MTV Movie Awards, A Surprising History

MTV Movie Awards, A Surprising History

Last week was the 2015 MTV Movie Awards. The ceremony is usually considered a big joke. Blockbusters get the top prize, there are awards for things like "Best Kiss", (Which was even referenced in Tropic Thunder) and then there were those years in which Twilight hungrily sucked awards dry like the insatiable hungry vampire that Twilight managed to feature none of. But for all the satire, for all the poop jokes and gay jokes and jokes told by Rebel Wilson, I think there's something inherently special about the MTV Awards. The Oscars have become more and more intoned to their own sensibilities, and are obliged to award importance. The People's Choice Awards are supposed to be a populist counter to this, but they tend largely concentrate on household names, whether the works show any evidence of popularity or not. The MTV Movie Awards, for all their irreverence, take a wide encompassing look at film and judge movies on the same terms, so that titles like Schindler's List and Armageddon are up for the same categories. They establish which movies are actually leaving an imprint on popular culture. No hemming and hawing about legacy. In this way, I think the MTV Movie Awards are one of the most reliable time capsules.

1992

Backdraft
Boyz n the Hood
JFK
Robin Hood Prince of Thieves
Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Average Box Office: 115 mllion
Average Tomatometer: 78%

Snubs: Perhaps the most obvious one is Silence of the Lambs, which was more successful than JFK both with awards bodies and audiences. It's very likely, however, as the awards were just starting to gel, that it was ineligible/forgotten about due to the movie's very early release. (Lambs came out in February of 1991, and movies from as recently as that year's March can be nominated for Emtees) Actually, with Beauty and The Beast as another big movie that was on the Academy's shortlist, the box office averages for Oscars and MTV Awards respectively, weren't too far apart. (About 24 million or so)

Perhaps the most surprising nominee is Backdraft, which I'm not sure is very well remembered. Terminator 2 ended up winning, a fitting inaugural winner, as it's a prototypical yet well-executed summer blockbuster--the exact kind of movie meant to represent the"Anti-Oscars" the MTV Movie Awards were ostensibly created as. This would be a bit of an outlier, as Terminator 2 would be the only sequel nominated until 2000, and the only sequel to win until 2003 with Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. By that point, franchise movies would be pretty common. In fact, it would be almost ten years before a "typical" summer blockbuster would win this again. (And even then, Gladiator is somewhat atypical) With three blockbuster type movies, an acclaimed but edgy "urban picture", and a requisite Best Picture nominee, this is what many people like picture when bringing up the MTV Movie Awards.

1993

Aladdin
Basic Instinct
The Bodyguard
A Few Good Men
Malcom X

Average Box Office: 128
Average Tomatometer: 70%

Snubs: Perhaps most notably Wayne's World, a huge success, icon of the MTV generation, and a large reason why Saturday Night Live became known as a movie star factory again. Funny enough, wacky comedies were not a huge staple of the early MTV Awards, and we wouldn't see the regular "guy comedy" until Myers's own Austin Powers came out. A lot of this probably had to do with most of the big name funnymen like Murray, Murphy and Martin aging, and often playing roles to reflect that. In short, comedy blockbusters were not "cool" in this era.

The bad reviews of Basic Instinct and The Bodyguard bring it down, though it's hard to deny they're still remembered even today. Kevin Costner is the first to accomplish the hat trick, as it is, he ended up getting three movies in the mix, which puts him on par with Tom Cruise and Will Smith. It's amazing to ponder how he was such the biggest star in the late eighties and early nineties, and then seemed to collapse in the Clinton era. Perhaps most surprising is the inclusion is Aladdin. Not in and of itself--it was a popular, acclaimed movie. But it's the only "Disney Renaissance" kid to be nominated, and it's perhaps the one with the least devoted fanbase. Funny enough, none of the nominees were released during the summer, even though this ceremony seems to exist largely to celebrate (and promote) summer movies. Already, the late prestige entrees are hogging the spotlight. Malcolm X fits in the "Edgy, African-American" slot, although it's a bit unique in being a three hour period piece.

1994

The Fugitive
Jurassic Park
Menace II Society
Philadelphia
Schindler's List

Average Box Office: 148 million
Average Tomatometer Score: 89%

Snubs: Nothing super glaring. A lot of the big hits that year skewed older (In the Line of Fire) or younger. (Mrs. Doubtfire) It wasn't a year of movies that were particularly "hip". I think the only miss that may have been in this "sweet spot" was Sleepless in Seattle, and romantic comedies have, believe it or not, never been strong here.

