters. It's boring and it would look fake. By adding more doo-dads and stuff on the robots, more car parts, you can just make it more real." The robots had numerous mechanical pieces visible in order to give off a more realistic and dynamic look, with even something as simple as turning a wrist needing 17 visible parts on screen. This was ambitious, but was an issue for ILM. Just one frame took 38 hours to render, meaning the company had to increase their processing facilities just so the movie could be done on time.

 

After a handful of premieres, Transformers released on July 3, with 8 PM screenings on July 2. The marketing was omnipresent, as thanks to it being a Hasbro production, toys, books, and video games were all over the shelves. 200 other companies across 70 countries also made deals to promote the movie. And this all led to an explosive opening.

 

Monday night previews amounted for an already impressive $8.8 million, leading to an opening day of $27.9 million, the biggest Tuesday of all time. Wednesday, the Fourth of July, was $29 million, beating Spider-Man 2’s numbers for the holiday. All told, Transformers’ FSS was about $70.5 million, and when you include all of its previous days, this saw an opening week of $155.4 million, becoming the biggest opening week for a non-sequel ever, as well as the biggest opening week for both Paramount and Dreamworks. And with strong word of mouth, Transformers would go on to finish with $319.2 million.

 

Overseas was also impressive stuff with the most notable of the bunch being China. Not only did it saw a record opening with about $3 million, it became so popular in the Middle Kingdom it would go on to earn $37.3 million, becoming the second-biggest foreign film in the region, only behind Titanic. This all resulted in a worldwide gross of $709.7 million. Transformers being big in China will become very important in the future.

 

Anways, Transformers was one of those rare success stories that changed everything. For starters, Michael Bay’s career was given a massive resurgence. After The Island became a massive box office flop, the famed director was able to bounce right back and become in charge of one of the biggest movie franchises of all time, alongside other flicks like Pain and Gain, 13 Hours, and 6 Underground. Shia LaBeouf also saw his stock rise. At the time, most people knew the guy from his work on the hit Disney Channel series Even Stevens. However, this and to an extent films like Disturbia and Surf’s Up, gave the guy a banner year and a career that is very wild, yet very interesting all the same.

 

But of course the real victor was the Transformers brand itself. While some criticism was levied by fans over the radical redesigns and emphasis on human characters, Bay’s film made the Hasbro toy line bigger than it’s ever been. Awareness and popularity of the property exploded upon its release, drawing in many new fans. Its immense popularity, especially among kids, also helped military parents better explain what their work was like to their children. And of course, this led to one of the biggest franchises in Paramount history, with four sequels, three of which we’ll talk about later, a prequel featuring the Autobot Bumblebee, and a whole bunch of other projects in varying forms of development.

 

We're finally at last of the Big May Three with Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. Following up on the cliffhanger from the last movie, the Black Pearl crew are looking to find a way to rescue Jack Sparrow from Davy Jones’ Locker. All the while, fighting against the East India Trading Company, who are controlling Davy Jones and are looking to end piracy forever.

 

As I said in the last post, At World’s End was filmed alongside Dead Man’s Chest, as a way to capitalize on the surprise success of the first Pirates movie. For this iteration, Gore Verbinski wanted to make this final installment into a character piece, as Dead Man’s Chest was much more focused on plot. Verbinski also wanted to focus on making this film the end of an era, with the Golden Age of Piracy coming to an end, myths dying away, and the legitimate becoming more corrupt. Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio took inspiration from the real-life confederation of pirates, creating characters based on real historical figures as a way to expand the world and scope of the story.

 

Speaking of new characters, two of the more notable newbies in the cast were Keith Richards and Chow-Yun Fat. Richards’ appearance as Jack Sparrow’s dad was an inspired one, as Johnny Depp used Richards as an influence for his portrayal of the infamous pirate. He was set to appear in Dead Man’s Chest, but there was no room in the story and Richards was in the middle of touring during production. As for Chow-Yun Fat, he played Sao Feng, the Pirate Lord of the South China Sea. Chow loved the role, but his appearance sparked controversy amongst Chinese journalists and media. Many considered his character to be a Fu Manchu-style stereotype, and in certain regions in China, ten minutes of Chow’s performance were removed, so as to avoid giving out a stereotypical and negative portrayal.

 

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What made this unique compared to Dead Man’s Chest was how small its campaign was. Obviously there were plenty of ads, promos, and merchandise galore, but while Dead Man’s Chest put out a trailer in time for the first Narnia movie, half a year before its debut, At World’s End saw its first trailer in March 2007, just two months before its release. This seemed like a bad idea, but the hype and excitement for AWE after DMC made people froth at the mouth for new footage that the hype still stayed strong.

 

At World’s End would debut on May 25, Memorial Day weekend. The excitement resulted in a record theater count of 4,362, beating Spider-Man 3’s record a couple weekends prior. And like Spider-Man 3 and Shrek the Third before it, this installment was yet another record-breaker. Its FSS amounted to $114.7 million, making it the fifth-biggest opening of all time. However, when you include the entire long weekend, with Memorial Day Monday and Thursday night previews, it resulted in $153 million, a near identical haul of DMC’s first four days. But of course the big splashy headline was that its $153 million meant it was the biggest Memorial Day opening of all time, beating out X-Men: The Last Stand one year prior. And to this very day, not a single movie has come close to what it has achieved 13 years ago. And quite honestly, with how uncertain the box office looks to be even after this pandemic, who knows if we’ll ever see something top At World’s End?

 

Like the other Big May Three members, At World’s End was able to get this record opening thanks to its popular and well-liked follow-ups. They brought exciting and fresh elements that made them stand out from the marketplace, resulting in mass excitement for their follow-ups. And just like the other BMT members, AWE saw mixed reviews and poor legs, resulting in $309.4 million, only a couple million above Curse of the Black Pearl back in 2003.

 

However, the one thing that made At World’s End the hit that it was can be explained by the overseas box office. With record openings in South Korea, Russia, and Spain, At World’s End earned $251 million internationally with a global opening of $404 million through Monday, the biggest of all time for each, beating out Spider-Man 3’s opening (well technically. The three-day still saw SM3 over AWE, but...who cares?). It would go on to earn $500 million in only 20 days, another record held by Spider-Man 3. And for its final haul, while At World’s End grossed the least in the US and Canada, it became the #1 movie of 2007 worldwide with $961 million. This made it the second-biggest Pirates movie, and yet another hit for Disney’s live-action department, Bruckheimer, Depp, and Verbinski.

 

And to think, Michael Eisner was on the verge of shutting the first movie down to its expense. While At World’s End may not have ended the series gracefully, it was still record-breaking numbers that shows the importance of creativity and trusting filmmakers to do what they do best. And with all that money made, Jack Sparrow would go on to appear a few more times after, even when Verbinski left his post.

 

Fifth domestic, second worldwide was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Following Harry’s fifth year, this installment deals with him facing the Ministry of Magic denying the return of Voldemort, joining a secret organization known as the Order of the Phoenix, dealing with a cruel and authoritarian new teacher named Dolores Umbridge, and more.

 

Finding a director for this installment was tough. Mike Newell, the director of Goblet of Fire, turned down a chance to return, while others like Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Guillermo del Toro, Matthew Vaughn, and Mira Nair also passed. In the end, British television director David Yates was given the role, due to his work showcasing his ability to handle an edgy and emotional film with a political backstory. The team really wanted to focus on the book’s political leanings here, what with the story’s focus on teen rebellion and abuse of power. Emma Watson drew parallels to the tragic July 2005 bombings in London during the promos for this movie.

 

Steve Kloves had other commitments, so this became the first and only Potter film to not feature his talents. Michael Goldenberg, who was set to write the first film, was attached to this. Despite Order of the Phoenix being the longest book in the series, the film was cut down to only 2 hours and 18 minutes, the second-shortest movie in the series. Goldenberg was forced to cut a lot of elements in order to make this work as a film. This included cutting out Quidditch altogether, a scene where Harry sees a memory of his own father, and a diminished role for the house-elf Kreacher. Kreacher was almost cut entirely, but Rowling insisted he stay in the final draft, because Kreacher was going to play a major part in the final book Deathly Hallows, which was set to release ten days after the film.

 

For the casting, the eccentric Luna Lovegood saw over 15,000 auditions, including Saoirse Ronan, with the role being given to Evanna Lynch. Bellatrix Lestrange was set to be played by Helen McCrory, but had to drop up due to her pregnancy. Helena Bonham Carter would be cast as Lestrange, while McCrory would play Narcissa Malfoy in Half-Blood Prince onwards.

 

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As I said earlier, with this releasing days before the final book, every casting choice made here made speculation for the last novel rampant, with the biggest one being the casting of Jim McManus as Albus Dumbledore’s brother Aberforth. Because the character didn’t even have a line in the previous books, fans felt this was a sign Aberforth would have a major role in the final book, though WB would go on to say his role was very minor. At the same time, the house-elf Dobby, who appeared in Chamber of Secrets, was completely cut from Order of the Phoenix, which also begged the question of what role Dobby would play in the final book.

 

With Pottermania set to explode that year with OOTP and Deathly Hallows, the hype for this film adaptation was immense. There was even controversy over some of the posters. Showcasing Harry with six of his classmates, one poster had Hermione appear curvier with the outline of her breasts being enhanced. This photo manipulation caused pretty strong backlash, but not enough to hurt the movie’s box office. Presales were through the roof, and midnight showings were plentiful. And yet again, Harry Potter delivered big bucks.

 

Order of the Phoenix opened on July 11, and was already an instant hit. With $12 million in midnight showings, it was only behind At World’s End’s $13.2 million for biggest Thursday previews/midnight showings/whatever. Including those midnights for the rest of the opening day, that amounted to $44.2 million, making it the biggest Wednesday of all time. This of course led to a dynamite opening of $77.1 million for the 3-Day and $139.7 million for the five-day. This resulted in the second-best five-day opening for a movie, only behind Spider-Man 2

 

With a global opening of $332.7 million, this soon led to massive grosses by all accounts. $292 million domestic, $649.7 million overseas, and $941.7 million worldwide. This not only put it only behind At World’s End for 2007, but it also served in putting the film in the top 10 all-time worldwide and made it the second-biggest Potter film ever, only behind Philosopher’s Stone. At the same time, it earned about $35 million worldwide from IMAX theaters, which featured the last 20 minutes in IMAX 3D, making it the biggest live-action hit for the format at that time.

 

However, despite this incredible box office and solid, if somewhat lesser reception, Order of the Phoenix actually was a money loser. Studio documents were leaked out in July 2010, revealing that Warner Bros. lost about $167 million from this release. Damn you creative accounting! But regardless, it was yet another instance of Harry Potter at its peak in popularity and would of course lead to greater things in the years to come.

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In sixth place, seventh worldwide was Will Smith yet again with I Am Legend, based on the 1954 novel of the same name. It’s a post-apocalyptic New York City. A deadly virus, intended as a cure for cancer, has wiped out 90% of mankind. 9.8% live on as Darkseekers, nocturnal mutant zombies. The other 0.2% are the immune humans, prey to the Darkseekers. Will Smith is the last remaining human in New York City, and every day goes to him developing a cure, studying the Darkseekers, and possibly finding more than one human out there in the world.

 

This adaptation first saw light in 1995 under Warner Bros., who had the rights to the Richard Matheson novel since 1970, with the release of Sean Connery’s The Omega Man in 1971. The screenplay was written by Mark Protosevich, based off his work on the spec script for The Cell, and Neal Moritz and Ridley Scott signed on as producer and director respectively.

 

For the casting, there were plenty of promising contenders for the lead: Tom Cruise, Michael Douglas, Mel Gibson. However, the one set to earn the lead role was Arnold Schwarzenegger, with him and Scott set to begin filming September 1997. However, months before filming began, Ridley Scott fired Protosevich and hired John Logan for this new iteration. Scott and Logan’s version was more experimental, with zero dialogue in the first hour, a more somber ending, and a mixture of sci-fi and psychological thriller than an action movie. This made WB’s suits very anxious on the film’s commercial prospects, resulting in Logan’s screenplay being gone and Mark Protosevich reluctantly returning to the project.

 

However, another problem came from the escalating costs. With $108 million in its budget, the commercial prospects of the film was becoming sour to executives and shareholders. It also didn’t help that Ridley Scott saw three commercial disappointments in a row (1492: Conquest of Paradise, White Squall, G.I. Jane), Warner Bros. saw major big-budget sci-fi failures with both Sphere and The Postman, and Schwarzenegger was fresh off Batman & Robin. I don’t think I need to explain that last one. So in March 1998, I Am Legend was scrapped altogether, despite Scott rewriting the film to cut down the budget by $20 million.

 

August 1998 saw Protosevich writing a third draft with Rob Bowman as director. However, Bowman would go on to direct Reign of Fire instead, and the project went nowhere. However, 2002 would see Schwarzenegger step in as a producer, with plans for the film to be directed by Michael Bay and star Will Smith, with a new draft that would see a dramatically reduced budget. However, WB president Alan Horn was not a fan of the draft, so the project was scrapped. However, two years later, Akiva Goldsman was asked to produce the film by WB’s head of production Joe Robinov. And it’s through Goldsman the film finally saw traction.

 

Goldsman signed on as a fan of the The Omega Man, though he would also go on to rewrite the film so as to make it stand out compared to the zombie films inspired by the original novel and the recently released 28 Days Later. Goldsman also consulted experts on diseases and solitary confinement. Francis Lawrence, who worked with Goldsman on Constantine, signed on in late 2005, with plans for a 2006 shoot. Rewrites continued during filming, due to Will Smith’s strong improv skills, as well as Lawrence wanting to add more silence to the picture.

 

Will Smith was re-attached to the film in April 2006, believing the film had potential to be like Gladiator or Forrest Gump; films that combine crowd-pleasing elements with artistic values. This also served as Smith’s toughest role yet, due to the isolation of the lead character. This meant an actor known for his comedic edge and love to crack jokes inbetween takes had to restrain his humorous personality. He also visited the CDC and people who have suffered from solitary confinement to truly get into the role.

 

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Originally the film was set to be filmed and take place in Los Angeles, but Akiva Goldsman felt New York City would be a more exciting location, because while LA can occasionally be empty, New York is always active and full of people. There was a reluctance from Warner Bros. to do so, but when Francis Lawrence shot on location, then removed the people walking in the city through special effects, this test footage startled Warner Bros. executives so much they decided to go forward with the New York setting. Speaking of filming, the Darkseekers were originally going to be real actors in prosthetic, but after a week of filming, Lawrence felt it was better to create the characters through CGI, which boosted the budget and extended post-production.

 

But despite the changes, I Am Legend still saw a release on December 14, with a teaser first attached to Order of the Phoenix in July. And with commercials and posters everywhere, a tie-in comic, and an online video game featured in Second Life (lol remember that?). And this would lead to an opening for the ages. On its initial release, I Am Legend opened to $77.2 million, becoming the host to a bunch of records. The biggest opening in Will Smith’s career, as well as the seventh number one in a row for Smith. The fifth-biggest non-summer debut, only behind Potter 1, 2, and 4, and Passion of the Christ. But most important of all, it was the biggest December opening of all time, beating Return of the King’s $72.6 million. 

 

December usually has muted openings because of holiday shopping and traveling, so the fact that I Am Legend, which didn’t have the immense hype and goodwill of Return of the King, was able to do these kinds of numbers is downright astonishing, and further proof at how much goodwill and popularity Will Smith earned in the 2000s. However, things weren’t very rosy on the critics side of things. While it had its fans and there was praise for Smith, the action, and direction, many of the screenplay decisions and deviation from the source material drew criticism. Most infamously, the third act, which completely changed the nuanced and layered ending of the book, drew very heavy criticism, with many arguing it made I Am Legend the most regressive adaptation of the original novel. However, an alternate ending that features the original book conclusion was featured on the DVD.

 

Still, it didn’t detract from the massive numbers I Am Legend would soon generate, with about $256.4 million domestic and $585.4 million worldwide, becoming Smith’s biggest film since Men in Black back in 1997. A prequel was announced with Will Smith set to reprise, but development has stalled since 2014.

