The 2010s– it seemed like forever ago we had sparkling vampires and Leonardo DeCaprio invading peoples’ consciousness. Now, in the late 2010s, we have a misshapen CGI Sonic the Hedgehog, a purple grape fighting an overweight god, and an invasion of terribly, misplaced live action Disney movies. This decade was also filled with cinematic gems that brought in millions, domestically, and internationally; there are 12 films from this past decade, early and recent, that shone through all of the trials and tribulations of the unfortunate flops in the film industry.
Inception (2010): Many of us weren’t old enough to see this movie and thoroughly comprehend it, but many adults and teenagers at the time did, and it was a major breakthrough for DeCaprio and the thriller genre of movies. Inception drew in $292 million in the US and Canada alone; $823 million internationally.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011): The epic conclusion of one of the most iconic book-to-film adaptations– Deathly Hallows Part 2 thrilled or disappointed avid fans. The grim, concluding movie to the Harry Potter series grossed $960 million worldwide.
Frozen (2013): The animated movie that took children and pre-teens by storm. The Disney movie enraptured its viewers– adults included. The delightful soundtrack paired with the emotional plot creates one of the best, recent Disney films. This was Disney’s 53rd feature film; it snowed in an astounding $1.2 billion internationally.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015): This initiated an entirely different, yet remarkable world that sequeled the timeless originals. The director, J.J. Abrahms, left his distinctive mark in the fandom and the film industry as well. The movie broke expectations as well as setting new records in the box office– $247 million in one weekend and $2 billion internationally.
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015): This gripping fantasy/Sci-Fi triumphed over the original Mad Max series from the late 70s-early 80s, and reinvested an entire generation into the dystopiate, tyrannical world reinvisioned by George Miller. The movie plowed the international box office and earned $225 million worldwide.
Get Out (2017): A breakthrough in recent thriller movies, Get Out shot through expectations and shone through as one of the most illustrious, elaborate psychological thrillers of our lifetime. Much like Inception, Get Out offers the same mind-boggling twists and turns. The movie earned the title of “most profitable movie of 2017”, luring $252 million worldwide.
Incredibles 2 (2018): Reprising our childhood, Incredibles 2 allows us to relive our youth through notable characters and a simple, dynamic, and enjoyable plot that any age can immerse themselves in. Incredibles 2 stretched across the globe and earned $1.2 billion internationally– versus the $633 million profited from the first.
Black Panther (2018): The MCU introduces a new, bold, fiery, and righteous character: T’Challa. His plight to remain a fair king is challenged by one of the most nefarious, infamous villains: Killmonger. The two characters question the audience’s morals as well as their empathy. This movie slashed box office, earning $1 billion in twenty-six days– $1.2 billion in total at the end of the 30th day.
Avengers: Infinity War (2018): Another staple in MCU history, Infinity War initiates the beginning of the end of the main MCU characters we have seen all the way through the 2010’s, since Iron Man. The film, even though it kills a few of our beloved characters and rushes some plot points to reach the climax of the film (the war), Infinity War will be a timeless classic for the MCU and hopefully remains on Netflix a little longer. Infinity War snapped in $2 billion worldwide and broke the record for the film to gross the highest in its opening weekend.
Avengers: Endgame (2019): The conclusion to its sublime-sister, Endgame concludes phase three of the MCU and concludes with one of the best cinematic battles in history. Endgame may have displeased many, but the majority were ecstatic– many people, including myself, returned to see it at least three more times in theater. Endgame summoned $2.5 billion internationally. Marvel decided to re-release Endgame with deleted footage and the movie became the highest grossing movie in history– battling and defeating the seemingly formidable Avatar.
Frozen 2 (2019): If the first Frozen wasn’t enough to entice children, pre-teens, and adults, Frozen 2 goes beyond the original. You would think a children’s movie would remain popular within the world of children, right? Wrong. Frozen 2 has our generation revisiting the movie theater to see Olaf and Elsa in full swing– drawing in a variety of audience members like no other movie has. Frozen 2 is currently grossing $34.7 million in ticket sales, outselling its predecessor by double in its opening week.
Joker (2019): Finally, a Joker movie with a stellar performance (Joaquin Phoenix ) that can rival Heath Ledger and Christopher Nolan. This movie will be a cultural staple for the rest of generation z’s lifetime. The Joker has impacted Tik Tok and iFunny like no other movie in this past decade. Despite resentment and sour reviews from critics, the movie has made history for rated R movies in the box office– being the first rated R film to gross over $1 billion, and has made its way to become the sixth highest grossing film of 2019.
A bright future of films are ahead in the upcoming decade, showing the future potential of film makers and the film industry– these titles include: Dolittle, Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman 1984, Black Widow, and several others. Hopefully these films stamp themselves as defining movies of the 2020s, or some may turn out to be flops, but this past decade has shown great improvement as well as surpassing previously unrivaled records. These movies from this decade will not only travel with us as we age and move into the ‘real world’, but these films, no matter how fictitious and fantastical– they will always ground us.
This was something very interesting to look at and to see which movies I have watched out of these and which I have not.
I loved this article, Toni! I did really like how you stuck to the facts, but I wonder if, at the end, you could comment about some emotional impacts of these movies? I know you did a little bit about Incredibles 2, but I’d really like to see more! Your word choice was fantastic as well.
This was a very pleasant and enjoyable read for me. It was fun to go back and remember some of the decade’s cinematic highlights, and it was interesting to discover the movies that I hadn’t watched yet. Maybe adding something like the movie’s Rotten Tomato Score will add another layer to the audience’s understanding of the film’s success.
This was a really well-written article and I liked how you did not deviate from the main discussion of how much money these movies brought it. Maybe you could expand on the topic by adding a longer description of the movies and the ratings of the movies. But, overall this article was very entertaining and the language you used made it more enjoyable.