Now we're at a point where the awards show that was supposed to be a parody of the Oscars is nominating three legit Oscar nominees, including Schindler's List, which has become the shorthand for "serious movie". In fact, this would be the best reviewed pack of movies in the awards' history. . Philadelphia is perhaps even more surprising, since it wasn't as high profile. In any case, this wasn't a super-hip year for movies (as opposed to the next year, which would bleed of Gen Xness.) What ended up winning was Menace II Society, which is surprising considering what a generational touchstone Jurassic Park is. It would be the lowest grossing movie to be nominated until Whiplash in 2015, and lowest winner overall. MTV viewers were clearly making a statement. Sadly, this was a last hurrah. The 90's would see a major gentrification in the movie business, and we wouldn't see movies of this ilk pop up for a while.

1995

The Crow
Forrest Gump
Interview With a Vampire
Pulp Fiction
Speed

Average Box Office: 142 million
Average Tomatometer Score: 80%

Snubs: 1994 was Jim Carrey's breakthrough year, with three runaways successes; Dumb and Dumber, the Mask, and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. He would be consistently nominated for the next seven years, and win an award for one performance or another for the rest of the decade. However, even with three movies to choose from, none of them made the short list. Also, missing was True Lies, despite its success, and James Cameron always knowing what the kids want. Perhaps the domestic angle made it a little less appealing to MTV's audience--this would be a pattern from here on in; While established stars would be very popular for dramas, action movies were largely for the new meat.

You could say this is where the 90's were really beginning to establish themselves stylistically, and it shows here. Speed, Pulp Fiction, The Crow, and Brad Pitt with long hair are all things people think of when they think of the 90's. The Crow would be the first comic book adaptation to be included, and the only one of the decade. (And even then, The Crow is more a part of goth culture than comic book culture per se) Even though it is evident the MTV crowd liked Forrest Gump quite a bit, they preferred Pulp Fiction, showing even when they respected prestige, they would always be a little more dangerous.

1996

Apollo 13
Braveheart
Clueless
Dangerous Minds
Seven

Average Box Office: 92 million
Average Tomatometer: 72

Snubs: Perhaps, Toy Story. Animated movies have a bit of a hard time getting in, but one would think the novelty/high tech aspect would be enough to override the "Kid's Stuff" bias. Goldeneye not getting is perhaps a bit ironic, considering in a couple years it would be a legendary video game. However, as with Batman Forever and Die Hard With a Vengeance, it seems MTV would shy away from franchises they were not on the ground floor for.

This would be the only time the average box office was below 100 million dollars. It was actually a somewhat weak year, commercially, as it would be the last time no movie made more than 200 million dollars. (And that will probably remain the case until the entire movie cinemati industry collapses) Clueless would be the first comedy to be included, and along with Dangerous Minds, the first movie to have a high school setting. The MTV Awards are not the Teen Choice Awards, and youth is not a prerequisite for getting nominated, although if a movie is iconic in its own right and is set in high school, it's practically shoe-in. On that note, Dangerous Minds would be somewhat in the vein of the previous urban violence movies, (It even had the popular Coolio song) but it was  a sanitized, white savior movie. This is also one of the few times only two movies made 100 million, (and one barely at that) though it wouldn't be the last. The Oscars that year was a battle between Apollo 13 and Braveheart, but MTV viewers went with the third option of Se7en, which has actually grown in stature over time (Probably in small part to David Fincher's oeuvre)

1997

Jerry Maguire
Independence Day
Romeo + Juliet
The Rock
Scream

Average Box Office: 130 million
Average Tomatometer: 72%

Snubs: Twister was a big hit at the time, but I think we all know that Independence Day made it yesterday's news. Mission Impossible losing out was perhaps a bit surprising, especially considering the previous ceremony lampooned it. As a matter of fact, the first three Mission: Impossible movies were all parodied on the show, and Cruise himself even won for one of the movies, but for some reason, the movies themselves would never make the cut.