 

Seventh place was home to The Bourne Ultimatum. This sees Matt Damon return as Jason Bourne, as he finds himself trying to discover more about his past before he was a part of Operation Treadstone, all the while facing off against a similar assassination program. As one would expect, The Bourne Supremacy’s success encouraged Universal to make one more movie to round out the trilogy, with Paul Greengrass returning as director and Tony Gilroy as writer...well, kind of with the latter. You see, Gilroy was dissatisfied with The Bourne Supremacy, feeling the ideas of Bourne repenting for his murders were omitted in the final product. So while he did end up writing the first draft, he did not participate any further, leaving the rest of the work to Scott Z. Burns and George Nolfi. As of 2009, Gilroy has yet to see the final film.

 

Regardless of Gilroy’s thoughts, hype was massive for this. The last two Bourne films were well-made thrillers, and Supremacy practically leap-frogged from its predecessor. Truly Ultimatum could do the same. And in a miraculous turn of events, it did. Opening on August 3, Ultimatum saw some of the best reviews of the year, hailing it as the best of the series. This goodwill resulted in $69.3 million for its opening weekend. This was not only the best opening in the series, but also the second-biggest opening for a Universal title, only behind The Lost World, as well as the biggest opening ever for an August movie, beating out Rush Hour 2.

 

This was a 32% jump from Supremacy’s opening, and would result in a massive increase by all accounts: $227.5 million domestic (29% more than Supremacy), $444.1 million worldwide (53% more). In a way, people in the box office community kind of take the Bourne trilogy for granted. Both for its performance and influence. Performance is an obvious one. It’s pretty difficult, unless you’re Marvel, for a series of movies to increase one after the other. So the fact Bourne was able to keep hype and interest growing with every installment is mad impressive, and it’s surprising people don’t talk about that much compared to, say, Lord of the Rings.

 

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The trilogy also served as the perfect blueprint for spy movies to come. Before Bourne, properties like Mission: Impossible and Bond prided themselves as goofy, over-the-top spectacles. And while they have their place, even today, there was a yearn for these films to take themselves more seriously. Jason Bourne as a character played so well because he was just an average man in an average world stuck in a grand adventure. He’s an everyman trying to figure out why he’s so important, and the film prides itself on realistic fights, car chases, and modern technology that doesn’t go too far into cartoony antics. This would define Bond and Mission: Impossible going forward, as while they may not be as realistic, they still took themselves more seriously in the future and pushed themselves more towards grit and realism. Without Bourne, we probably wouldn’t have gotten the later M:I movies or features like Skyfall.

 

While Ultimatum was intended to be the last of the series, a fourth film was announced in 2008. However, with Damon only wanting to make another one if Greengrass was involved, and Greengrass admitting reluctance to make another one, Universal decided to go the spin-off route with The Bourne Legacy in 2012. This starred Jeremy Renner as a different Treadstone member named Aaron Cross. While seeing an okay gross of about $113.2 million domestic and $276.1 million worldwide, it saw mixed reviews. However, in 2014, Damon and Greengrass officially signed on for another sequel, with Jason Bourne releasing in 2016. It yet again saw mixed reviews, but solid box office, earning $162.4 million domestically and $415.5 million worldwide. A sixth film was rumored, but Damon has shot down the idea. But hey, ya never know.

 

Eighth domestic, ninth worldwide saw Nic Cage on a new treasure hunt with National Treasure: Book of Secrets. This time, Benjamin Gates, follows a series of clues found in John Wilkes Booth’s diary, all to help prove his great-great grandfather’s innocence in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. And to do that, Ben Gates must go on another adventure that sees him traveling to different American landmarks and also sees him kidnap the President. Yes really.

 

The first National Treasure wasn’t expected to be a big hit, and the producers had no real plans for a sequel. But of course, money talks, and Bruckheimer’s team decided to go ahead with a sequel in 2005. One of the cooler elements about the film was that many of the scenes were shot on location. Scenes taking place at Mount Vernon and Mount Rushmore were actually shot at those locations.

 

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The goodwill from the first National Treasure meant interest for the sequel was strong. And after all, considering the boost the second Pirates movie got, surely the other Disney-Bruckheimer collab could see the same results. Book of Secrets opened on December 21, and despite strong competition from both I Am Legend and Alvin and the Chipmunks, it managed to open to a very impressive $44.8 million. This served as the third-biggest Christmas weekend opening, only behind Fellowship and Meet the Fockers, as well as Cage’s second-biggest opening, just barely behind Ghost Rider the same year. Like Dead Man’s Chest, Book of Secrets was able to shake things up just enough, while also keeping the same elements people loved from the first movie. And with a Christmas debut, Book of Secrets climbed to greater things.

 

With $220 million domestically and $459.2 million worldwide, while obviously not as huge as Dead Man’s Chest, it was still a sizable jump from the last movie, and seemed to establish another potential live-action franchise for the Mouse House. Again, it’s another instance that letting creative people have fun with an idea can go a long way. However, unlike Pirates or even Narnia, National Treasure’s franchise prospects weren’t that simple.

 

While Jon Turteltaub confirmed more sequels were on the way in 2008, production was stalled time and time again for a third film. In 2013, Bruckheimer said all parties were interested, but the script wasn’t up to par. A new set of writers jumped on in 2014, and a script was finished in 2017, but Disney was unimpressed. And so, despite Book of Secrets doing everything in its power to justify a third installment, the movie never got  made.

 

But in 2020, things seem to be turning around. The third film was finally announced to move forward, with Bad Boys for Life's Chris Bremner set to write the script. Bruckheimer and the original cast are set to return, and just this past May, not only did Bruckheimer reveal the film is still being worked on, but a Disney+ series, focusing on a younger cast of characters, is also in the works. So I guess in the end, it all works out.

 

At ninth was the return of Alvin and the Chipmunks, based on the Ross Bagdasarian characters. Starting out as a novelty record where Bagdasarian sang songs while digitally modifying his voice to sound squeaky and high-pitched, Alvin and the Chipmunks has lived on through many mediums. Albums, cartoons, animated movies. A live-action film had been a point of interest for Ross Bagdasarian Jr., who inherited his dad’s franchise after his death, since 1997. It wasn’t until 2004 when Fox 2000, 20th Century Fox Animation and Bagdasarian Productions announced a live-action/CG hybrid of the famed property.

 

Simpsons writer Jon Vitti was attached as a writer, while Max Keeble and Garfield 2’s Tim Hill signed on to direct. Chevy Chase was set to play Dave Seville, but the role was given to Jason Lee, who liked that he was playing a more clean-cut character than his usual roles. As for the Chipmunks, Bagadasarian Jr. and his wife Janice Karman always voiced the trio since they revived the franchise. However, Fox was adamant in replacing them with celebrity voices as a way to drive up ticket sales. I don’t really get that reasoning, since their voices are going to be sped up to the point they’re unrecognizable, but I’m not a rich Hollywood executive, so what do I know? The roles were then given to Justin Long as Alvin, Matthew Gray Gubler as Simon, and Jesse McCartney as Theodore. The trio had to read their lines slowly so as they can be sped up to normal speed during post-production, which was a challenge for all three actors.

 

For the designs and animation of the chipmunks, the studio behind them were Rhythm and Hues, best known for films like Babe and Narnia. Getting the exact look for the chipmunks proved to be a challenge for the studio. Jr. and Tim Hill wanted the chipmunks to look realistic to the point where it seems like they’re there, but not so realistic they don’t look like the original cartoon. It wasn’t until September 2006 Rhythm and Hues made the design they were looking for. Between studying and observing real-life chipmunks, the animators also studied all the previous iterations of the characters, in order to help find the perfect rendering, fur texturing and animating they desired.

 

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With a December 14 release date, Alvin and the Chipmunks became one of those hits that did so well it even shocked its studio. Despite opening on the same day as I Am Legend, Alvin served as great counterprogramming and delivered $44.3 million in its opening weekend. This meant it was the second-biggest PG December opener, only behind Narnia, and more than doubled the expectations Fox and box office experts had going in. Alvin saw such a massive opening for two major reasons: there was little in the way of fare for younger kids and its broad comedy played well to its target audience despite being panned by critics. And with the Christmas season behind it, Alvin and the Chipmunks managed to earn $217.3 million domestically and $365.3 million worldwide. Even Fox 2000 head Elizabeth Gabler was surprised at these numbers, mentioning her team were consistently amazed at its numbers every weekend.

 

But perhaps the most interesting aspect of this film’s legacy was an infamous beef between two comedians. I’m not kidding. Alvin and the Chipmunks was panned by critics for its predictable story, awful gags, and wasting the talents of its stars. In particular, fans of David Cross, the actor who played the antagonist studio executive Ian, were berating and insulting Cross for signing on to such garbage. This would also result in Patton Oswalt getting onto MySpace and mentioning how he was asked to play the role of Ian, along with fellow comedian Brian Poesehn, but both rejected it: “We both threw the script across the room in disgust. David Cross caught it."

 

As a result, David Cross went onto his website The Bob and Davider to explain why he signed on for the movie. He actually rejected the script and only came around on the project six months later when he had no work and had a down payment due for his New York cottage. This defense still wasn’t enough, with people still calling him a sell-out just for wanting to pay the bills. The Internet’s fucking weird.

 

But despite all the backlash, what matters in the end is that Alvin and the Chipmunks was a huge hit. And that success rejuvenated the brand for a whole new generation, resulting in three more sequels from 20th Century Fox, as well as a new television series on Nickelodeon currently on its fourth season and set to have three more in the future.

 

Tenth place on both accounts was the Grecian epic 300, based on the Frank Miller comic book series. A loose retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae, this follows King Leonidas leading a group of 300 Spartans in a battle against the Persian King Xerxes and his army of 300,000 soldiers. And while the battle may be tough, it could very well rally the people of Greece and bring in the world’s first democracy.

 

This film adaptation was the brainchild of producer Gianni Nunnari, who was interested in adapting Miller’s 300 out of an interest in a film about the Battle of Thermopylae. Mark Canton would also sign on as a producer and Michael B. Gordon wrote the script. Zack Snyder was attached to direct in June 2004, just months after the release of Dawn of the Dead. Snyder was actually developing a project based on Miller’s story at around the same time.

 

Much like the film adaptation of Sin City, 300 served as a shot-to-shot adaptation of the Frank Miller novel, with Snyder photocopying panels and directly referencing them in many shots. Despite production requiring hundreds of weapons, costumes, and animatronics, production was at a pretty cool $60 million. In fact, outside of one scene where horses travel across the countryside, every shot of the movie was done in a soundstage surrounded by bluescreen. This led to an artificial, yet very distinct look in terms of the production design and lighting that helped it stand out from a visual standpoint.

 

This was a film that saw countless controversy, which we’ll get into more detail later, but one of the smaller ones came from the music side of things. The soundtrack of 300, composed by Tyler Bates, saw controversy in the film composer community, with Bates’ work sounding eerily similar to other works, from the body of James Horner, to the music in Troy and especially 1999’s Titus, composed by Elliot Goldenthal. Warner Bros. even acknowledged the issue, stating the score of 300 was done without their knowledge or participation, and they resolved the matter with Goldenthal peacefully.

 

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Anyways, with an already established fanbase, interest in Snyder’s 300 was already strong. The website launched in December 2005, full of concept art and video diaries. 2006 Comic-Con had an exclusive trailer debut. UFC and NHL promos arrived. An unfinished cut of the film was unveiled at Butt-Numb-A-Thon in December 2006, and its world premiere was at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2007. With all that hype and a digital stylized look unlike the other sword-and-sandal epics, 300 exploded on its March 9 release.

 

With $70.9 million in its first three days, 300 not only saw the third-biggest debut for an R-rated movie, but also the biggest debut ever for a March release, toppling Ice Age: The Meltdown just one year prior. It also saw the biggest IMAX debut ever at the time, earning $3.4 million from the large-screen format. This opening was more than double what studio executives predicted and made the film one of the most-talked about of the year. With little competition, 300 would go on to earn $210.6 million domestically and $456.1 million worldwide.

 

Yet despite its immense box office success, 300 would go on to be one of the most polarizing films in recent memory. That’s gonna be a running theme with Snyder productions. Some thought it was an epic action piece, others thought it was a campy and ridiculous mess. Perhaps the heaviest scrutiny came from its politics, both in its racist depictions of Persians, and its East vs West undertones and supposed fascist leanings. Regardless, 300 became a staple in pop culture, being parodied and spoofed and quoted to death in TV shows and Internet forums. A sequel, titled 300: Rise of an Empire, was released in 2014, earning $337.6 million on a $110 million budget.

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Eleventh domestic, sixth worldwide was Pixar’s Ratatouille. Patton Oswalt voices Remy, who has a distinct love of quality food and dreams of becoming a chef. The downside? He’s a rat. Feared by kitchens, and living in a colony that only cares about eating garbage, Remy finds himself trying to achieve his dreams with the help of Skinner, the garbage boy for the most famous Parisian restaurant. And through his escapades, he can prove to the world that anyone can cook.

 

This concept had been a part of Pixar since 2000, spearheaded by animator Jan Pinkava. The sets, characters, and basic storyline were conceived by Pinkava, who would direct the movie alongside fellow Pixar animator Bob Peterson. However, as time went on, the Pixar heads felt the story wasn’t really progressing or shaping up in a way they hoped. So while Petersen left the project in favor of Up, Incredibles director Brad Bird was approached to direct Pinkava’s idea. Bird loved the outlandish storyline and concept and immediately signed on to direct, with major changes to the screenplay itself.

 

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With the film being set in Paris, a unique location compared to Pixar’s previous films, Brad Bird, producer Brad Lewis, and other Pixar crew members traveled to Paris for a week, attempting to better understand the city’s locales, transportation, and restaurants. Animators also had to take several culinary classes in San Francisco both to understand the inner workings of a kitchen and to ensure the food presented was as distinct, lively, and mouth-watering as possible. Gourmet experts were also consulted, as were rat experts.

 

Like previous Pixar titles, Disney had a massive marketing campaign behind Ratatouille. But one unique plan came from a planned wine collection. A French-produced wine branded after the movie was set to appear in Costco stores, but the California Wine Institute lobbied complaints over having a Disney movie promoted on alcohol, fearing it will encourage underage drinking. The Disney execs were also concerned that Ratatouille would be hard to pronounce for many, so they included a phonetic spelling in both the trailers and posters to help make it easier for people to comprehend.

 

However, despite the big campaign, the opening weekend was on the small side in the US. Opening on June 29, Ratatouille saw $47 million in its first three days, earning the lowest Pixar opening since A Bug’s Life in 1998. Whether it be the oversaturation of CGI animation or the outlandish concept, Ratatouille simply didn’t catch on compared to Cars or The Incredibles. However, that obviously wasn’t the only story here. With immense acclaim, with many arguing Ratatouille was the best Pixar yet, the animated film had incredible legs, at about 4.39x, resulting in a $206.4 million domestic haul.

 

Overseas was the real story however. With the immense popularity of Pixar and its Paris setting, Ratatouille was huge in France, earning the biggest animated opening ever and dethroning Titanic by earning the most consecutive weeks at #1 in the territory. This, alongside solid results in other countries, resulted in $417.3 million overseas, all for a worldwide total of $623.7 million.

 

Since then, Ratatouille has lived on as another iconic staple in the Pixar canon and a favorite amongst fans of the studio. Disneyland Paris saw a ride based on the film that featured groundbreaking trackless ride technology, and is set to come to Disney World’s Epcot sometime in the future.

 

Twelfth place, with an eighth place spot worldwide saw Springfield on the big screen with The Simpsons Movie. This follows everybody’s favorite idiot father Homer Simpson, who irresponsibly pollutes the lake in Springfield after a massive push to clean the town up. This causes such irreparable damage the whole town of Springfield are now trapped under a giant dome by the EPA. This results in a massive adventure for the Simpson family, including a plot to destroy their home, family drama, and Homer realizing his oafish actions have consequences.

