2004 in film is an overview of events, including the highest-grossing films, award ceremonies, festivals, a list of country-specific lists of films released, notable deaths and film debuts. Shrek 2 was the year's top-grossing film, and Million Dollar Baby won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Evaluation of the year American film critic and professor Emanuel Levy described 2004 as "a banner year for actors, particularly men." He went on to emphasize, "I can't think of another year in which there were so many good performances, in every genre. It was a year in which we saw the entire spectrum of demographics displayed on the big screen, from vet actors such as Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman, to seniors such as Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, and Dustin Hoffman, to newcomers such as Topher Grace. As always, though, the centre of the male acting pyramid is occupied by actors in their forties and fifties, such as Sean Penn, Johnny Depp, Liam Neeson, Kevin Kline, Don Cheadle, Jim Carrey. In terms of film genres, Levy stated, "The year's most prominent genre was the biopicture, a genre that in the past has suffered from lack of prestige and abundance of clichés. There were a dozen worthy biopictures, including Alexander, The Aviator, Beyond the Sea, Finding Neverland, Hotel Rwanda, Kinsey, Motorcycle Diaries, and Ray. Celebrating entrepreneurs, playwrights, singers, sex researchers, composers, and politicians, they continued to show one alarming bias: They were all about men. You don't have to be a feminist critic or a sociologist to deduct that, as far as real or reel heroes are concerned, women matter less in Hollywood and American society at large. Can't anyone come up with a strong part for a femme-driven bio a la British film Vera Drake, without relegating women to showbiz personae." Levy also stated, "Classic Hollywood cinema, which reached its height during the golden age of studio system and has been in decline, is kept alive by one major force: Clint Eastwood. The "Man With No Name" has become the "Man With the Best Name", a director who's experiencing an unparallel artistic height with “Million Dollar Baby,” a follow-up to the equally sublime Mystic River."Oscar 2004 : Film Year in Review
Highest-grossing films
The top 10 films released in 2004 by worldwide gross are as follows:
+ Highest-grossing films of 2004 Rank Title Distributor Worldwide gross 1 Shrek 2 DreamWorks $929,098,316 2 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Warner Bros. $808,481,128 3 Spider-Man 2 Sony $783,766,341 4 The Incredibles Walt Disney Pictures $631,442,092 5 The Passion of the Christ Icon / Newmarket $611,486,736 6 The Day After Tomorrow 20th Century Fox / Lionsgate $552,639,571 7 Meet the Fockers Universal / DreamWorks $522,657,936 8 Troy Warner Bros. $497,409,852 9 Shark Tale DreamWorks $374,583,879 10 Ocean's Twelve Warner Bros. $362,744,280
Shrek 2 set a new record for total gross by an animated film making it the highest-grossing animated film of all time. The record was later surpassed by Toy Story 3 in 2010. It also remained the highest-grossing non-Disney animated film until it was surpassed by Despicable Me 2 in 2013 and the highest-grossing non-Disney or Universal animated film until it was surpassed by Ne Zha 2 in 2025. It also remained the highest grossing film of Mike Myers' career until it was surpassed by Michael in 2026. On July 7, Spider-Man 2 reached a $200 million domestic gross in a record time of eight days. On July 18, after 19 days in release, Spider-Man 2 reached $300 million domestically in another record time. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban has the highest international revenue of $546 million compared to Shrek 2s $487.5 million.
The Passion of the Christ, directed by Mel Gibson, became the first blockbuster motion picture of 2004 and also the highest grossing R-rated film domestically. Meet the Fockers beat 2003's Bruce Almighty record for the highest-grossing comedy film; both were released by Universal.
Events Month Day Event January 25 Golden Globe Awards: Major winners include The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and Lost in Translation. 26 Golden Raspberry Award nominations announced, leading films are: 9: Gigli 8: The Cat in the Hat 8: From Justin to Kelly 7: Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle 27 Academy Awards nominations announced, leading films are: 11: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 10: Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World 7: Cold Mountain 7: Seabiscuit 6: Mystic River February 4 9th Empire Awards: Major winners include Love Actually and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 15 BAFTA Awards: Major winners include Scarlett Johansson, Best Actress and Bill Murray, Best Actor 22 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Charlize Theron, The Actor for Best Female Actor, Johnny Depp, The Actor for Best Male Actor, Tim Robbins, The Actor for Best Male Supporting Actor, Renée Zellweger, The Actor for Best Female Supporting Actor. 23 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King becomes the second film in history to gross more than $1 billion in worldwide box office receipts. 25 The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson's major motion picture about the last days of Jesus's life on Earth, opens huge in time for Lent. 28 Gigli dominates the Golden Raspberry Awards, walking away with 6 awards, including Worst Picture, Worst Actress (Jennifer Lopez), Worst Actor (Ben Affleck), Worst Director (Martin Brest), Worst Screenplay (Brest) and worst on-screen couple (Lopez and Affleck). Worst supporting acting awards went to actress Demi Moore for Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle and actor Sylvester Stallone for Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over. 29 76th Academy Awards: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King wins picture and director awards as well as nine others for a total of 11 Academy Awards, a tie for the most ever won by a single film. March 19 The highly acclaimed Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind releases in theaters. It later went on to win Best Original Screenplay at the 77th Academy Awards. May 22 Fahrenheit 9/11, a controversial documentary by Michael Moore wins the top prize, the Palme d'Or, at the Cannes Film Festival. June 5 The 2004 MTV Movie Awards were held at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California and hosted by Lindsay Lohan. 