Because the Oscars went all indie and super serious in 1996, we only have one Best Picture nominee. This was also something of a transitional year. These would be the first Leonardo DiCaprio, Will Smith, and Nicholas Cage's movies to get nominated, but the last of Tom Cruise's. Cruise would remain popular enough to be nominated as an individual, but his movies would stop being cultural phenomenon. I don't know if this says something about the awards, or where we were in the 90's, but Cruise's attempt to get onboard with more action and sci-fi movies never seemed to excite the MTV kids the way his dramas have. Note the presence of Scream. That movie, perhaps much more than Clueless, is what created the cottage industry of teen stars that would be start to become  prominent for pop culture in general, and the MTV Awards in particular. It would also be the only horror movie to win--horror movies are actually quite rare Best Movie nominees, even though they're a staple of teen culture.

1998

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Face/Off
Good Will Hunting
Men in Black
Titanic

Average Box Office Score: 185 million
Average Tomatometer: 87%

Snubs: The closest I can think is I Know What You Did Last Summer, and even then, it's not a glaring omission. Perhaps My Best Friend's Wedding, but the MTV people like their romances more angsty. A lot of the typical blockbusters that year were disappointing sequels,. Boogie Nights might have made it in a different era, but the movie wasn't a huge hit and the porn industry subject matter may have been a little too hot even for MTV to handle.

With Titanic picking up a record Oscar tally, and Leomania in full swing, this was a year where commerce, prestige, and youth culture all formed a Venn diagram that was simply a circle. Titanic would be the first time it matched the Academy Award for Best Picture (and would do so again twice in the next five years) And for good measure, there was Good Will Hunting, another blockbuster Oscar darling (Managing two Oscar wins the year Titanic came out is "a darling") starring Matt Damon, who was Leo for those who wanted someone a little brainier and approachable. Perhaps the teen boom of the late nineties was strong because there were actual tiers of legitimacy. (Witness the Jennifer Lawrence storm more than a decade later) This was probably also one of the first signs that Austin Powers was a bigger phenomenon than his moderate box office would attest.

1999

Armageddon
Saving Private Ryan
Shakespeare in Love
There's Something About Mary
The Truman Show

Average Box Office: 163 million
Average Tomatometer: 80%

Snubs: I would think the biggest one would be Rush Hour, considering what a sleeper hit that was, and that the movies are amongst the most successful movies with no white lead actors. The Waterboy also missed out, though by this point it should be evident comedy stars weirdly don't see their breakout successes get Movie of the Year.

This would be at the high point of MTV aligning with the mainstream reception. Three of the movies nominated would also be the three top earners of the year. This would happen only two more times*. The winner was There's Something About Mary, which would be the first bawdy megahit to be nominated, something that would become a staple. This would be the last time Tom Hanks would see one of his movies nominated in this category, after being in four "movie of the year" nominees. Hanks is an interesting figure--a man who became a superstar not through being a sex symbol, or punching bad guys, even ribald comedy (though he's had many successes in the comedy genre) but as what the public perceived as a walking seal of quality. It was inevitable he would age out of the demographic, but it really displays what a different time the 90's was. The Truman Show is also Carrey's only movie to be nominated for best movie, despite being an awards hog. I think in a way, that's Vintage MTV Movie Awards--a movie with substance fronted by a star best known for making voices come out of his butt.

2000

American Beauty
American Pie
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
The Matrix
The Sixth Sense

Average Box Office: 180 million
Average Tomatometer: 74%

Snubs: 1999 was considered a fantastic, cutting edge year with films like Magnolia, Being John Malcovitch and Fight Club, although none of them were huge, immediate successes. 10 Things I Hate About You has gone on to be a staple for high school girls, but we already had high school representation with American Pie. I suppose the real cinematic phenomenon that missed out was Blair Witch Project, but with The Sixth Sense coming along and eating its lunch, the Blair Witch backlash might have already set in.