 

I don’t think The Simpsons needs any introduction. Conceived at the last minute during a pitch and beginning life as brief animated segments on The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987, this animated series from Matt Groening debuted in December 1989, becoming one of the most important television series in history. Immense critical acclaim, high ratings, and way too much merchandise to count, the television show was still alive and well 20 years after The Tracey Ullman Show’s debut. And ever since Bartmania, a theatrical movie has been in the cards.

 

A movie was actually supposed to serve as the series finale for the show, but the show’s good ratings and countless seasons nipped that idea in the bud. The biggest problem was finding a story that was sufficient for a film and stood out from a regular episode, and it was even harder to think of that idea when the writers and creators were still working full-time on the show itself. In fact, several movie ideas morphed into television episodes later on down the road.

 

Things finally started rolling in 2001, when the voice cast signed on for a project and Groening managed to hire more animators and producers to help develop both future seasons and this future movie project all at the same time. For the project, Matt Groening hired the best of the best from the show, including many of the staff members from the early years. Mike Scully and Al Jean returned as producers, David Silverman left Pixar to direct, and writers David Mirkin, Mike Reiss, George Myer, John Swartzwelder, and Jon Vitti worked on the script. Conan O’Brien and Brad Bird, who both worked on the show’s early years, said they were interested, but both were busy with other commitments. The script saw life in 2003, and went through over 100 revisions and rewrites just to make the product right, with the script’s main topics focusing on environmentalism, religion, and Homer’s relationship with Marge and Bart.

 

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But even after all those rewrites, The Simpsons Movie was subject to countless edits and rewrites up until the film’s release. Most animated films typically don’t see such extensive changes during active production, as it would escalate the cost. However, the team extensively analyzed every story beat, every line of dialogue, and every character, with rewrites and changes happening as late as May 2007, two months before release and animation being completely finished. This included voice cameos from celebrities like Minnie Driver, Edward Norton, Isla Fisher, Erin Brokovich, and even Kelsey Grammer, who voices Sideshow Bob in the series, all getting cut. Characters like Lisa’s boyfriend Colin, Homer’s actions, Grandpa’s purpose in the narrative, and even musical numbers were either heavily changed or cut out of the film entirely. Groening stated they had enough material cut out that was worth two movies.

 

Because it was based on the most popular animated series of all time, marketing was everywhere. 7 Elevens turned into Kwik-E-Marts, Homer appeared during both American Idol and The Tonight Show, The Simpsons Game was developed in time for the movie’s DVD release, Burger King toys and other merchandise was on the shelves, it just never ended. Yet perhaps the most brilliant piece of marketing was a premiere contest. Fox held a competition among 16 Springfields across the United States to host the American premiere. Each Springfield produced their own film that explained why they felt they should host the premiere. The winner was Springfield, Vermont, with the yellow carpet unraveled on July 21.

 

For its general opening on July 27, The Simpsons Movie was an absolute monster, earning $74 million on its debut. This served as the biggest debut ever for a television adaptation, usurping Mission: Impossible II. This was also the third-biggest animated debut, the fifth-biggest July opening, the fifth-biggest non-sequel opening, and the fifth-biggest debut for a Fox title. The hype and excitement was apparent to everybody, and despite the series not being as mighty or as popular in the 90s, there was enough intrigue and hype here to get fans and even newcomers excited. Personally, I was about 9 when The Simpsons Movie was released, and this movie served as my introduction to the television series, and I feel this was the same for other kids around that time. 

 

This has only further kept The Simpsons alive on Fox, with it going on to have 15 more seasons, with the 31st one finishing this past May and Season 32 set to air this fall, featuring their 700th episode. And with all the merchandise it makes as well as its recent Disney acquisition and becoming one of the killer apps for Disney+, it’s fair to say the series isn’t ending anytime soon. The Simpsons would go on to see two more short films in theaters, but what many are curious about is a sequel. Matt Groening mentioned Fox had asked him for another film, but there were no immediate plans at the time. There have been reports a sequel has been in development since 2017, and Groening has stated he has no doubt Disney will get a sequel made some day.

 

14th place was the return of Judd Apatow with the R-rated comedy Knocked Up. This follows slacker Seth Rogen and career-minded media personality Katherine Heigl after a one-night stand that sees the gorgeous Heigl holding the baby of schlubby Rogen. Hi-jinx ensue!

 

After the success of The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Judd Apatow became the new hit director in town, and with this film, he brought along a wide variety of his friends and collaborators from his other projects, like Virgin, Freaks and Geeks, and Undeclared. This included Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, James Franco, Jay Baruchel, Paul Feig, Steve Carell, and Apatow’s wife Leslie Mann. Other actors here include Jonah Hill, Harold Ramis, Alan Tudyk, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Ken Jeong, Adam Scott, and Stormy Daniels.

 

For the role of Alison Scott, Heigl’s character, Anne Hathaway was set to star, but dropped out due to creative disagreements with Apatow. Jennifer Love Hewitt and Kate Bosworth were also considered, but the role was given to Katherine Heigl, fresh off her immense success on the television series Grey’s Anatomy.

 

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With the popularity of Virgin, as well as coming out as counterprogramming just weeks after the Big May Three, Knocked Up saw a surprising victory with a $30.7 million opening weekend. This was a considerable jump from Virgin’s opening weekend, and was on par with other 2007 comedy hits like Norbit and Blades of Glory, both of which had major comedy stars. Seth Rogen was still a relative unknown to most moviegoers, which made Knocked Up’s debut all the more impressive. And with great reviews, Knocked Up saw incredible staying power, spending eight weeks in the top ten and going on to earn $148.8 million at the domestic box office, with $219.9 million worldwide.

 

In the same summer, the Apatow-produced comedy Superbad was also released, which featured Jonah Hill as the star and Seth Rogen in the supporting cast. This summer basically turned Hill, Rogen, and Apatow into household names and some of the biggest producers/actors working in the comedy world today. Yet with all the critical praise and box office success, there was still plenty of controversy after its release. The first major one came from Canadian author Rebecca Eckler, who wrote a book with a similar premise to this film titled Knocked Up: Confessions of a Hip Mother-to-Be. Eckler pursued legal action against Apatow and Universal over alleged copyright infringement, though Apatow argued that both the book and movie are two different stories based on a common experience.

 

Yet as time went on, the biggest debate is its more sexist undertones. Many critics felt the film’s tackling of unexpected pregnancy and depiction of Alison Scott was full of sexist attitudes, and Apatow’s former associate Mike White thought the depiction of women and gay people in the movie was uncomfortable and hurtful. And in 2009, Katherine Heigl herself stated she enjoyed making the movie, but felt it was hard to enjoy the movie itself, feeling it was sexist in how it portrays women as uptight shrews and men as goofy, lovable, fun-loving guys. Heigl’s words were widespread by the media, and sadly kind of hurt her own credibility as an actress to many. Although reportedly, Rogen and Heigl still have great respect for each other.

 

In December 2012, Apatow directed a spin-off to Knocked Up titled This is 40, focusing on Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann’s characters. It sadly saw mixed reviews and worse box office, only generating $88.1 million worldwide.

 

At 15th place was Juno. This stars Ellen Page as Juno, a high school teenager who is confronted with an unplanned pregnancy. This film follows Juno dealing with an adoption process with a neighboring couple, as well as her relationships with the baby’s real father, her parents, and the father set to adopt her child.

 

This project was the brainchild of writer Diablo Cody, who was pitching an adaptation of her memoir Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper to film producer Mason Novick. While Novick was on board with the idea of adapting Candy Girl, he suggested to Cody to write a screenwriting sample to show off to studios her talent. That sample would later develop into Juno.

 

Cody interviewed adoptees, and both birth parents and adoptive parents to further develop the idea, but much of the film was based on her own high school experiences. Juno’s boyfriend was similar to her boyfriend, her best friend was a cheerleader, and she even had the same hamburger phone Juno has in the movie. The script was finished seven weeks later.

 

Novick then handed the script over to Jason Reitman, who attempted to direct the film immediately after reading the script. Reitman stated that if he said no, he would have made the biggest mistake of his life. While there was concern Jason Reitman would be rejected as the script for Juno was floating around before the release of his debut film Thank You for Smoking, Reitman got the job in the end.

 

Because of its controversial subject matter, no studio was interested in funding the idea, and there were concerns that financial issues would stop the film’s production. Thankfully, John Malkovich’s production company Mr. Mudd gave financing and Fox Searchlight saw distribution.

 

For the casting of Juno, Reitman immediately picked Ellen Page for the role after seeing her performance in Hard Candy. Reitman also had Olivia Thirlby as Juno’s friend and Michael Cera as the father right from the start as well. Filming occurred in Vancouver, the stomping ground of both Page and Cera.

 

The movie features several songs by indie singer Kimya Dawson and her band The Moldy Peaches at request of Ellen Page. She felt Moldy Peaches was the band Juno would likely listen to, and Reitman was able to contact Dawson. She loved the script and allowed her entire soundtrack to be a part of the movie.

 

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Juno saw warm reception in its debut at the Telluride Film Festival, but its big break came a week later at Toronto, where Roger Ebert stated Juno earned the warmest, longest standing ovation he had ever seen at the festival. This would later see the film opening on December 5 in seven theaters. The first five days would see the film earn $525.1 thousand. The following weekend saw it expand to 40 theaters, earning $1.4 million and just barely missing the top 10.

 

Weekend three was Christmas weekend, which saw it make it into the top 10 and earn $6.8 million over the long weekend, landing in 998 theaters on Christmas Day. With a further expansion to over a thousand on New Year’s Juno earned $16.1 million over the long weekend.

 

And when we got into 2008, with three Golden Globe nominations and four Oscar nominations, things got crazy. Throughout January and February, expansions continued and people became more curious to check the film out. It placed number 2 on its fifth weekend, and continued to play in the top 10 until early March. All told, Juno would go on to earn $143.5 million domestically and $232.4 million worldwide. This would not only serve as the highest release from Fox Searchlight, but also the first time ever a Searchlight film earned over $100 million in the domestic box office. Searchlight president Peter Rice stated, “This is an astonishing feat for us and the film has surpassed all our expectations. We knew this film had crossover potential and it has resonated with audiences all across the country.”

 

This success is still unbelievable today. A teen pregnancy dramedy is not an easy sell, and there was no real star to pull in interested audiences. But the simple reason why this did so well was because Juno is just good. Really good. Up there as one of my favorite films good (fun fact: every Reitman-Cody collab is up there as some of my favorite films). It has such creative and fun dialogue and a slew of interesting characters that make it easy to enjoy, even with uncomfortable subject matter, and has a gripping and emotional story. At the same time, this film's subject matter has been hit with heavy scrutiny. Debates have emerged over whether the movie is a pro-choice or pro-life piece, and there was concern over whether there was a “Juno effect” happening. In 2008, 17 students at a Massachusetts high school became pregnant, which made many concerned that films like Juno or Knocked Up glamorized teen pregnancy. However, that’s complete bullshit, and quite honestly disrespectful to the intelligence of teenage girls and takes away that Juno in fact humanizes pregnant teens.

 

Regardless, Juno was an astonishing success by all accounts, and would result in carrying the careers of Ellen Page, Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman for years to come.

 

And finally, after discussing two movies about pregnancies, let’s shift gears and discuss the Disney musical Enchanted, which finished in 20th place. This follows Gisele, the stereotypical Disney Princess who lives in an animated world full of talking animals and dashing princes. Before her wedding with Prince Edward, Gisele is tricked by the Prince’s evil stepmother and is transported into live-action New York City. Now played by Amy Adams, Gisele tries to find her way home and learns that the world of New York doesn’t quite fit her own world, and that there’s more dimension when it comes to love and relationships.

 

The script for Enchanted had been in the works for 10 years, seeing life by writer Bill Kelly in September 1997. However, Kelly’s script was supposed to be R-rated and inspired by films like Ridgemont High and American Pie (yes that rhyming was intentional). This did not go over well with Disney executives, and meant there were several rewrites on the project. Even Kim Possible creators Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle worked on the script. Directors like Rob Marshall, Jon Turteltaub, and Adam Shankman were all attached at various points, while Kate Hudson and Reese Witherspoon were considered for Gisele.

 

However, things got rolling when Tarzan director Kevin Lima joined the fray. Working alongside Bill Kelly, the two created a new version that finally cracked the code to this crazy idea. Instead of making an R-rated spoof of Disney fairy tales, this was the perfect opportunity to make a loving homage to Disney’s classic films. After Lima pitched his ideas to Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook, it was green lit for an $85 million budget.

 

As an homage, this served as the first Disney film to feature hand-drawn animation since 2005’s Pooh’s Heffalump Movie, with the animation done by James Baxter Animation, named and headed by the former Disney animator of the same name. These animated moments at the very beginning of the film were chock full of moments that made fun of but also paid great tribute to films like Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty. In fact, the whole film was full of Disney fan service, with references to Old Yeller, Shaggy Dog, and Swiss Family Robinson, as well as cameos by Jodi Benson, the voice of Ariel, Paige O’Hara, the voice of Belle, and Judy Kuhn, the singing voice of Pocahontas. Even the musical numbers were written by Disney staples Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz and served as homages to classic Disney tunes.

 

As for the role of Gisele, she too was an homage to the classic Disney Princess. Kevin Lima stated that Gisele’s personality was “80% Snow White, with some traits borrowed from Cinderella and Aurora”. At the same time, Gisele also had the spunkiness of Ariel. Out of the 300 women who auditioned for the part, Amy Adams, a relative unknown at the time, got the part. Lima felt Adams was the only actress who both fit the look of a Disney Princess and had the commitment in making this character come to life. Patrick Dempsey played Robert, the divorce attorney who Gisele lives with and later falls in love with. His appearance in Grey’s Anatomy, where he earned the title of McDreamy from fans, made him the perfect fit as the modern-day Prince Charming of the story.

 

For the live-action segments, filming in New York City was a bit of a nightmare, as the city was constantly moving, renovating and changing every day. The scene where Gisele emerges in the middle of Times Square was shot with regular pedestrians filling in as extras because there was no way the crew could block out the area for filming. Yet the most challenging scene Lima and his team shot was the That’s How You Know musical number in Central Park. Due to bad weather and Dempsey fans infiltrating the set, the five-minute sequence took 17 days to film, with the help of 300 extras and 150 dancers. But hey, you gotta have that big bombastic Disney musical number.

 

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With a debut on November 21, Enchanted was a force to be reckoned with that Thanksgiving weekend. With strong reviews and the Disney marketing machine behind it, Enchanted earned $34.4 million over the 3-Day and $49.1 million over the 5-Day. This served as the second-biggest Thanksgiving debut, only behind Toy Story 2. In fact, Enchanted was the first time since Toy Story 2 a new movie opened at #1 over Thanksgiving.

 

This led to a really impressive haul, earning $127.8 million domestically and $340.5 million worldwide. And honestly, it’s easy to see why, because this is personally another one of my favorite films of all time. It so perfectly walks the tight line of poking fun at Disney conventions while also celebrating Disney heritage, all topped with Amy Adams delivering comedy, drama, and heart all into one fantastic performance. It’s legitimately criminal she wasn’t nominated here. Alongside great musical numbers and an earnest story, it's the one movie that picks me up every time I watch it.

 

And in a way, Enchanted’s success was a turning point for many of Disney’s future successes, and that's something most people don't realize. Disney Chairman Dick Cook said he hoped Enchanted served as both a potential new franchise and a rejuvenation of older ones. And in the case of the latter, it kind of worked. The film managed to make the dormant princess films Disney is known for seem fresh and engaging in a way that hadn’t been seen since the 90s, and managed to both subvert and update the fairy tale convention in a way that allowed it to seem modern and clever. These ideals would become the backbone of the Princess films of the 2010s.