27 Fahrenheit 9/11 breaks the record for highest opening-weekend earnings in the United States for a documentary, earning $23.9 million. And going on to earn over $119M in domestic box office earnings. July 1 Marlon Brando, considered by many to be the greatest actor of all time, dies at the age of 80 from respiratory failure at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. October 27 DreamWorks Animation is spun off from DreamWorks Pictures into a separate company. 29 Voices of Iraq released, the first "wikified" documentary film created by sending multiple DV cameras to participants. December 13 The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced the nominees for the 2005 Golden Globes awards with comedy Sideways garnering seven nominations and actor Jamie Foxx with three for his work in both film and television. 21 The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces seven films are eligible for the Academy Award for Visual Effects: The Aviator The Day After Tomorrow Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban I, Robot Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow Spider-Man 2 28 The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces that 267 films released in 2004 are eligible for consideration of the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Awards Category/Organization 10th Critics' Choice AwardsJanuary 10, 2005 62nd Golden Globe AwardsJanuary 16, 2005 Producers, Directors, Screen Actors, and Writers Guild Awards 58th BAFTA AwardsFebruary 12, 2005 77th Academy AwardsFebruary 27, 2005 Drama Musical or Comedy Best Film Sideways The Aviator Sideways The Aviator Million Dollar Baby Best Director Martin ScorseseThe Aviator Clint EastwoodMillion Dollar Baby Mike LeighVera Drake Clint EastwoodMillion Dollar Baby Best Actor Jamie FoxxRay Leonardo DiCaprioThe Aviator Jamie FoxxRay Best Actress Hilary SwankMillion Dollar Baby Annette BeningBeing Julia Hilary SwankMillion Dollar Baby Imelda StauntonVera Drake Hilary SwankMillion Dollar Baby Best Supporting Actor Thomas Haden ChurchSideways Clive OwenCloser Morgan FreemanMillion Dollar Baby Clive OwenCloser Morgan FreemanMillion Dollar Baby Best Supporting Actress Virginia MadsenSideways Natalie PortmanCloser Cate BlanchettThe Aviator Best Screenplay, Adapted SidewaysAlexander Payne and Jim Taylor SidewaysAlexander Payne and Jim Taylor Best Screenplay, Original Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless MindCharlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry, and Pierre Bismuth Best Animated Film The Incredibles The Incredibles Best Original Score Howard ShoreThe Aviator Gustavo SantaolallaThe Motorcycle Diaries Jan A. P. KaczmarekFinding Neverland Best Original Song "Old Habits Die Hard"Alfie "Al otro lado del río"The Motorcycle Diaries Best Foreign Language Film The Sea Inside The Motorcycle Diaries The Sea Inside
Palme d'Or (57th Cannes Film Festival): Fahrenheit 9/11, directed by Michael Moore, United States
Golden Lion (61st Venice International Film Festival): Vera Drake, directed by Mike Leigh, United Kingdom
Golden Bear (54th Berlin International Film Festival): Head-On (Gegen die Wand), directed by Fatih Akın, Germany
2004 films By country/region List of American films of 2004 List of Argentine films of 2004 List of Australian films of 2004 List of Bangladeshi films of 2004 List of Brazilian films of 2004 List of British films of 2004 List of Canadian films of 2004 List of Chinese films of 2004 List of Hong Kong films of 2004 List of French films of 2004 List of Indian films of 2004 List of Bengali films of 2004 List of Bollywood films of 2004 List of Kannada films of 2004 List of Tamil films of 2004 List of Telugu films of 2004 List of Malayalam films of 2004 List of Italian films of 2004 List of Japanese films of 2004 List of Mexican films of 2004 List of Pakistani films of 2004 List of Russian films of 2004 List of South Korean films of 2004 List of Spanish films of 2004
By genre/medium List of action films of 2004 List of animated feature films of 2004 List of avant-garde films of 2004 List of crime films of 2004 List of comedy films of 2004 List of drama films of 2004 List of horror films of 2004 List of science fiction films of 2004 List of thriller films of 2004 List of western films of 2004
Births January 10 – Kaitlyn Maher, American singer and actress January 16 – Harry Collett, English actor January 25 – Rohan Chand, American actor February 19 – Millie Bobby Brown, English actress and producer March 5 – Kit Connor, English actor April 21 – Emma Tremblay, Canadian actress April 23 – Teagan Croft, Australian actress May 3 – Mel Maia, Brazilian actress May 13 – Ava Acres, American actress May 22 – Peyton Elizabeth Lee, American actress June 8 - Francesca Capaldi, American actress June 19 Louis Ashbourne Serkis, English actor Millie Gibson, British actress July 2 – Caitlin Carmichael, American actress July 4 – Alex R. Hibbert, American actor July 6 – Dylan Kingwell, Canadian actor July 16 Ruby Barnhill, English actress Amiah Miller, American actress July 17 Logan Allen, American actor Shamon Brown Jr., American actor August 5 – Albert Tsai, American actor August 14 – Marsai Martin, American actress August 19 – Siena Agudong, American actress September 10 – Gabriel Bateman, American actor September 23 – Anthony Gonzalez, American actor October 3 – Noah Schnapp, American actor October 10 – Zain Al Rafeea, Syrian-born Norwegian actor November 1 Jayden Bartels, American YouTuber, singer and actress November 11 – Oakes Fegley, American actor November 16 Marlon Kazadi, Canadian actor Jack Champion, American actor