With all the subpar sequels, imitators, and follow-ups, it's easy to forget how logical this list seemed at the time, and how in way, they were genuine sensations that countered more aggressive and hyped blockbusters like Wild, Wild West and The Phantom Menace, with Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me being the only truly high profile movie when it all began. On that note, we now have the first sequel to be nominated for "movie of the year" in eight years. The climate of Hollywood was changing and franchises would become inescapable, as a sequel would be nominated every year, except arguably one. Also, The Matrix would be the first sci-fi movie to take the prize since Terminator 2. Sci-Fi/Fantasy films would turn hits here and there, but they didn't have the reputation for being hip or good, whereas now "teen movie" and "sci-fi movie" are currently joined at the hip. Also, American Beauty is now viewed as some kind of chaenery, but it did hit the teen angst button squarely where it lived, to the point it was seen ripe for parody in Not Another Teen Movie

2001

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Erin Brocavich
Gladiator
Hannibal
X-Men

Average Box Office: 152 million
Average Tomatometer: 75%

Snubs: To hear some fans say it, Almost Famous, but let's face it, that was one of the great fizzles of the Dreamworks era. Castaway--it's an extremely iconic movie, and at the time made almost a quarter of a billion dollars, which doesn't seem like something at all that could happen today, but as mentioned before, Tom Hanks was probably graduating to a different level of stardom (and it seems MTV voters don't like one man shows, as we'd find later). Charlie's Angels may have been super-hyped, but does anybody really think about that movie anymore? The biggest snub may have been Scary Movie, as wild, runaway comedies have started to become a staple here. But few people probably have a problem with it missing out.

A lot of headlines at the time remarked "Do these guys think they're the Oscars or something", although multiple best picture nominees weren't uncommon. After this, however, we would spend the rest of the decade with only one of the Honors Club invited to the keggar that is MTV. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon shows what a true crossover hit it was. Erin Brocavich fills the quota that every A-Lister has to have at least one movie nominated. (Osncreen heartthrobs who haven't yet--Angelina Jolie, Charlize Theron, Channing Tatum, Dwayne Johnson, George Clooney and Ryan Gosling) X-Men would be the first Marvel comic to make the category, and they would be a fairly consistent presence, with seven movies over fifteen years. Comic book films would become synonymous with millennial blockbusters, and though they'd show up here a lot, they wouldn't be automatic , and in fact, the first X-Men has the lowest reviews and box office of any superhero movie nominated in this category. The biggest surprise has to be Hannibal, which was a big hit, but greeted with a mixed reception. This would be indicative of a problem the MTV movie awards would have--the eligibility timeline isn't in a typical calendar year, but from spring to spring. This means the base, not known for its attention span (hell, the real Oscars aren't known for their attention span) would list favorite movies from recent months. That January to March are known as housecleaning months, this means crappy, rather transitive movies will be on the voters' minds. So as often than not the Awards will get a spring "How did that get in there?!" nominee.

2002

Blackhawk Down
Fast and the Furious
Legally Blonde
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
Shrek

Average Box Office: 185 Million
Average Tomatometer: 75%

Snubs: A Beautiful Mind would be the highest grossing Best Picture Winner to not even be nominated, (and the first winner not to be nominated since 1996, where the nominee was the much less commercial The English Patient) but it's easy to see how it would miss out. While Pearl Harbor missing out isn't a travesty, that a war movie which felt so tailored to the MTV audience probably felt like a slap in the face. Let's talk about Moulin Rouge! the first cinematic, live-action, song-and dance musical for the MTV generation. It missed out, and almost every single entry in that genre would miss out, despite any legit pop musician credentials, (Dreamgirls) actors in with that generation, (Hairpsray) or overall success. (Chicago) They just wouldn't take. I guess the "Music" in "MTV" isn't a considered a misnomer for nothing. Harry Potter's first cinematic outing would be overlooked, and the series pretty much for the entire decade. It makes sense, as the series skewed younger and was less action-packed than the Lord of the Rings movies, but that would eventually change.

This would be the first year since 1997 which saw only one movie that was also nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. (although one of them was nominated for Best Director, and another won Best Animated Feature, so it wasn't a complete schism) In 1997 this was an anomoly-here it was a precedent. Shrek would be the first animated feature since Aladdin to be nominated, and the first computer generated film to so. At the time, the technique was actually considered fresh, with only six CGI-animated features. (anyone remember Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within?) They're so ubiquitous, and Dreamworks in particular considered so mercenary, it's hard to believe there was a time Shrek was considered a breath of fresh air, but it was. Fast and The Furious seemed like an odd, disposable hit, but it turned into a generation-spanning franchise. Legally Blonde would be one of the few explicitly feminine movies to be nominated, and was the only movie here not to make 100 million, (though it came close, and probably sold more tickets than many of today's blockbusters) but funny enough, it would be adapted into a musical, the making-of show airing on MTV.