 

This also served as the breakout role for Amy Adams. While not her first role, it’s generally regarded that Adams is one of, if not the best part of the whole film, and Enchanted’s success turned her into a household name, kind of similar to Julie Andrews after Mary Poppins in fact. This would result in her appearing in several critical and commercial hits, including Julie & Julia, The Master, Her, American Hustle, Arrival and more. A sequel to Enchanted has been on-again, off-again since 2010, though reportedly pre-production is underway as of 2020 with Adam Shankman as director and both Menken and Schwartz working on a new soundtrack.

 

And that’s only a sampling of what happened in 2007. There were so many compelling movies and stories to talk about I honestly didn’t know where to start. But to mention a few, Wild Hogs saw the biggest March debut for a live-action film before 300 stomped it in the curb. Rush Hour 3 saw awful reviews, yet solid if diminishing returns. Live Free or Die Hard was the franchise’s first foray into PG-13. Fantastic 4 tried again with Rise of the Silver Surfer. American Gangster was Denzel’s biggest opening ever. Superbad continued Apatow’s reign. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry tried to bring up gay issues to great financial success but awful artistic results. Bee Movie became a meme 10 years later. Hairspray gave a boost to the musical box office.

 

Ocean’s Thirteen course corrected from Ocean’s Twelve. Evan Almighty was an expensive misfire. Ghost Rider saw Nic Cage become a Marvel hero. Blades of Glory is high-key the greatest movie ever made (don’t @ me). Norbit cost Eddie Murphy the Oscar. Meet the Robinsons became the first film from Disney Animation under Lasseter’s eye. The Game Plan was lowkey the first instance of the Dwayne v Vin feud. The Golden Compass almost put New Line into bankruptcy. No Country for Old Men gave the Coens Oscar gold. Rob Zombie remade Halloween to disastrous fan reaction. Epic Movie continued Seltzerberg’s terrifying reign. Hitman was an ill-fated video game adaptation. Zodiac failed to see box office success but earned mass critical appraisal. Hot Fuzz continued Edgar Wright’s cult adoration. Walk Hard deserved better. Hot Rod deserved better. Cuba Gooding, Jr. was in a Daddy Day Care sequel for some reason. Bratz was put on the big screen. And lastly, Fred Claus...came out I guess.

 

This was 2007.

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@baumer @excel1 @YourMother the Edgelord @Brainbug Got the next batch up, and I hope you guys are still enjoying all my work here still. Also gonna @DAJK, since I feel like this whole series is up your alley and I think you would like what I've written since 2002 onwards.

 

2007 was a pretty fun year to track, partly because of all the films I have a strong soft spot for. But I personally can't wait to talk about the next two years. Because if you guys remember what came out those years...let's just say things are gonna get crazy!

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Great work. Funny how so many mid-2000s hits are forgotten. 2007 was a great year.

 

Transformers 1 is an absolutely perfect summer popcorn blockbuster. It is hilarious, the action is amazing...it may sound hard to believe in 2020, but everyone loved that movie when it came out and thought Michael Bay was back. Transformers 2 was one of the most hard films ever solely due to the word of mouth of this film. 

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Just as a heads up, I'm planning to publish 2008 tomorrow night. Needless to say, there's gonna be a lot of exciting stuff here, and I know many people are beyond excited to see me talk about some of their favorite blockbuster hits that year.

 

And I guess to whet your appetites, I'll just say we're doing things different here. As you might have guessed, I like to give the #1 domestic film each year its own dedicated post. They were number one after all, so they deserve recognition for what they've done.

 

However, #1 and #2 of 2008 are both up there as some of the biggest, most important movies in the current blockbuster landscape. I have a lot to say about both of them, and they both deserve plenty of recognition. So expect two individual posts for the top 2 domestic earners tomorrow. It was a real blast writing about both of them.

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2008

 

The bursting of the US housing bubble and excessive risk-taking by banks causes a global financial crisis, a 7.9 earthquake hits Sichuan months before the Beijing Olympics, and Barack Obama wins the presidential election, becoming the first African-American President. SpaceX creates the first privately developed space launch vehicle to make orbit, NASA lands the Phoenix spacecraft on Mars, and Spotify and Bitcoin are founded.

 

TV saw the true ripple effects of the Writer’s Strike, with the Golden Globe Awards being completely scrapped with a press conference used to announce the winners, as well as major losses in ratings and revenue for all major channels at the time. Shows like 24 halted production, while others like Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives couldn’t complete their full seasons.

 

Regardless, the most notable debut was the streaming platform Hulu, which prided itself as a free on-demand service for recent television shows, before morphing into a general entertainment service owned by Disney and hosting series like The Handmaid’s Tale and Little Fires Everywhere. New shows that year included Secret Life of the American Teenager, Total Drama Island, Sons of Anarchy, Fringe, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The latter’s pilot movie aired in theaters just months prior to its Cartoon Network debut.

 

For music, Lady Gaga saw her debut album and Katy Perry exploded in popularity with her second album. All the while, Mariah Carey’s "Touch My Body" gave the artist her 18th #1 single, while Rihanna and Beyonce both earned their fifth #1, earning the record for most #1s of the 2000s for a female artist.

 

Two of the biggest video game launches were from Nintendo, with Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii. The latter has gone on to be one of the best-selling video games in history, earning over 37.32 million copies. Rockstar also unveiled Grand Theft Auto IV, which became the fastest-selling entertainment product in history, earning $310 million in its first day. Other games include Metal Gear Solid IV, LittleBigPlanet, Dead Space, Fallout 3, and Left 4 Dead.

 

Deaths this year included Roy Schieder, Arthur C. Clarke, Charlton Heston, Sydney Pollack, George Carlin, Bernie Mac, Isaac Hayes, Paul Newman, Michael Chrichton, and Eartha Kitt. And in terms of media deaths, the most tragic comes from a fire at the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot. Used both as a theme park attraction and an active movie studio backlot, this fire destroyed three acres worth of the lot, with 40,000-50,000 archived digital video and film copies and 118,000-175,000 audio master tapes being destroyed.

 

For movies, two releases were the real talking points of the year, and both served as the #1 and #2 releases respectively at the box office, at least domestically. They reinvigorated a genre into becoming the dominant pop culture force, they shaped the future landscape of blockbuster cinema, for better or for worse, and gave us two beautiful Papas who I, and many others, hold near and dear to my heart.

 

And so, let’s begin this retrospective with Papa Nolan’s The Dark Knight. Following up Batman Begins, this follows Bruce Wayne still in the Batman role and teaming up with Commissioner Gordon and Harvey Dent to stop the organized crime that plagues Gotham City. All the while, a new crook known as The Joker plots to bring the entire city into anarchy and destruction, and testing Wayne’s abilities in the fight against injustice.

 

This film traces its origins to a script written by David Goyer just before Batman Begins. The two sequels Goyer had in mind focused on both the Joker and Two-Face, with the second looking at Joker’s rise in Gotham City, and the third focusing on Joker transforming politician Harvey Dent into the deformed and corrupt Two-Face. While Christopher Nolan was hesitant on directing the sequel, the idea of taking the Joker and creating his own unique spin was too good to pass up. And thus, Nolan and his brother Jonathan began working on the screenplay. So on July 31, 2006, Warner Bros. officially announced this Batman Begins sequel titled The Dark Knight, the first time a Batman movie was released without his name in the title.

 

During script development, the one thing the brothers knew to put in this story was the idea of escalation. The idea that Batman’s presence brings out the crazy in criminals and his vigilantism can cause more harm than good to Gotham. This escalation would lead to one crazy event after another and test Bruce Wayne as both a hero and a vigilante. Harvey Dent would also play an important role, serving as the one to earn an emotional arc as he develops into a criminal, as well as emphasize the friendly rivalry between Wayne and Dent.

 

With filming beginning in Chicago in March 2007, the biggest technological breakthrough of The Dark Knight was its usage of IMAX cameras. While countless blockbuster movies saw IMAX releases, especially from Warner Bros., these did not use the IMAX technology you would find in science and nature documentaries. IMAX cameras were very bulky, very heavy, very expensive, and very noisy. They also had very small film loads which made it hard to film lengthy sequences. So if a film wanted to be released in IMAX, studios simply converted the files and negatives into IMAX DMR to play it in IMAX theaters.

 

However, Nolan saw huge potential for these cameras in a narrative feature, and wanted to work with the technology for 15 years. So for The Dark Knight, four sequences, including the opening bank robbery and car chase midway through the film, were shot with IMAX cameras, making the action seem larger than life and highly detailed. This would be a huge selling point for the movie and a common practice for many more blockbusters to come.

 

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Of course, when it comes to this movie, everybody knew that one thing had to be done right. The Nolans knew, WB knew, the cast knew, and the crew knew. They all knew that one element needed to be the best it could be, or else the whole thing would have gone kaput: the Joker. Arguably the most famous villain in all of comic books, Joker needed to not only bring justice to the character’s iconic legacy, but also be unique from all previous interpretations, and serve as a strong hook when it comes to the marketing. The Nolans decided to abandon any idea for an origin story with the character, believing it would diminish the threat he posed on the story. By giving him a backstory, it diminishes his rage and psychopathy, resulting in an absolute with no humanity and no shades of gray. By showing his rise, not his origin, it made the character all the more terrifying. Christopher Nolan asked his brother Jonathan to watch the Fritz Lang film The Testament of Dr. Mabuse as a reference for the character.

 

For the casting, actors like Paul Bettany, Lachy Hulme, Adrien Brody, Steve Carell, and Robin Williams all expressed interest, but Nolan was adamant in casting Heath Ledger for the part. Ledger was on the shortlist for Bruce Wayne back when Batman Begins was in development, and Nolan always wanted to work with the actor on a project. In fact, Ledger was the one who created this interpretation of The Joker seen in the film after watching Batman Begins in the cinema.

 

Ledger’s interpretation played into the psychopathy of the character, serving as a harbinger of chaos and destruction wherever he went. A schizophrenic mass murderer without a trace of empathy or heart, and wishes to use his crime to upset the social order of Gotham. Ledger locked himself in a hotel room for a month to help develop his character’s voice, posture, mannerisms, and personality, all the while recording a diary that documented his thoughts and feelings.

 

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The design of the Joker was also a major departure from previous interpretations. Instead of his white skin and red lips coming from chemical bleaching, this Joker earned his trademark look through crude makeup, as if the guy put it on his face without even consulting a mirror. This was a perfect look for the character, as the Joker didn’t care about social order or what others felt, thereby creating a grungy, scruffy look that made it seem he was always on edge. This clown makeup only required three pieces of stamped silicone, and the simplicity of it all meant Ledger only had to deal with the makeup artists for less than an hour.

 

This design became iconic instantly, and was the first step towards Warner Bros. using the Joker to promote this anticipated sequel, beginning with WhySoSerious.com. This website served as a way for fans to find new information about the project, while at the same time having to make fans work for that new information. E-mails were sent to fans that slowly removed pixels to reveal what the Joker was going to look like in the movie, before being hidden by a series of “hahas” and a cryptic message stating “see you in December”.

 

As it turns out, Warner Bros. put the entire opening sequence for The Dark Knight in front of IMAX screenings of I Am Legend, building hype for both movies and emphasizing this was a film that had to be seen on IMAX screens. Meanwhile, Six Flags created a Dark Knight roller coaster, Harvey Dent campaigns popped up in major cities, and there was even an animated film Batman: Gotham Knight which told a variety of short stories between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

 

Alas, the marketing campaign was turned into a sad one upon the death of Heath Ledger in January 2008. Ledger went through health problems during production of both this and I’m Not There, and suffered major sleep problems and a respiratory illness during production of his follow-up film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. He also dealt with substance abuse issues all his life, which unfortunately saw his life taken away by an accidental overdose of medications. This put a damper on the marketing, yet the film still soldiered on. Nolan was adamant in making his great performance seen and showcased to the best of his ability. Warner Bros. also put a memorial on the websites promoting the film alongside other adjustments of the promotional campaign.

 

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And so we come to the general release, July 18. It opened in 4,366 theaters, beating At World’s End's theater count one year ago. 94 IMAX theaters played the film, with all of them being sold out on the first weekend. Midnight showings were massive, earning a record $18.5 million. This all accounted to a record opening day of $67.2 million and the film beating out Spider-Man 3’s opening, with a record opening weekend of $158.4 million. $6.3 million came from IMAX, yet another record.

 

And really, the records here are too many to count. This earned the biggest Sunday of all time with $43.9 million, and sped its way to box office milestone after milestone. It became the fastest movie ever to reach $100 million in the span of two days, reached $200 million after only 5 days, and hit $300 million in 10 days, its second weekend of release. This also saw the biggest opening week of all time, earning $238.6 million. Its first Monday and Tuesday also served as the biggest non-holiday, non-opening grosses for those respective days.

 

Considering what the first three Batman films managed to do when it came to their opening weekend records, it was fitting for this release. However, things just got crazier from there. For its second weekend, Dark Knight managed to drop about 53% from its opening weekend, earnting $75.2 million. This served as the biggest second weekend for any movie, beating Shrek 2 for the honor. And after that, the hits just kept on coming.

 

It would stay #1 for four weeks in a row, passing $400 million in the span of 18 days. Its fourth weekend saw it only at #3 in the all-time domestic charts. And on Labor Day weekend, the unthinkable happened. On August 31, its 45th day of release, The Dark Knight earned over $500 million, becoming the second film ever, the other of course being Titanic, to cross the half-billion milestone. This was truly a film unlike any other, and an iconic piece in the world of movie box office. It finished its run with $533.3 million domestically. With strong hauls across the world, most notably Australia, the UK, Germany, France, and South Korea, Papa Nolan’s little Batman film earned $469.7 million overseas for a grand total of $1 billion worldwide, the fourth film to reach that benchmark.

 

Even today, The Dark Knight’s gross is mind-blowing. Batman Begins did well, but it wasn’t this massive sensation, and was arguably a bit of a disappointment upon its release. So the fact that its sequel beat its domestic total in the span of six days, and went on to be in the top 5 highest-grossing movies ever is nothing short of a miracle. And sure, we all love the movie, but why did it do so well? What was the magic touch here that made people so excited? What made it so that people would check it out on opening weekend and come back for more? What was the winning formula?

 

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Everybody and their grandma has their opinion as to why The Dark Knight became a phenomenon. But for me, the one thing that makes The Dark Knight so memorable is one word: escalation. The Nolans wanted to raise the stakes, challenge Bruce and the viewers, and create something larger than life. And they succeeded in just about every way. The action is grander, Bruce’s conflicts and walks on the edge between heroism and vigilantism test everybody’s limits, its themes and ideas of class warfare, corruption, and evil bring incredible weight to every aspect of the story and the villains are scarier and more unpredictable than ever.

 

In fact, the Joker was arguably the main reason why the film works so well. Taking from all incarnations of the character while at the same time creating his own unique interpretation, Joker works because we don’t know much about him. There’s no backstory or tragedy that makes him human. He’s a mysterious force that propels others into taking part in devious actions. He’s unpredictable and dangerous. Nobody knows what he’ll do next or whether there’s even a way to stop what he’s doing. There’s no understanding about how his morals or humanity work, because he wasn’t given any. As much as tragic, complex, and sympathetic villains have their face, nothing is scarier or threatening than a villain you barely understand. This makes his rise in Gotham City all the more incredible to see and all the more terrifying. The Joker, as well as all the other aspects I mentioned, made this film seem like a true epic and something truly incredible to watch.

 

And with a passionate fanbase and critical adoration, it came as quite the surprise it did not find itself a Best Picture nomination in spite of eight other nominations. This snub, alongside Pixar’s Wall-E, saw heavy scrutiny from film fans and supposed snobbery over such a popular and beloved film being ignored in favor of films few had seen and arguably worse in quality. This would prompt an expansion for the Best Picture category the following year, but that’s another story.

 

Yet what was really important was one win in Supporting Actor. As I said, Heath Ledger as the Joker is the crux to why the movie is as good as it is. And everyone in the crew for the movie knew that Ledger’s performance was something special. And so, on that fateful night, Ledger became the first actor to win posthumously since Peter Finch. And with such a storied career, there’s something beautiful that his final and arguably greatest performance was his big reward.

