The decade of the 2010s in film involved many significant developments in the motion picture industry as Disney towered all over its competitors. The studio's titles occupy exactly half of the top 50 highest-grossing movies at the worldwide box office of these ten years with solely one of those entries not reaching a billion dollars and the only three features on the entire list to cross the $2 billion mark, while Universal and Warner Bros. share the distant second place at eight titles each. Furthermore, non-Disney films managed to become the top-grosser of a year merely twice during the decade. This domination culminated in the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney.
Trends Major film studios attempted to replicate the box office dominance of Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe (which also had a few releases by Paramount, Universal, and Sony) through establishing their own blockbuster shared universe franchises. Despite not being as lucrative on average, Warner Bros. was able to build multiple such franchises with the likes of the DC Extended Universe, MonsterVerse (co-owned by Legendary), and Wizarding World; while 20th Century Fox's X-Men franchise transitioned into being a shared world and Sony's Spider-Man Universe got off to a promising start. However, some other attempts such as Universal's Dark Universe were immediately unsuccessful or ultimately went unproduced. Overall, this movement especially led the superhero film subgenre to attain monumental heights of prosperity. Disney capitalized on nostalgia by producing several live action or photorealistic remakes/re-adaptations of its famous hand-drawn animated films: Alice in Wonderland (2010), Maleficent (2014), Cinderella (2015), The Jungle Book (2016), Beauty and the Beast (2017), Aladdin (2019), The Lion King (2019), et cetera. Film series adaptations of popular young adult fiction novels became more prevalent (three of which were distributed or acquired by Lionsgate, and two by 20th Century Fox). After the Harry Potter, Twilight, and Percy Jackson series ended in the early years of the decade, the trend's focus switched from the fantasy genre to dystopian sci-fi with the Hunger Games, Divergent, and Maze Runner series. Other efforts of this kind failed to generate any sequels except for DreamWorks Animation's How to Train Your Dragon series, which took an alternative path by being a non-live action project that was just very loosely based on its source materials and had longer intervals between feature releases (though supported by the likes of short films and TV shows set in the same canon).
Highest-grossing films
The list has more 2019 films in the top 50 than any other year, with nine in total (seven by Disney). It is then followed by 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 with six; 2012 with five; 2013 with four; 2010 and 2011 with three; and 2014 with two (the only year in which Disney did not have a billion dollar grosser and failed to make the list). All but three films (two animated and one biopic) are based on another property. Figures are given in United States dollars.
+List of worldwide highest-grossing films Rank Title Distributor(s) Worldwide gross Year Ref. 1 Avengers: EndgameDisney $2,797,800,564 2019 2 Star Wars: The Force Awakens $2,068,223,624 2015 3 Avengers: Infinity War $2,048,359,754 2018 4 Jurassic World Universal $1,671,713,208 2015 5 The Lion King Disney $1,656,943,394 2019 6 The Avengers $1,518,812,988 2012 7 Furious 7 Universal $1,516,045,911 2015 8 Frozen II Disney $1,450,026,933 2019 9 Avengers: Age of Ultron $1,405,403,694 2015 10 Black Panther $1,346,913,161 2018 11 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Warner Bros. $1,341,511,219 2011 12 Star Wars: The Last Jedi Disney $1,332,539,889 2017 13 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Universal $1,309,484,461 2018 14 Frozen Disney $1,290,000,000 2013 15 Beauty and the Beast $1,263,521,126 2017 16 Incredibles 2 $1,242,808,192 2018 17 The Fate of the Furious Universal $1,236,005,118 2017 18 Iron Man 3 Disney $1,214,811,252 2013 19 Minions Universal $1,159,398,397 2015 20 Captain America: Civil War Disney $1,153,304,495 2016 21 Aquaman Warner Bros. $1,147,661,807 2018 22 Spider-Man: Far From Home Sony $1,131,927,996 2019 23 Captain Marvel Disney $1,128,274,794 2019 24 Transformers: Dark of the Moon Paramount $1,123,794,079 2011 25 Skyfall Sony / MGM $1,108,561,013 2012 26 Transformers: Age of Extinction Paramount $1,104,054,072 2014 27 The Dark Knight Rises Warner Bros. $1,084,939,099 2012 28 Toy Story 4 Disney $1,073,394,593 2019 29 Joker Warner Bros. $1,072,651,773 2019 30 Toy Story 3 Disney $1,066,969,703 2010 31 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker $1,065,837,407 2019 32 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story $1,056,057,273 2016 