16 November 2009

The top grossing movies of the 2000s

The data come from a Wikipedia entry on 2000s in Film -

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
3. The Dark Knight
4. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
5. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
6. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
7. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
8. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
9. Shrek 2
10. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
11. Spider-Man 3
12. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
13. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
14. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
15. Finding Nemo
16. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
17. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
18. Spider-Man
19. Shrek the Third
20. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

But what is most interesting to me is the comment at Kottke:
Only one movie on the list was made from an original screenplay: Finding Nemo...the rest are all sequels or adapted from books, TV shows, amusement park rides, etc.
I'm not sure what implications that carries, but I find it somewhat disquieting.

Addendum: On this subject matter, see this enjoyable essay by Phillip Graham.

6 comments:

  1. Philip GrahamNovember 16, 2009 at 11:06 PM

    Just wait until the movie comes out with the detective Nick Relief . . .

    http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/opinions/freddy_and_jason_and_reese_and_julia.php

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  2. MinnesotastanNovember 16, 2009 at 11:40 PM

    Well written! I've added the link to the post.

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  3. BrendanNovember 17, 2009 at 6:44 AM

    Finding Nemo is actually based on Homer's "The Odyssey".

    Great find.

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  4. Philip GrahamNovember 17, 2009 at 9:35 AM

    Thanks, I'm glad you liked it!

    I used to worry about getting to the movie theater on time; now, on those occasions when I do go to the movies, I make sure I'm late, in order to avoid watching the noisy trailers for movies I know I'll never, ever see.

    "Coming Attractions"? I see them as warning labels.

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  5. Jake RNovember 17, 2009 at 10:48 AM

    I don't think the fact that the top-grossing movies are not based on original premises is as bad as it might seem at first.
    I don't mind watching unoriginal movies that are engaging, entertaining, and well made.
    Just because a movie is not original does not mean it is uncreative or that the story is of a lower quality.
    Look at the list.
    The Dark Knight - based on comic books, but if you think about it all comic books are essentially sequels. It was an excellent movie that helped to revive a franchise that had been destroyed with past attempts. Has one of the greatest pieces of character acting ever, and is going to have a huge impact on future movie-making, with the groundbreaking use of IMAX.
    The Lord of the Rings - Did a great job of putting into flim stories that people have been wanting to see for a long, long time, with superb cinematography and amazing technical achievements.
    Pirates - based on only a ride. So essentially the base concept is unoriginal but the story but the story had to be written from scratch.
    Harry Potter - hard to knock making these movies. Based on recent novels that were an unprecedented phenomenon that many, many people couldn't wait to see made into movies.

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  6. MuzzmanNovember 17, 2009 at 8:38 PM

    I also found it interesting that (unless I missed something) Finding Nemo is the only one on the list that is not part of a series of movies.

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