 

Since then, The Dark Knight has become one of the most important pieces of Batman media and one of the most important blockbusters today. The Batman property is arguably as big as ever, with many more movies, even up to today, as well as a major presence in video games, television, and more. And for blockbusters, it legitimized to Hollywood the value of both Papa Nolan with numerous titles from Warner Bros., and superhero titles, both as a source for compelling drama and as a source for making a lot of money. This paved the way for many more DC and even Marvel projects to come, though it was also helped by the film just a few pegs below it.

 

 

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Well, after that little adventure, let’s talk about second place domestically. Despite only being in eighth place worldwide, this film is one of, arguably the most important blockbuster in the current box office landscape. And it feels so nice to talk about this franchise.

 

So let’s dive into Papa Feige’s Iron Man. Robert Downey, Jr. is billionaire playboy and master genius inventor Tony Stark. Upon being captured by a terrorist group in Afghanistan and forced to build weapons for them, he teams up with a fellow captive where they make a unique weaponized suit of armor as a means to escape. This suit makes Tony Stark become Iron Man, who uses his armor to save humanity and use his technology for good.

 

Like many other comic book adaptations, Iron Man had been in development hell for years. Back in 1990, Universal Pictures bought the rights to develop a film based on Iron Man, planning to make a low-budget feature directed by Stuart Gordon. That sadly didn’t go anywhere, and the project was then given to 20th Century Fox in 1996. Jeff Vintar and Stan Lee developed a screenplay together, and actors like Nicolas Cage and Tom Cruise both expressed interest. Even Quentin Tarantino was considered to write and direct for a while. But because Fox already had too many other Marvel movies in development at that time, plans fell through, and the rights were transferred over to New Line Cinema in December 1999.

 

New Line threw away Vintar and Lee’s script and put Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, and Tim McCanlies in charge of a new script. New Line approached Joss Whedon as a director in 2001, and the new script would later see rewrites by David Hayter, which focused on being about Tony Stark fighting against his father Howard Stark, the latter of which would be War Machine. Nick Cassavetes was attached as director in December 2004, and was set to release in 2006. But just when things were ready to go, the plans fell through yet again, and the rights were reverted back to Marvel Comics. This was set as the beginning stages for Marvel’s next major plans in the world of film.

 

It may sound crazy to some of you younger BOT members, but in the mid-90s, Marvel Comics was actually bankrupt. That’s a whole discussion in and of itself, but when it came to movies, Marvel was forced to license out character and property rights to other studios to get movies made. Yet despite the success of films like Blade, and especially X-Men and Spider-Man, Marvel barely got any of the money. For the first two Spider-Man movies, Marvel only got $62 million from both features. Granted they also got a lot of revenue from consumer product sales for these movies, but it was still chump change from these global blockbusters. Marvel Studios’ COO David Maisel wanted to develop and produce Marvel movies in the company itself, both to earn more creative control and earn more profits. And thus, Maisel decided to have Marvel develop their own movies with the characters they did not license out to other companies.

 

In 2004, Marvel earned a $525 million loan from Merrill Lynch, set to last for eight years and for 10 movies. However, there was one major condition: if Marvel’s independently produced movies didn’t make their money back in the next eight years, the characters Marvel planned to make movies for, including Ant-Man, Black Panther, Captain America, Doctor Strange, etc. would be owned by the bank. This pretty much meant their first film had to be a slam dunk right out of the gate or else lose valuable properties and revenue.

 

And so, with this risky venture, the one character Marvel Studios decided would kick off with Iron Man, seeing as how the character was their most famous hero yet to have a feature film at the time. Marvel also made a distribution deal with Paramount Pictures to release the film. For its director, actor Jon Favreau signed on in April 2006, after having a great experience working on the Marvel film Daredevil with producer Avi Arad. Favreau was excited to work on an action movie, but he also wanted to make a film that was politically ambitious and reminiscent of spy films, stating he found inspiration for the film from the likes of Tom Clancy, James Bond, and RoboCop. He also liked the idea of the film being a story about a man reinventing himself upon learning the world is far more complex than he originally believed.

 

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Art Marcum & Matt Holloway worked on the script, with Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby developing their own version at the same time. This allowed Favreau to combine both screenplays and create the best of both worlds. Favreau wanted to make sure two elements from the film were as strong as they could be. The big one was the villain. Favreau did not want to go with The Mandarin, Tony Stark’s most famous nemesis, because his supernatural abilities clashed with the science-heavy nature of the script. This led to Obadiah Stane, who was set to appear in the second film, to appear as the bad guy in this. Jeff Bridges played the role. Second, Favreau wanted to show the construction of the Iron Man suit through three different stages, to make Tony and his invention seem more believable. Famed make-up effects creator Stan Winston worked on metal and rubber versions of all the armor types.

 

For the casting, Favreau started out looking for an unknown for the role of Tony Stark, believing the Marvel branding and sci-fi action could sell itself. Yet as casting went through, Jon Favreau started looking for a recognizable name. Sam Rockwell was offered the position and had strong interest. However, Favreau immediately dropped the idea when he saw a screen test for Tony played by Robert Downey, Jr. In the late 90s, Downey had gone through a slew of personal troubles, being arrested on charges related to drugs like cocaine and heroin. But after five years of arrests, relapses, and rehab, Downey saw a full recovery and solid work in both independent and mainstream fare.

 

Downey’s story compelled Favreau to give him the role. Both figures went through hell and back, and their struggles have been documented by the news media. And in the end, they both had to find their own inner peace and understand what really mattered. His work in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang also swayed Favreau. However, Marvel was still hesitant in hiring an actor with such baggage and little name recognition. Yet Favreau knew this was the perfect casting choice and refused to take no for an answer. The casting was made official in September 2006 and Downey was paid $500,000 for the role.

 

Filming began in March 2007, but with one catch: the script wasn’t finished. The story outline was already chosen, and the action was planned out. But for the dialogue, much of it was completely unwritten. Therefore, the actors were forced to improvise. Downey often did multiple takes of the same scene, improving whatever piece of dialogue came to his head and being recorded by two cameras so as to allow more angles for one take. In some instances, Bridges and Downey would swap characters for rehearsal to hear how their lines sounded. This caused even further stress towards Marvel executives seeing the cast struggle to come up with dialogue the day of filming. Of course like with any great film, there was really nothing to worry about.

 

Iron Man was hyped up with a massive marketing campaign. A Super Bowl spot, Burger King and Audi promos, Hasbro figures, and more all made sure this movie was an event to both Marvel fans and general moviegoers. And on May 2, Marvel’s massive gamble, the one film that could make or break their future projects and Merril Lynch deal, paid off. More than paid off actually.

 

For its first weekend, Iron Man shocked everybody with a $98.6 million gross, $102.1 million when including Thursday previews. This was not only far above expectations in the $70-90 million range, but also resulted in the second biggest Paramount opening and the tenth largest opening weekend of all time, as well as the second biggest opening ever for a non-sequel, only behind Spider-Man.

 

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It’s kind of quaint nowadays in a world where Marvel prints money, but this was up there as one of the most impressive debuts for any movie ever. Iron Man was a popular figure, but wasn’t as iconic or recognizable as Spider-Man or Batman. So to see it have one of the biggest debuts ever and ahead of Marvel staples like X-Men and Fantastic Four is nothing short of a miracle.

 

The next few weeks were even more surprising in terms of its legs. With incredible reviews and word of mouth, Iron Man dropped only 50% one week later, earning $177.8 million in its first 10 days, the biggest 10 days for a non-Spider-Man superhero flick. And despite competition from Indy and Prince Caspian, Iron Man still managed to stay strong throughout May, earning 38% and 36% drops the next two weekends. And with positive buzz continuing throughout the rest of the summer, Iron Man finished its haul with an incredible $318.6 million domestically. Worldwide amounted to $585.4 million.

 

And oddly like The Dark Knight, what made Iron Man so successful was its maturity, especially compared to other superhero movies. It was certainly lighter and less complex than the Batman flick, but it was able to tackle relevant issues in a way few other superhero blockbusters could do. Tony Stark wasn’t a relatable teen like Spider-Man, an oppressed mutant like the X-Men, nor an idealized billionaire like Batman. Tony Stark is rich and a super genius, but he has his inner demons, insecurities, and uncertainties about what his future should be. He’s cocky, a smart-ass, but also vulnerable. It’s relatable stuff, and the film doesn’t shy away from those issues. The film also happens to feature awesome action, great dialogue, and a charismatic performance. I guess that helped.

 

After Iron Man’s success, everything changed. Marvel Studios proved to the world they could make it on their own, and in a way create something fresh and never seen before. Robert Downey Jr. saw a massive resurgence in his career, becoming one of the richest men in Hollywood, and spearheading several features. Mostly from Marvel, but his recent film Dolittle is #4 on the 2020 worldwide charts...that’s good, right? Either way, this was the perfect hit for his true comeback and a real turning point from his previous lifestyle. And of course two more sequels hit the silver screen. But of course, there was one scene that is the most important of all. And funny enough, most people who saw the movie for the first time probably had no idea this scene was even in the movie. Let’s talk about everyone’s favorite baseball cap-wearing megaproducer.

 

Kevin Feige, a massive Marvel fanboy, became close friends with producer Laura Shuler Donner, and became an associate producer of the first X-Men movie when he was only 27 years old. He managed to find the right connections, and soon became second-in-command to Avi Arad, the head of Marvel Studios. But in 2007, at the age of 33, Feige became the studio chief and oversaw Iron Man’s production. And it’s there he had a bold idea.

 

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Marvel Comics was notable for creating its own shared universe that allowed the opportunity for heroes across the universe to co-exist, crossover, and have certain events impact one another. And apart from a few major players, Marvel Studios still had ownership to the core members of the Avengers. So Papa Feige had one brilliant idea: what if all the Marvel movies lived in the same world? What if there was a movie series that transcended franchises? What if something that happened in Iron Man impacted a Captain America movie? Or a Thor movie? Hell, why not have a bunch of the characters come together into an epic crossover, and the movies all tried to hype up this big movie event? This shared narrative continuity would result in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a sprawling series of movies that would all connect and play off one another, creating a unique film franchise unlike any other. And Iron Man was where it would all start.

 

In a post-credits tease, SHIELD director Nick Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson, visits Tony Stark in his house. He tells Tony he’s not the only superhero in the world and says he wants to discuss something called the Avengers Initiative. And everybody there knew what Fury was talking about.

 

This scene was hidden away from the press, with only a skeleton crew shooting it and Feige even pulling it from preview prints in order to keep it a surprise. Yet it’s those last few minutes that everything changed. People were excited to see The Avengers on the big screen. And people were curious to see just how big this idea and this world seemed to be. Who were the other heroes? Why was Tony so important? What will this all lead to? Of course, we all know the answer now. And for this retrospective, we’re going to talk a lot about that answer. But needless to say, this brief segment was the stepping stone for one of the biggest, most important franchises in film history. The biggest thing in pop culture was being planted all the way back in 2008. And trust me when I say it’s gonna be one wild ride.

 

It may have been just a little tease. To most people, it was just an interesting idea that may not go anywhere. And on its initial release, most people probably didn't even know this scene even existed. But little did we know that Iron Man would result in something big, something special, and something truly unlike anything else.

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Oh yeah, other movies came out this year. Third domestic and second worldwide was the glorious return of Indy with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Set in 1957, Indiana Jones is now fighting against Soviet agents in the search of a telepathic crystal skull. Alongside the return of Marion Everwood and Indy’s son Mutt Williams, played by Shia LaBeouf, Indy finds himself in his biggest adventure yet and may see something out of this world in his experience.

 

Back in the late 70s, Lucas and Spielberg had a deal set with Paramount for five Indiana Jones films. But after The Last Crusade, George Lucas felt he didn’t have a good idea on where the series could go further, so the last two sequels were scrapped and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles was created instead. However, after Ford recorded a scene in the show, Lucas saw there was massive potential in a story about an older Indiana Jones. With it taking place in the 1950s, George Lucas saw the perfect idea: have Indiana Jones 4 serve as a tribute to the sci-fi B movies of the era, with this film’s plot device being aliens.

 

Harrison Ford wasn’t into the idea, and Spielberg was tired of making stories about aliens. And despite Lucas’ insistence on the idea, and even a script developed by him and Jeb Stuart in 1993, the idea went nowhere, as all three men moved on to other projects. That was until 2000. The American Film Institute was paying tribute to Ford, and it was there where the actor, Spielberg, Lucas, Frank Marshall, and Kathleen Kennedy all got together for the first time in years. All of them began admitting they missed the experience of filming another Indiana Jones project, and with Spielberg’s kids continuing to ask him for another movie, it was decided they were gonna play around with Indy one more time.

 

And by this point, Lucas was still adamant on having this next installment be about aliens and serve as a B movie tribute. However, what made Spielberg convinced on the idea was Lucas stating they were not “extraterrestrial” but “interdimensional”, taking inspiration from multiverse theory and super string theory. Lucas also suggested using crystal skulls to give the idea believability. However, another question emerged: who was going to write the film?

 

In 2002, M. Night Shyamalan was hired as writer, with plans to shoot the film that year. However, M. Night had issues writing a sequel to one of his favorite movies and couldn’t get Ford, Spielberg or Lucas to stay focused on the project. So he dropped out. Stephen Gaghan and Tom Stoppard were also asked to write, but scripting duties actually went somewhere with Young Indiana Jones writer Frank Daranbont. His script was Indiana Jones and the City of Gods, focusing on a series of ex-Nazis pursuing Jones in the 1950s. While Spielberg loved the script, Lucas was not a fan and decided that he would be in charge of the story itself. The duo also felt the Soviets should have been the bad guy, due to the Cold War time period and Spielberg being hesitant to satirize Nazis after Schindler’s List.

 

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Jeff Nathanson would develop the story further in 2004, with his last drafts arriving in November 2005. David Koepp followed up Nathanson’s work, giving it the subtitle “Destroyer of Worlds”. It was changed to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull because Spielberg thought it was more enticing of a title and named the plot device. And so, in June 2007, filming went underway.

 

At first glance, the biggest issue with a movie like this is having a 64-year old action star. Harrison Ford was not as spry or agile as he was in the 80s, and there was concern about whether he was too old to handle the stunt work and choreography. However, Ford was adamant on the idea, and stayed fit for decades out of the hope he could return to the role. For the movie, Ford spent three hours a day at the gym, practiced the bullwhip for two weeks, and had a high-protein diet consisting of fish and vegetables. In fact, Harrison Ford wanted to show that he was 64 and proud of it. He requested David Koepp to have more lines that referenced his age, refused to dye his hair, and did many of his own stunts. This was because Ford wanted to make people less paranoid about aging. If Indy is still a rock star at 64, you can too!

 

This was also notable for its heavy use of CGI effects. The stunt work was still traditional, and Spielberg planned to use as little CGI as possible, so as to remain consistent with the original trilogy. However, as filming continued, more and more CGI work was needed and in many cases proved to be important for many elements. This resulted in about 450 CGI shots in the film, with about 30% of the film consisting of CG matte paintings. One notable example was a chase scene in a non-deforested jungle. Doing it in a real jungle full of trees was dangerous to film a car chase, so it was decided the crew would film the scene in Hawaii with CGI plants to give the illusion of a giant, untouched by man forest.

 

During the marketing of the film, much of the plot was shrouded in secrecy, with Spielberg and Frank Marshall pushing for viewers to know as little as possible, despite several hardcore fans trying to decipher the plot through leaks and Lego sets. To distract fans trying to find the title during filming, Spielberg submitted five fake titles in order to distract fans from the trail. He also planned to have Karen Allen’s return as Marion be a secret until the film’s release, but he decided to reveal this tidbit during Comic-Con 2007.