33 Aladdin $1,050,693,953 2019 34 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides $1,045,713,802 2011 35 Despicable Me 3 Universal $1,034,799,409 2017 36 The Angry Birds Movie Sony $1,028,570,889 2016 37 Alice in WonderlandDisney $1,025,467,110 2010 38 ZootopiaDisney $1,023,784,195 2016 39 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Warner Bros. $1,021,103,568 2012 40 Despicable Me 2 Universal $970,761,885 2013 41 The Jungle Book Disney $966,550,600 2016 42 Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle Sony $962,126,927 2017 43 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 Warner Bros. $960,283,305 2010 44 The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug $958,366,855 2013 45 The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies $956,019,788 2014 46 Bohemian Rhapsody 20th Century $903,655,259 2018 47 Spectre Sony / MGM $880,674,609 2015 48 Spider-Man: Homecoming Sony $880,166,924 2017 49 Ice Age: Continental Drift 20th Century $877,244,782 2012 50 The Secret Life of Pets Universal $875,457,937 2016
Highest-grossing film per year Disney releases were the annual top-grossers for the entire latter half of the decade. Year Title Studio(s) Worldwide Gross Ref. 2010 Toy Story 3Disney $1,066,969,703 2011 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Warner Bros. $1,342,511,219 2012 The Avengers Disney $1,518,812,988 2013 Frozen $1,280,802,282 2014 Transformers: Age of Extinction Paramount $1,104,054,072 2015 Star Wars: The Force Awakens Disney $2,068,223,624 2016 Captain America: Civil War $1,153,304,495 2017 Star Wars: The Last Jedi $1,332,539,889 2018 Avengers: Infinity War $2,048,359,754 2019 Avengers: Endgame $2,797,800,564
Most acclaimed films
On Rotten Tomatoes, the following five films of the 2010s received 100% critics' ratings.
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013) Summer 1993 (2017) Leave No Trace (2018) Minding the Gap (2018) Honeyland (2019)
Metacritic listed the following as the top ten highest rated films (at the time of their release) of the 2010s.
Boyhood Moonlight Roma Manchester by the Sea 12 Years a Slave Gravity Parasite Portrait of a Lady on Fire Carol The Social Network
Metacritic also listed the following films as most mentioned on critic's lists of the best films of the 2010s.
Mad Max: Fury Road Moonlight The Social Network Get Out Under the Skin The Tree of Life (Tie) Inception and Inside Llewyn Davis Boyhood The Master
Den of Geek listed the following as the top ten best movies of the decade.
Parasite Inception Mad Max: Fury Road Get Out Her Ex Machina Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Hereditary The Social Network Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Rolling Stone magazine listed the following as the top ten best movies of the decade.
Moonlight The Social Network Holy Motors Boyhood Get Out Toni Erdmann The Master Roma Mad Max: Fury Road Carol
Indiewire listed the following as the top ten best movies of the decade.
Moonlight Under the Skin Certified Copy The Act of Killing Inside Llewyn Davis Holy Motors Carol The Master Mad Max: Fury Road Lady Bird
In 2016, BBC's 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century poll of film critics listed the following as the top ten best films of the 2010s so far.
Boyhood The Tree of Life A Separation Inside Llewyn Davis The Act of Killing Holy Motors Mad Max: Fury Road The Grand Budapest Hotel The Master The Social Network
In 2017, The New York Times list of "The 25 Best Films of the 21st Century So Far" selected the following as the best films of the 2010s so far.
A Touch of Sin Inside Out Boyhood Inside Llewyn Davis Timbuktu In Jackson Heights White Material Mad Max: Fury Road Moonlight
Awards The following films received the most acclaim at the Academy Awards during the 2010s. Year Ceremony Most nominations Most awards Best Picture 2010 83rd The King's Speech (12) Inception and The King's Speech (4) The King's Speech 2011 84th The Artist (11) The Artist and Hugo (5) The Artist 2012 85th Lincoln (12) Life of Pi (4) Argo 2013 86th American Hustle and Gravity (10) Gravity (7) 12 Years a Slave 2014 87th Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (9) Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (4) Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) 2015 88th The Revenant (12) Mad Max: Fury Road (6) Spotlight 2016 89th La La Land (14) La La Land (6) Moonlight 2017 90th The Shape of Water (13) The Shape of Water (4) The Shape of Water 2018 91st The Favourite and Roma (10) Bohemian Rhapsody (4) Green Book 2019 92nd Joker (11) Parasite (4) Parasite
List of films
See also
Film, History of film, Lists of films List of animated feature films of the 2010s Popular culture: 2010s in music
References
External links List of 2010s films at IMDb List of 2010s deaths at IMDb List of 2010s births at IMDb