 

Speaking of Comic-Con, this had one of the biggest marketing campaigns of the year. Coasting off nostalgia years before everybody else was doing it, Paramount spent almost $150 million to promote the film, including major sponsorship deals with M&Ms and Dr. Pepper, an appearance at the Indy 500, and even a Disneyland promo before Disney even owned Indiana Jones. And Paramount needed to market this hard if they wanted to see revenue. When the studio partnered for distribution with Lucasfilm, the teams agreed for Paramount to only receive 12.5% of the film’s revenue. They also had to cover some of the film’s costs, after the $185 million beast went above the proposed $125 million budget. So for Paramount to see a profit beyond their distribution fee, Crystal Skull had to get at least $400 million at the box office.

 

Launching on Memorial Day weekend, May 22, Paramount’s fears were completely swept away. Its opening day amounted to $25 million, leading to a FSS of $100.1 million, the tenth biggest opening weekend ever. Including Memorial Day Monday, its first five days amounted to $152 million, earning the sixth-biggest five-day start. It also earned the second-biggest Memorial Day weekend ever ($126.9 million), only behind At World’s End one year prior.

 

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But despite the obvious success here, things weren’t rosy. Reviews from critics were positive, but more polarizing than the last three films. Roger Ebert and Leonard Maltin loved it, while James Berardinelli was lukewarm. And when it comes to fans, things were all over the place. Some loved it, others felt it was enjoyable enough, while others were disappointed. Many fans were disappointed at the creative decisions made, with “nuking the fridge” referencing a scene where Indy survives a nuclear blast by hiding in a fridge, became a meme and a usage for when a property becomes too absurd for its own good, and was even spoofed in an episode of South Park. A Lucasfilm title post-1999 that’s polarizing with its fans? Truly I speak pure witchcraft!

 

Anyways, Lucas expected this mixed reaction after his work on the Star Wars prequels. David Koepp said likewise. Spielberg said he was still proud of the film he made, but acknowledged some ideas would not sit well with fans. Two years later, co-star Shia LaBeouf mentioned he felt the film “dropped the ball” on the legacy of the franchise and felt the movie should have been better. One year later, Harrison Ford said Shia LaBeouf was a fucking idiot. That's not a joke by the way.

 

Still, Crystal Skull was huge for Paramount, earning $317.1 million domestically and $790.6 million worldwide. And after being acquired by Disney in the Lucasfilm buyout, a fifth Indiana Jones film was announced in 2016, with Spielberg directing, Koepp writing, Marshall and Kennedy producing, and Lucas exec producing. However, things have hit a few snags. Development has been on-again off-again, with writers coming and going and Spielberg dropping the director’s mantle in favor of Ford v Ferrari director James Mangold. It was set to film this year, but has been pushed back due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, with it currently set for a 2022 release date. But with such a lengthy development process, and Harrison Ford approaching 80, who knows if we’ll actually get a fifth movie, at least with Ford as the star?

 

Fourth place by all accounts was Will Smith yet again with the Peter Berg superhero title Hancock. Smith plays John Hancock, an alcoholic with incredible superpowers like flight, super strength, and invulnerability. However, despite his powers, he is hated by the public, both for his drunken escapades and the millions in damages he creates for the city of Los Angeles because of his careless actions. But with the help of a public relations specialist played by Jason Bateman, he may be the one person Los Angeles needs.

 

Initially titled Tonight, He Comes, the script for this film had been around since 1996, written by Vincent Ngo and intended to be directed by Tony Scott. Ngo wrote the script as a huge fan of Superman and an interest in depicting a Superman figure in a more real, more challenging manner. Soon enough, producer Akiva Goldsman found the script and convinced Richard Saperstein, the president of development and production at Artisan Entertainment, to acquire the script in 2002. Michael Mann was attached to direct, but he left the project in favor of Miami Vice and Artisan left the project shortly after. 

 

Goldsman would go on to acquire the spec script and used his connections to get this project through. John August and Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan rewrote the script and Jonathan Mostow became attached to the feature. Mostow would go on to pitch the idea to Will Smith. Many studios bidded for the distribution rights, with Sony winning in the end in February 2005, and plans for the film to be shot in summer 2006. Smith earned a pay or play contract of $20 million and 20% of the film’s gross, and was set to film this and then go on to film I Am Legend shortly after. However, Mostow left the project due to creative differences, and in his place came Italian director and Pursuit of Happyness editor Gabriele Muccino. However, because Muccino was hard at work on Happyness, Smith decided to switch his projects, filming I Am Legend first and then following it up with filming Tonight, He Comes in summer 2007.

 

Peter Berg would be attached to direct in October 2006, who joined after hearing about the project and calling up Michael Mann, one of the film’s producers. This was his first film with major VFX work, and it’s these special effect sequences he considered his least favorite part of the film. There was a sense to Berg that he was not in control of these parts of the movie, but rather the VFX team. This resulted in Berg wanting to make the film more of a character study, which he felt would help sell the movie to people after Iron Man did it so well two months prior.

 

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Tonight, He Comes went through major title changes after filming, going from John Hancock to simply Hancock. The marketing team felt the title was too vague and demanded a title change that emphasized the heroics. However, Berg felt the title served well to showcase that John Hancock is the main focus and that the film was going to emphasize Will Smith above all else anyway. The film also went through major changes to the MPAA. Originally rated R, Berg re-edited the film to earn a PG-13, including the removal of two fucks, intense shots of needles going into arms, and a scene featuring statutory rape...thank God we didn’t get to see that. But even then, there’s still that one scene in the movie where Will Smith shoves a prisoner’s head up another guy’s ass. Have I mentioned the MPAA is weird?

 

Opening in prime Will Smith season, July 2, Hancock was one of the riskiest films of the summer. This was pretty much the only original live-action piece of the summer, with everything else being a sequel or adaptation of a famed property. This was a completely original $150 million action movie with controversial subject matter, an asshole main character and is stuck in a film climate that is solely consisting of corporate extensions to major moneymaking franchises and nothing else in terms of original concepts (boy that’s fucking relevant). But thankfully, Big Willie’s boyish charms saved the day again.

 

For its five-day weekend, including Tuesday previews, Hancock served up $103.9 million, $62.6 million for the three-day. This was not a record-breaking debut, but a very, very successful one, becoming the fourth-biggest extended Independence Day holiday opening weekend. Only behind Spider-Man 2, Transformers, and War of the Worlds, all of which had iconic IP to sell themselves. The following weeks saw it do robust business despite mixed reception, earning $227.9 million domestically and $624.4 million worldwide.

 

This was Will Smith’s eighth consecutive number one opener, his eighth consecutive $100 million grosser, and his seventh consecutive year of having a film reach $100 million. Like I’ve said over and over again, Will Smith’s starpower was so incredible just his face was enough to sell movie tickets, and there’s really nobody else with this kind of pull since then and probably ever. Yet this was also kind of an end of an era for Will Smith. After this, Seven Pounds was released in December and broke Smith’s #1 opening and $100 million streak, and the actor went on a four-year hiatus until 2012’s Men in Black 3

 

And while he can still generate a hit, it’s really only possible when he is attached to a popular brand like Suicide Squad or Aladdin or Bad Boys, as original films like After Earth and Gemini Man floundered. Still, the actor is very popular, has a hugely successful YouTube channel, and is still going to pop up many times in the next few years. A Hancock sequel has been discussed with the creatives, but nothing has come of it in the past few years.

 

Pixar showed off their box office muscles in fifth place (ninth worldwide) with the sci-fi environmental classic Wall-E. After megacorporation Buy-N-Large destroyed the Earth and turned into a garbage wasteland thanks to rampant consumerism and environmental neglect (boy that's fucking relevant), humanity left the planet behind in a giant starliner known as the Axiom, while a bunch of robot trash compactors took charge of the mess. Centuries later, only one robot, a sentient and lonely little machine named Wall-E, is still alive and performing his duties. But after another robot named Eve finds herself on the planet, Wall-E finds himself traveling to outer space, discovering what has happened to humanity, uncovering a universal conspiracy, and possibly finding a way to save the Earth from the dumpster fire it has become.

 

This film has its origins traced all the way back in 1994, at a lunch meeting during production of Toy Story. Director Andrew Stanton, alongside Pixar vets John Lasseter, Pete Docter and Joe Ranft, got together to brainstorm ideas for their next projects. Films like A Bug’s Life, Finding Nemo, and Monsters, Inc. all found life at this meeting, but one idea, about humanity forgetting to turn off one single robot trapped on Earth, took a bit longer in the oven.

 

While Stanton had the idea of a lonely waste collector robot alone on Earth, the development for the project, then called Trash Planet, failed to take off. This was because the Pixar team were unsure if they could pull off a feature film with a simple main character that acts like Luxo Jr. or R2-D2. But after ignoring development in favor of other projects, a few other ideas did emerge in Stanton’s head. Wall-E discovering a tiny plant would be the impetus of the story, and the main plot would be about Wall-E looking for love, believing it was the perfect progression from loneliness.

 

Stanton began working on the film in 2002 after completing production of Finding Nemo, and after a 20 minute story reel, Lasseter and Steve Jobs were impressed and moved forward with production. However, despite the first act coming together perfectly, one stumbling block for Stanton was how to depict the humans. Initially, the humans on the Axiom ship were actually going to be gelatinous aliens, who were going to have their own monarchy, speak gibberish, and be revealed to actually be humans who had become so atrophied and lazy and impacted by the effects of weightlessness they turned into Jello-like blobs. However, Stanton began to realize the idea was too weird for audiences to understand, and instead just made the humans on the ship look more like big babies, symbolizing that humanity needs to grow up and take care of the planet they live on and realize these big megacorps will kill us all. Viva la revolution people!

 

For the animation team at Pixar, Wall-E was the most complex work the team had done since Monsters, Inc., as the film required 125,000 storyboards, and an emphasis on the film’s lighting and cinematography to look realistic. For the film’s Earth scenes, Stanton wanted this film to do for air what Finding Nemo did for water. Make it seem as crisp and believable as possible and take viewers into a world that felt familiar yet astonishing to look at. Famed cinematographer Roger Deakins and special effects artist Dennis Muren were consulted to create the realistic lighting Stanton was looking for.

 

One of the most unique aspects of the film is that the robots in the film almost never talk. Apart from a few garbled pieces of audio and an occasional word here and there, robots like Wall-E and Eve rely entirely on body language and facial expressions to convey their emotions, interests, and goals. The story crew and animation team watched a Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin film every day so they could get things right for these characters, and it paid off. Stanton realized that the advent of sound made filmmakers too reliant on dialogue for exposition, and there was something special about a film that uses no dialogue to relay a story.

 

In fact, the most dialogue from the first act doesn’t even come from the movie. The 1969 musical Hello, Dolly! was used to further strengthen Wall-E’s emotions on Earth, with two musical numbers from the film, “Put on Your Sunday Clothes” and “It Only Takes a Moment”, used to symbolize Wall-E’s yearning for companionship and how he understands love. Stanton chose the film as he was in a high school production of the musical, and earned the permission from composer Jerry Herman to use his songs. Herman didn’t know what they would be used for, but upon seeing the movie, he thought it was pure genius.

 

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Opening on June 27, Wall-E was yet another hit for Pixar in every way, shape and form. With rave reviews from just about everybody, the film opened to $63.1 million, making it Pixar's ninth consecutive number one. It was also the seventh-biggest debut for an animated movie and the third highest for a Pixar movie. And with great word of mouth, Wall-E continued Pixar’s box office reign with $223.8 million domestically and $521.3 million worldwide.

 

And since its release, Wall-E has remained a favorite among Pixar fans and earned accolade after accolade, appearing at many critics awards and earning Best Animated Feature at both the Golden Globes and the Oscars. In fact, Disney submitted the film for Best Picture, but was soundly rejected, which like Dark Knight also sparked outrage AMPAS was too elitist over mainstream fare that was considered just as good, if not better than the middlebrow crop that was actually nominated. Like The Dark Knight, this snub would result in a major expansion for Best Picture nominees, moving from five to ten nominees, and later having a weird sliding scale that depended on votes. By the way, fuck corporate greed and fuck Jeff Bezos!

 

Sixth domestic and third worldwide was the Dreamworks hit Kung Fu Panda. Set in ancient China and starring anthropomorphic animals, Jack Black voices Po, a clumsy panda and kung fu enthusiast who finds himself forced to become the Dragon Warrior, a fierce and powerful kung fu master destined to save all of China. This seemed like a total accident, and both his reluctant kung fu trainer and fellow teammates the Furious Five treat the buffoon like an outcast. But with his own unique style and determination, Po proves the world wrong and looks to become the one guy who can save the world.

 

The idea first came from Dreamworks Animation executive Michael Lachance, who envisioned the project as a Shrek-style spoof of kung fu movies. However, John Stevenson was against the idea, in favor of a character-based wuxia comedy. Stevenson loved wuxia films, both for their action and emotional spirit, and knew that while the film would be more comedic, Stevenson knew they could use the world of animation to create stunning imagery, incredible fight scenes, and tie it all into a heartfelt story. Despite the laughs, they were going to take the art of kung fu, the movement of kung fu, and even the philosophy of kung fu seriously. No joke, whenever I get stressed or frustrated over the world, I often find myself listening to the wise words of Master Oogway and his monologues peppered throughout the film.

 

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Stephen Chow’s martial arts comedy Kung Fu Hustle was a major inspiration for the film’s tone and style, and both Stevenson and co-director Mark Osborne wanted to make sure the film celebrated Chinese art and cinema. This led to production designer Raymond Zibach and art director Tang Heng spending years researching Chinese painting, sculpture, architecture, and kung fu films to bring the film’s look to life. Films like Hero, Blade of Flying Daggers, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon were some of the biggest influences.

 

For the animators, this was the most complex film they ever built. The character designs, the movement, the editing, the production design, the art direction. All of it was some of the most challenging work the studio had ever done. VFX supervisor Markus Mannien even laughed at the production team knowing what they were going to go through bringing this movie to life, and only said “good luck”. Yet the animation team still had a great time working on it, and were rewarded handsomely at the box office.

 

Opening on June 6, Kung Fu Panda earned $60.1 million on its first weekend, becoming both the third-biggest Dreamworks opening and the third-biggest June opening at that time, as well as the fifth-biggest opening for an animated non-sequel. And with great reviews and a non-competitive marketplace apart from Wall-E, the film legged itself out to $215.4 million domestically, the biggest non-Shrek film for Dreamworks. Worldwide was $631.7 million.

 

Overseas, the biggest success came from China, the film’s setting. It not only became the first animated film to earn over 100 million Yuan from the region, but it also earned praise from Chinese critics over the film’s sincere attitude towards Chinese culture. This even led to introspection in the Chinese film industry as to why they haven’t made a film like this. And while arguably not a direct influence, Kung Fu Panda’s success in the region arguably sparked the Chinese blockbusters of today, both animated and live-action

 

Dreamworks saw great rewards here, earning one of their biggest franchises ever. Kung Fu Panda would go on to see two more sequels, two television series, a holiday special, and even a manga. It also saw a surprisingly high number of rip-offs, which is how you know you made it to the big time.

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Seventh place was home to the vampire teen romance Twilight. Based on the Stephanie Meyer novel, this starred Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan, a teenager who recently moved to the small town of Forks, Washington. There she meets Edward Cullen, played by Robert Pattinson. He’s a mysterious figure that Bella becomes fascinated with, and as time goes on, Bella soon learns Edward is a vampire. From there, their relationship blossoms into love, while Edward and his family try to keep Bella safe from a coven of evil vampires. 

 

Released in 2005, the original novel of Twilight was a major success despite lukewarm reviews. Hitting #1 on The New York Times’ bestseller list, this book would go on to have a massive fan following, becoming America’s answer to Harry Potter. With three very successful sequels and a compelling premise, a film adaptation of the series was all but inevitable. In fact, MTV Films acquired the rights to Twilight back in 2004, although it was initially very different from the source material. Sure enough, in 2007, the relatively unknown studio Summit Entertainment acquired the film rights from Paramount and planned to use the first film as the stepping stone for a potential Potter-esque franchise. Catherine Hardwicke was attached as director while Melissa Rosenberg was hired as a writer in 2007.

 

Twilight was actually almost set to be hurt by the impending WGA strike during development. Rosenberg and Hardwicke worked overtime developing an outline and a screenplay, trying to get it finished before October 31 rolled around. During development, the filmmakers made sure the film was as faithful as possible to the original novel. While the plot was condensed, it was important this was still the same story fans knew and love and wanted to see on the big screen. This meant Stephanie Meyer was a constant presence throughout the production process, giving notes on the script, appearing on set during filming, and giving a list of things that could not be changed for the film.

 

Prior to pre-production, Meyer wanted Emily Browning and Henry Cavill to play Bella and Edward, but both actors were too old for the part, and new actors were needed. Kristen Stewart was chosen during production of Adventureland, as her screen test absolutely captivated Catherine Hardwicke. However, Edward was more complicated. Hardwicke needed an otherworldly actor for the role, and she failed to find somebody good for the role. But then she got a final four consisting of four actors: Shiloh Fernandez, Jackson Rathbone, Ben Barnes and Robert Pattinson. Apart from The Goblet of Fire, the latter was actually a relative unknown and was in a lot of trouble. He lost his job, was unemployed, had major debt. Yet he needed the money and decided to pay for his flight to Los Angeles to audition and do a read with Kristen Stewart. And when Stewart and Pattinson were together, Stewart did everything in her power to convince Hardwicke to make him the lead, as she felt connected to him the very first moment.

 

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Sure enough, Pattinson was cast, albeit to major backlash from fans of the book. Pattinson admitted he never even heard of the book series before his audition, but upon being cast, he immediately read every book in the series, and even got to see parts of the manuscript for Meyer’s Midnight Sun, which told the events of Twilight from Edward’s perspective. The one condition Pattinson had to do for Hardwicke was to not do anything funny with Kristen Stewart. She was 17 at the time, and if he didn't focus and show respect towards his co-star, things would have gotten ugly.

 

Filmed on a budget of $37 million, Twilight was initially set to release on December 12. However, after Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince moved from November 2008 to July 2009 (we’ll get to that next time), Twilight swooped in as the big YA attraction, now opening on November 21. And despite not having the cache of Potter nor any starpower, Summit smartly placed it on this weekend, because they knew they had something real special up their sleeves.

 

In its first weekend, Twilight saw itself earn a stunning $69.6 million. It was expected for the movie to be big, but this opening shocked everyone. Twilight earned the fifth biggest November opening in that release date, as well as the fourth biggest opening of the year. And not only was this based on a novel that was popular but not the ultra-famous behemoth it would soon become, but also had no stars, a limited budget, and was distributed by a smaller studio. Yet it’s through this intense fanbase that was dying to be satiated with a property they love, Twilight opened to incredible numbers and slowly took the world by storm. And while it would become more fan-driven over time, Twilight managed to have okay legs all things considered, with about $192.8 million domestically and $407.1 million worldwide.

 

This was a bit of a game changer for many parties. Not only did it make Summit a bigger competitor in the industry, but it turned both Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson into major movie stars, with both actors going on to have solid careers. Pattinson is even becoming a big name in blockbusters, having recently starred in Tenet and set to play Bruce Wayne in 2021’s The Batman. And for the Twilight property, a whole new audience got to experience the story for the first time, both in theaters and at home, when it became the best-selling DVD of 2009, with over 10 million copies sold. This all saw a massive boom in popularity for the book series going forward, and allowed Summit a franchise to call their own. And one year later, the Twilight franchise was set to explode into something incredible.

 

Eighth place domestic, sixth worldwide saw the return of the castaway zoo animals with Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. This follows immediately after the last movie with Alex and friends trying to get their way back to New York City. But after leaving the island of Madagascar, the animals crash-land in the middle of Africa, where they find themselves trying to blend into animal society. Alex discovers his lineage, Marty befriends a pack of zebras who act just like him, Melman becomes a witch doctor for a pack of giraffes, and Gloria tries to find love with a clan of hippos.

 

Dreamworks had high hopes Madagascar would be a hit and developed the sequel just when the first film was released and planned for a fall 2008 release date. Initially the film’s subtitle was The Crate Escape, but at the last minute, Dreamworks changed the title to Escape 2 Africa instead.

 

Similar to Shrek 2, Madagascar 2 had two purposes: give audiences the same comedy they know and love, while also expanding the world and characters to bring something fresh and exciting to audiences. And thanks to that good ol’ Dreamworks charm, the animation studio did exactly that.

 

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With an opening on November 6, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa was an event, generating $63.1 million its first weekend. This served as the biggest Dreamworks opening for a non-Shrek title, the seventh-biggest animated opening weekend in general, and the fifth-biggest November debut, only to be unseated by Twilight a couple weeks later. This was a substantial increase from the first Madagascar’s $47.2 million, and showed how much kids and even adults loved the franchise’s zany humor and goofy animation.

 

Yet despite that major opening and earning better reviews than its predecessor, Escape 2 Africa’s legs left something to be desired, as the film actually earned less than the first Madagascar domestically with $180.2 million domestically, about 2.86 times its opening. I guess it was too wacky for some people? Nevertheless, it still saw an increase worldwide for a $603.9 million haul, and was proof there was enough interest in the franchise to keep the gravy train rolling. A few months later, Nickelodeon released the animated spin-off series The Penguins of Madagascar, which was a solid hit, lasting three seasons.

 

Bond came back with a vengeance in ninth place (seventh worldwide) with the Casino Royale follow-up Quantum of Solace. This time, Bond finds himself seeking revenge over the death of his lover from the last movie, who along with another Bond girl finds himself facing Dominic Greene, a greedy businessman and a member of the Quantum organization. Quantum plans to stage a coup d’etat in Bolivia to seize control of their water supply and Bond is the only one who can stop him.

 

During post-production of Casino Royale, Eon mentioned the next Bond adventure would be a completely original story from producer Michael G. Wilson. This story followed up on the death of Vesper Lynd, as well as focus on environmentalism as a major theme. Roger Mitchell was in negotiations to direct. A fitting choice, since he worked with Craig on films like Enduring Love and The Mother, but because there was no script at the time, Mitchell dropped out, only for Marc Forster to join in 2007. Incidentally, Forster marked the first time a Bond movie wasn’t directed by a man from the Commonwealth, and joined the project despite not being a Bond fan, only joining because of his love for Casino Royale.

 

Speaking of the script, Quantum of Solace was one of the more notable releases to be hit by the strike. The initial script was written by Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis, and Robert Wade, with rewrites given by Haggis, Forster, and producer Michael G. Wilson. Haggis’ final contributions were written two hours before the strike officially began in fact. However, the script was still reportedly bare bones, and the strike meant Forster had nobody to punch things up or make the dialogue sharper. However, one loophole was that Marc Forster and Daniel Craig were not writers, and were allowed to work together on the script. This meant the two made uncredited rewrites, often on the set of the film, as a way to finish the film. Craig was not a fan of this, as he himself is not a writer.

 

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Either way, the film was shot and finished in 2008, with the title Quantum of Solace revealed in January 2008. And with Casino Royale reinvigorating the brand, Quantum was rewarded with a huge $67.5 million opening on its November 14 opening. This was not just the biggest Bond opening ever, but also was light years ahead of what Die Another Day earned in 2002, even after you factor in ticket price inflation. It also saw a record debut in the UK. If Casino Royale proved that Bond was back, Quantum of Solace proved Bond was here to stay and set to be bigger and better than ever.

 

However, things weren’t perfect. Reception was far more mixed on the sequel, feeling it failed to capture the magic of Casino Royale. And so, despite the large opening, Quantum only managed to earn $168.4 million domestically, just a million or so above what Royale did in 2006. There was also a dip worldwide with about $589.6 million.

 

But still, it was at least good enough to keep Daniel Craig’s tenure going for a few more movies. And little did we all know that in four years, Craig would take this series to heights never seen before.

 

Tenth place was the Dr. Seuss adaptation Horton Hears a Who! Jim Carrey voices Horton, an elephant who finds himself the sworn protector of a little speck of dust that contains a tiny city known as Whoville. And despite derision from some of the jungle animals and obstacles trying to destroy that little speck of dust, Horton goes through a large adventure to protect the citizens of Whoville and maybe teach the world a person’s a person, no matter how small.

 

After Seuss’ death, his widow Audrey Geisel began making film deals with several parties for her late husband’s work. But things changed after 2003’s The Cat in the Hat. Despite having many of the same elements and producers of the 2000 Grinch film, The Cat in the Hat was a pure disaster in every form. It was both a box office failure, and absolutely despised by both critics and audiences, finding it an insult to the innocence and creativity found in the original Seuss book. And nobody was more upset about this film than Audrey Geisel herself, who was so offended at the movie she refused to allow any live-action film adaptations of her husband’s work.

 

However, animation was still on the table. And after wrapping up the 2005 film Robots, Blue Sky Studios began making deals with Geisel to get the adaptation rights for Horton Hears a Who!. And after Robots art director Steve Martino and story consultant Jimmy Hayward showed off both a Horton model and several animation tests, Geisel agreed to the project, creating a seven-figure deal with Blue Sky.

 

Another stipulation was that Geisel had to be a supervising producer and watch the production throughout. This was actually a blessing for the team, because Geisel allowed Blue Sky to look through her late husband’s entire archives. This meant they had the chance to look at the sketches and 3D sculptures he had made for his book characters, the work he did for the 1953 film The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, and memos he shared with animation legend Chuck Jones over the iconic Grinch animated TV special. This all meant Blue Sky had all they needed to make their film feel as Seuss as possible.

 

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Blue Sky also wanted to make Horton feel very distinct and original compared to the mammoth characters they did in the Ice Age movies. The solution was not just widening Horton’s mouth, allowing for cartoonier facial expressions and giving voice Jim Carrey more freedom in his performance, but also have Horton often walk on two legs, giving him a unique appearance and giving him more opportunities for slapstick mayhem.

 

Finally, five years after Cat in the Hat, Horton Hears a Who! opened on March 14 to instant success, with a $45 million opening weekend. With little competition and strong reviews from critics, arguing it was the first good Seuss feature film, Horton earned the fourth-biggest March opening weekend, and was yet another hit for Blue Sky. It would continue to play well thanks to Easter and spring break, with $154.5 million domestically and $298.6 million worldwide.

 

This would be the last Seuss adaptation Blue Sky would do, but it at least put confidence back to Hollywood there could be money made in an animated retelling of these timeless stories, resulting in films like The Lorax and The Grinch years later.

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Clint Eastwood was really grumpy in twelfth place with Gran Torino. Eastwood starred Walt Kowalski, a Korean War veteran who blocks himself from his family and finds himself hating everything about the world. Things seem really rough when a Hmong teenager steals Kowalski’s Gran Torino. But after thwarting the boy’s plans, he soon develops a relationship with the boy and his family and realizes that there is something worth living for.

 

While Eastwood directed and starred, this was the passion project for writer Nick Schenk. Schenk worked at a VHS factory in Minnesota in the early 90s, and it’s there he became acquainted with Hmong workers and as a result the history and culture of the Hmong people. This soon led to Schenk creating a story about a Korean War veteran trying to handle the changes in his neighborhood that emphasized both a look at Hmong culture and a major culture clash. He would work on the script at his local bar every night when he was not at his day job, writing page after page and getting consulted by the bartender and even his brother’s roommate on the project.

 

When Schenck was pitching his film to Hollywood, the project saw rejection after rejection. While it was well-made, the film’s focus on an old man, especially a racist old man, made it a hard sell. However, Schenck was able to sell his script to Warner Bros. and after Invictus saw a delay, Clint Eastwood had time in his schedule to direct and star in this feature. And apart from a change in setting, Eastwood refused to change even one syllable in Schenck’s script, which never happens in Hollywood.

 

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And both Eastwood and Schenck knew that it was important to make sure this was as authentic to Hmong culture as possible, especially because they never saw any treatment in mainstream American film before. Ten Hmong actors were casted, almost all of whom were first time actors. Some of them were not even proficient in English. Five of them, including co-star Bee Vang, were from Minnesota. This seemed like an issue, but Eastwood’s low-key directing style apparently made things easier for the Hmong cast. He would give little acting tips, but would move at a fast rate that didn’t allow them time to think, in turn making it seem more natural and genuine. Eastwood also hired Hmong extras, production assistants, and consultants, although things weren’t exactly perfect...more on that later.

 

Releasing in only 19 theaters on December 19, Gran Torino had significant buzz going in, being Eastwood’s first return to acting since 2004’s Million Dollar Baby, and earned $468.2 thousand on its opening weekend, averaging $24.6 thousand. Already stellar stuff, and the following weekends continued to bring in the limited crowds, making the film all set to do big business in wide release.

 

Sure enough, on January 9, Gran Torino finally released in 2,808 theaters, and would see an astonishing $29.5 million weekend. This was by far the biggest wide opening in Eastwood’s long career, and with solid reviews and strong word of mouth, Eastwood managed to pull in strong numbers throughout the coming months, finishing with $148.1 million domestically and $270 million worldwide, the highest-grossing film of Eastwood’s career at that time.

 

What made this even stranger was that despite releasing in awards season and tackling complex subject matter that often gets rewarded at the Oscars, wasn’t an Oscar darling. I was honestly surprised when I read this, but Gran Torino wasn’t nominated for a single Oscar and only got one Golden Globe nomination. Yet at the same time movies like Slumdog Millionaire and Benjamin Button were getting accolades and awards buzz, Gran Torino outgrossed them both, at least domestically, and was just as, if not more iconic than those films.

 

Whether it be Eastwood’s starpower or its interesting subject matter, Gran Torino was so exciting to people it didn’t need an awards campaign to sell itself to people, and it was rewarded for it with praise from many. Of course, the one question here is what the reactions were within Hmong communities. And in those cases, things were split. While largely positive, and Bee Vang has stated he is satisfied with the movie, there had been detractors from Hmong-Americans, citing the film’s inaccuracies and stereotypes. And to make matters worse, the Hmong crew were reportedly not treated the best on set. Bee Vang mentioned the Hmong cast was treated unfairly on set, as Eastwood failed to give the newcomer cast any tips to improve their craft, and some of the white cast members made them feel excluded. Yikes.

 

Either way, the film at the very least still saw success and tried to bring to light a culture that still sees little representation. And this would soon lead up to Eastwood’s biggest hit six years later.

 

Thirteenth domestic but fifth worldwide was the hit musical Mamma Mia!, based on the famous jukebox musical. Amanda Seyfried plays Sophie Sheridan, a young woman living on a Greek island who is set to be married. And before her wedding day, Sophie sends three letters to three very different men, all of whom are potentially her father. And thus, hi-jinx ensue in a narrative strung together by tunes from the Swedish pop group ABBA.

 

First debuting in the West End in 1999, Mamma Mia! served as a massive hit in the theater community and rejuvenated interest in ABBA across the UK. It was also hugely successful upon its Broadway debut in October 2001. This was a feel-good, light-hearted romp, so having this come out just one month after the unfortunate Twin Towers attacks made it all the more appealing to musical theater fans, resulting in one of the longest-running Broadway shows in history. And with international productions popping up throughout the world, it was clear there was interest in a film adaptation, with many of the original creatives in charge of adapting.

 

Filming was in late 2007, on the Greek island of Skopelos. And the producers here knew they had to go all out in terms of the cast, bringing in a wide variety of talents that could appeal to every white suburban mom out there. Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard, and most importantly Meryl Streep. Streep signed on because she was already a huge fan of the musical and took singing lessons when she was a little girl. Streep said that Mamma Mia! reaffirmed that life is beautiful and worth living for in the midst of the destruction of 9/11 and wanted to replicate those feelings in a major motion picture.

 

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Sure enough, Mamma Mia! opened in the US on the same day as The Dark Knight, July 18. And while The Dark Knight understandably took up all the headlines, Mamma Mia! was no slouch, earning $27.8 million, the biggest opening for a film based on a Broadway musical. And despite mixed reviews and godawful singing voices, Americans still had a great time, as it continued to leg out in the coming weeks, seeing consistent sub-40% drops. As a result, Mamma Mia! finished its run with a mighty $144.1 million gross, 5.19 times its original opening, and only further cementing the brand and ABBA as an iconic one.

 

The real success story however was overseas, particularly Europe, where sold-out showings and #1 debuts were common. With ABBA an even bigger draw there, Mamma Mia! saw an astonishing $465.7 million overseas. In the UK, Mamma Mia! was actually the highest-grossing film ever in the region. All of this led to a worldwide total of $609.8 million, making it the highest-grossing musical of all time and the highest-grossing film directed by a woman of all time.

 

In 2018, a follow-up titled Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again was released and was also a success, earning $395 million. A third film is in development.

 

Fifteenth domestic and tenth worldwide was The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. This sees the Pevensie children return to Narnia once again, only this time the land is in shambles and disarray. They are thus tasked with facing off against an evil king and restoring the rightful heir to the throne, a young man named Prince Caspian. The screenplay for Prince Caspian was written before the release of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. While Prince Caspian was the fourth book chronologically, Andrew Adamson knew that since the child actors were starting to get too old for their parts, they had to get things rolling on this sequel before it’s too late.

 

Screenwriters Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely used this sequel as a chance to explore the idea of the Pevensies returning to Narnia, at first turning into kings and queens and then magically transformed back into schoolchildren again, and how it affects them. The writers also wanted to explore the guilt the children had, leaving Narnia behind and seeing the destruction that arrived upon their departure.

 

Andrew Adamson made sure that this sequel was much darker and grittier than its predecessor, with a more medieval look. This was done to emphasize the harsher world and more human antagonists the Pevensies were forced to face. As a result, the creatures of Narnia had a wilder appearance, emphasizing them being forced into hiding in the forests from persecution. Adamson also wanted to make sure the film was larger in scale and spectacle than the last Narnia film. This led to an explosive budget of $225 million, almost $100 million of which spent on the special effects.

 

Initially Prince Caspian was set to release in December 2007, but Disney moved it to May 2008 for two reasons: it was set to compete with The Water Horse, another Walden Media title, and seeing as how Potter was able to do so well in both the holiday and summer, surely Narnia would do the same. Disney put in a massive $175 million marketing campaign, and industry expectations had the film opening in the $80 million range. But then when it released on May 16, things got ugly.

 

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Despite positive reviews and the goodwill of the first movie, Prince Caspian opened to $55 million, far below Disney’s expectations and even below The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe’s $65.6 million opening. And that came out in December. The main reason has been debated by many of the film’s insiders. Disney CEO Bob Iger said the film being sandwiched inbetween Iron Man and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull meant Prince Caspian was lost in the shuffle. Maybe it would have been easier if Disney owned all those movies instead. Producer Mark Johnson also felt the darker tone was a turn-off for fans and the family audience, feeling like turning this sequel into a boys action movie alienated certain audience sectors.

 

Whatever the reason, the film still did okay, earning $141.6 million domestically and $419.7 million worldwide. Still, after the first film did so much business and had so much potential for a Potter-esque franchise for Disney, it still felt like so much money and potential was left on the table.

 

However, Disney was still interested in one more Narnia production with Walden Media that was thwarted over budget negotiations. Disney wanted the next Narnia film, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, to cost $100 million, while Walden Media wanted $140 million. And with fears that the costs could have escalated during filming, Disney dropped out of the project, and 20th Century Fox was then in charge of distribution. Ironically, after Disney’s purchase of 20th Century Fox, the Mouse House now owns Voyage of the Dawn Treader and the entire Walden Media Narnia trilogy. Go figure.

 

Voyage of the Dawn Treader also did lukewarm business, and Walden Media lost the rights for further Narnia films in 2011. Sony planned on developing a new Narnia series beginning with adapting the book The Silver Chair with Joe Johnston. However, those plans were superseded by the biggest bombshell the Narnia property ever received. In October 2018, Netflix announced they made a multi-year agreement with the C. S. Lewis Company to develop a new series of film and TV adaptations based on the Narnia series. Not much else is known about this plan or these movies and shows, but Coco writer Matthew Aldrich is expected to oversee the entire Narnia Netflix universe, and it should be interesting to compare the Disneyverse and Netflixverse when the time comes.

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Sixteenth place would see the surprise smash hit Slumdog Millionaire. Dev Patel plays Jamal Malik, a poor Indian Muslim living in the slums of Mumbai. Malik appears as a contestant on India’s version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, and finds himself answering each question correctly. While accused of cheating, Malik explains to the cops his life story and how his story allowed him to answer each question correctly.

 

Based on the award-winning novel Q & A, Slumdog was written by Simon Beaufoy, who took part in three different research trips to India, interviewing some of the children living in India’s slums. This was a major influence in Slumdog’s writing, as Beaufoy tried to capture the imagination, energy, and community these children had with each other.

 

Summer 2006 would see Beaufoy’s script get picked up by British production companies Celador and Film4 and both parties began courting Danny Boyle as director. Boyle wasn’t all that interested in a project based around Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, but after learning Beaufoy wrote the script, whose film The Full Monty is one of Boyle’s favorite movies, the director committed himself to the project.

 

Shooting was set to begin in 2007 in India, and it’s here where Loveleen Tandan enters the picture. Initially a casting director, Tandan suggested to Boyle and Beaufoy that the script needed pieces of Hindi to really sell the movie. This resulted in Boyle asking Tandan to write those moments of Hindi herself, taking up a third of the script. And just before shooting began, Boyle was so impressed with her work he decided Loveleen Tandan would serve as co-director on the project.

 

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Boyle and Tandan used Slumdog Millionaire as an attempt at an homage to Hindi cinema, with a big influence being the works from Salim-Javed. 1975’s Deewaar, 1998’s Satya, 2002’s Company, and 2007’s Black Friday were also influences here. One of the first casting choices for the game show host was actor Shahrukh Khan, who actually hosted India’s Who Wants to be a Millionaire? for a time. Khan rejected the casting call, believing it would give his audience the impression the game show he worked on was a fraud and he was a fraudulent host. Despite Slumdog’s success, he has shown no regrets in rejecting the call, but was still a fan of the film.

 

Warner Independent Pictures acquired the domestic distribution rights for the film in August 2007, while Pathe saw the international rights, with Slumdog Millionaire all set to do great things for its 2008 release. But then, tragedy struck. Warner Independent was shut down in May 2008, with all their films being sent to Warner Bros. proper. Because Warner failed to see much commercial appeal here, Slumdog Millionaire was intended to go direct-to-video in the United States. However, August would later see Warner Bros. make a pact with Fox Searchlight. Both shared distribution of the film, with Searchlight buying 50% of Warner Bros.’ interest and taking care of the US distribution. Warner Bros. took charge of distribution overseas except in India, with Fox Star Studios in charge there, and Europe, where Pathe distributed. For Fox Searchlight, this would turn out to be one of the best things to ever happen to them.

 

Slumdog Millionaire premiered at the Telluride and Toronto Film Festival, where it saw intense love from fest goers, earning the People’s Choice Awards at Toronto. This love would translate in rave reviews, gearing up for the film’s opening in 10 theaters on November 12. And it did rather well, earning $427,715 over five days. Sure enough, the film would continue its expansion, coming into 11th place on its second weekend, with about $947.8 thousand. Its sixth weekend, the weekend before Christmas, even saw the film in eighth place, earning about $3 million for a then $12 million cume. However, the real story was in the New Year, specifically when its awards went into play. The 66th Golden Globe Awards on January 11 saw Slumdog Millionaire earn all four of the awards it was nominated for, including Best Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture - Drama. Sure enough, with the following weekend being MLK weekend, Slumdog saw itself earn a 55% jump from its previous weekend, earning $7 million for the 4-day. Its cume by that point was $43.8 million.

 

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And then, the Oscar nominations were unveiled on Thursday, January 22. Slumdog Millionaire saw itself with 10 nominations. And alongside an expansion to over 1,450 theaters, those nominations really compelled people to check this film out. So despite this being after a holiday weekend, Slumdog found itself increasing almost 83% from last weekend, earning $10.7 million and landing itself in fifth place. It had earned $56.1 million at that point. And sure enough, Slumdog continued to pull in solid box office during the ramp up to the Oscars. And on that fateful night, February 22, it got crazy. After already earning $98.3 million before the ceremony, Slumdog Millionaire saw eight Oscar wins, including Best Director and Best Picture. This only continued Slumdog’s popularity at the multiplex, as the following weekend saw a 43% increase from the previous weekend, earning $12 million and hitting third place on the charts. It was at $115 million at that point in time. And with all that hype, Slumdog Millionaire earned $141.3 million domestically at the end of its run.

 

Overseas was a similar story. The UK is where the film increased 47% on its second weekend, the biggest jump for a wide release in the region. And with its Oscar wins, Slumdog also saw massive increases across Europe. This also saw the third-biggest opening weekend for a Western release in India. Long story short, Slumdog Millionaire found itself $237.1 million overseas and $378.4 million worldwide.

 

It’s honestly a fitting conclusion for a film about a poor teenager hitting it big and finding success. The film that was almost set to go direct-to-DVD managed to take the whole world by storm and be rewarded from several critics groups and award bodies. This film served as Fox Searchlight’s biggest film ever, put Dev Patel on the map, and was a strong feather in Danny Boyle’s cap. And while its reception in India was on the polarizing side, it just goes to show what you can do with a good concept and a strong director at the helm.

 

Finally, we’ll end this lookback on 2008 with 23rd place, where we see the Ben Stiller comedy Tropic Thunder. This comedy stars a set of eccentric actors filming a Vietnam War movie. Ben Stiller plays a washed-up action star, Robert Downey Jr. a method actor, Jack Black a lowbrow comedy star and drug addict, Brandon T. Jackson a rapper, and Jay Baruchel a newcomer in the field. These big personalities make filming the movie a nightmare and months behind schedule, so the film’s director drops them in the middle of the jungle out of pure frustration. And so, the actors must use their own skills to work together and make it out of the jungle alive.

 

This project first began in 1987, when Ben Stiller was shooting Empire of the Sun. Stiller wanted to make a film about the actors he met over the years. Specifically, the actors who become “self-important” after taking part in boot camps to prepare for war movies. Stiller and co-writer Justin Theroux used that idea to develop a spoof of Vietnam films like Apocalypse Now, Rambo, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, and The Deer Hunter, among others. Theroux felt the script was an easy one to write, as people are much more aware about Hollywood politics and its inner workings thanks to celebrity blogs and industry magazines earning more prominence online.

 

For the characters, Stiller wanted to make sure all of them felt larger than life as well as over-the-top. But perhaps the trickiest one to develop was Kirk Lazarus, played by Robert Downey, Jr. At the time, Downey was only given the character personality of a “method actor”, and had to build his idea from the ground up. This would see him settle on a jive-esque speech pattern and a deep ragged voice, which in turn allowed him and Stiller to create Kirk as a crazy Australian who is so obsessed with becoming his character he even alters his skin color to become Black. Russell Crowe, Daniel-Day Lewis, and Colin Farrell were all references. Downey had to have two hours of make-up application every day.

 

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Downey was of course nervous this role would be taken the wrong way. However, Stiller knew that this wasn’t done in malice, but rather to make fun of method actors. Kirk Lazurus went to these extremes for one movie, and this allowed Stiller to skewer the Jared Letos of the world who think they need to take themselves super seriously over their craft. To make sure this was considered tasteful, the film was screened to NAACP journalists, many of whom reacted positively to the character.

 

Tom Cruise is one of the actors in the movie, and was set to appear as Stiller’s character’s agent. However, Cruise suggested there should be a studio head character, which led to the creation of Cruise’s new character, Les Grossman. For the role, Cruise was almost unrecognizable, donning a fatsuit, giant prosthetic hands, and a bald cap. Cruise’s appearance was intended to be a secret, and Paramount refused to show him in any promotional media. However, images of his appearance emerged from paparazzi sites, in yet another instance of the media ruining things for everybody else.

 

Paramount went all out here in terms of its promotion, knowing that they had a winner on their hands. Sketches on American Idol and the MTV Movie Awards, military screenings, a making-off spoof on E! True Hollywood Story. Yet the most creative was a series of websites promoting some faux films. The film showcases trailers for films starring the main characters. Ben Stiller in an over-the-top action movie, Jack Black in a fart-themed comedy, Robert Downey Jr. in a dramatic title. Paramount/Dreamworks’ promo teams created these websites as a way to drum up hype and give a stronger background to the characters they created. A Heart of Darkness parody titled Rain of Madness was also released two weeks into the film’s run to keep positive buzz going. And boy was that buzz positive.

 

After a premiere at San Diego Comic-Con, Tropic Thunder released on August 13, a similar strategy to films like 40-Year-Old Virgin or Superbad. The film had found itself into a bit of controversy, as Stiller’s character appearance in the film Simple Jack, a spoof of Oscar bait where Stiller goes “full r**ard”, was considered offensive and demeaning by disability advocates. Some have defended the film upon seeing it, but in many ways, this helped keep the film in the conversation and bolster ticket sales, as people had to see the movie for themselves. It opened to #1, dethroning The Dark Knight, with a $36.8 million 5-day weekend. And with zero competition and solid reviews, Tropic Thunder stayed at number one for the next two weekends, ending its run at $110.5 million domestically. It saw $195.7 million worldwide, becoming Stiller’s most successful film as a director. It just goes to show with the right premise, comedy, and marketing, you can do something amazing when it comes to your rewards.

 

This also served as another role that cemented Downey Jr.’s return to the A-List. Iron Man gave him a new franchise, while Tropic Thunder was a chance to show his comedic chops. And he was greatly rewarded for it, earning an Oscar, Golden Globe, and BAFTA nomination for his role as Kirk Lazarus. It’s a true underdog story and it was clearly deserving for such a talent. A spin-off based on Cruise’s character had been mentioned since its release, but nothing has been mentioned since 2012.

 

And that’s only a sample of what 2008 had in store that year. Outside of the big stories, Sex and the City went to the big screen to great success. Marley & Me made men cry. The Incredible Hulk was Marvel’s only dud. Wanted showcased the POWAH of Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy. Get Smart returned to solid success. Four Christmases saw the biggest Thanksgiving debut for a live-action film. Benjamin Button boasted incredible aging VFX. Bolt was Lasseter's first true attempt at reinvigorating Disney Animation. Journey to the Center of the Earth boasted digital 3D before it was cool. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor was a sequel nobody cared about.

 

Will Ferrell and Adam Sandler both saw comedies barely cross $100 million. Beverly Hills Chihuahua is a movie we all let happen for some reason. High School Musical was taken to the big screen to great effect. Pineapple Express continued Seth Rogen’s rise. Doug Liman gave us the glory that is Jumper. Cloverfield shrouded itself in mystery. Keanu brought back The Day the Earth Stood Still to mixed results. Hellboy II had the unluckiest release date in film history. Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: The Best of Both Worlds Concert saw the biggest Super Bowl opening ever. Australia tried to epicify the region to mixed results. Speed Racer became an epic bomb, but a success story in our hearts. Three garbage spoof movies came out in one year. Fireproof sold itself to faith communities, a potentially lucrative market for the future. And lastly, Space Chimps...came out I guess.

 

This was 2008.

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@Brainbug @baumer @YourMother the Edgelord @excel1 Hope you all like this one! It took a lot of work, and 2009 certainly won't be a walk in the park, but it was all worth it, and I feel this is the best part I've done so far for this retrospective.

 

@MrPink @charlie Jatinder I guess I'm obligated to @ you guys because of these movies lol

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28 minutes ago, Eric #RIPChadwick said:

Khan rejected the casting call, believing it would give his audience the impression the game show he worked on was a fraud and he was a fraudulent host. Despite Slumdog’s success, he has shown no regrets in rejecting the call, but was still a fan of the film.

Ahh "SRK and the films he rejected becoming Iconic"

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