2003

8 Mile
Barbershop
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Ring
Spider-Man

Average Box Office: 212 million
Average Tomatometer: 83%

Snubs: Possibly Catch Me If You Can, as it was Leonardo DiCaprio's first post-Titanic movie to be a real hit. Signs would be a believable movie here. In retrospect, it seems strange The Bourne Identity nor any of its sequels would make it in. 2002 would be the most attended movie year since the 1950's, but (or because) it appealed to a large range of audiences, and not a lot of them were the edgier, acerbic movies that tended to get nominated here.

8 Mile would seem an obvious choice for an award with "MTV" in its title, but music-based movies aren't super common. Still, the movie was such a hit, and Curtis Hanson had a lot of goodwill at the time, it's a hard choice to argue with. The Ring would be the third or fourth "scary movie" depending on how you classify Interview With a Vampire, and it would be another horror movie that was a bit of a trendsetter. (That is, remakes of Japanese horror movies) The oddest choice is Barbershop, as it was moderate hit and left little of a cultural footprint (Though its reviews were a lot better than you might realize). Perhaps it's a testament to the racial hegemony that had worsened in Hollywood in the last ten years, and MTV's black audience having little to choose from.  In many ways, Spider-Man was the bigger cultural event, but Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers won. This would be the second sequel to win since Terminator 2 claimed the inaugural prize, and the first time a film franchise claimed more than one. While few would begrudge Two Towers the win, (It's widely considered the best movie n the category) it would foreshadow the franchise monopolies that would categorize the nominations from now on, and the power of dedicated fanbases with access to the internet.

2004

50 First Dates
Finding Nemo
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
X2: X-Men United

Average Box Office: 271 Perecent
Average Tomatometer: 80%

Snubs: 2003 was a weird year in that it produced a lot of surprise successes, but also a lot of sure things that left a bad taste in fans' mouths. On the box office charts, one has to go all the way to School of Rock to find something that was A) Well-received, and B) Appealed to the young adult audience at all. Perhaps the biggest would be Kill Bill, considering Part 2 would be nominated, and the first one is the much more referenced movie.

And here we have it. Two sequels nominated for Movie of the Year. It wouldn't be the last. It's hard to condemn their choices--X2 and and Return of the King are both considered fine movies, and especially fine blockbusters. If anything, this is a big reason for today's franchise culture. They're so prevalent because filmmakers actually put extra care in it for the fans. Return of the King marks the first time three movies from a series have been nominated, and it would hold the record for a while. It's also the last time the the Best Picture winner would also win here. (There would even be a five year hiatus on them being nominated) 50 First Dates is Adam Sandler's first and only film to be nominated, which is pretty common for comedy icons who aren't Mike Myers. This was technically a 2004 release, so it probably was fresh on moviegoers' minds, but it is considered best straight-up Sandler movie since he became a blockbuster machine. Notice that the average box office is surpassing 250 million--some of it is a testament to inflation, but it's also because there would be handful of 300 million grossers in any given year.

2005

The Incredibles
Kill Bill: Volume 2
Napoleon Dynamite
Ray
Spider-Man 2

Average Box Office: 163 Million
Average Tomatometer: 85%

Snubs: Anchorman, The Notebook, and Mean Girls weren't huge blockbusters when they came out, but all three are also considered huge, career making touchstones. Anchorman and Mean Girls are probably the most quoted movies of the 2000's, and The Notebook is, for better or worse, the standard for millennial date movies. It seems strange all three would be locked out, considering this wasn't a blockbuster heavy lineup.

The Incredibles would be the second, and last Pixar move to be nominated here. This was the peak of Pixar's heat as a standard of quality and box office clout. Cars would be the next movie to be released, and that probably dinged Pixar's street cred in no small part. They would have successful, and acclaimed movies after this, but this probably where intense anticipation for their releases crested. Ray seems like an odd choice, as it was only a moderate hit, and it was considered decent, but standard biopic fare, and it's not like Ray Charles would have some end-of-life MTV relevance like Johnny Cash did. Perhaps once, again, this was MTV's African American contingent clinging to something in the medium that seemed to abandon them. The big story this year, however, was Napoleon Dynamite. One of the smaller movies to be nominated, and weirder, it was also released by MTV Pictures, and released by the Viacom family. It's nice to have independent cinema, but for those who take this seriously (which is, you know, almost nobody) this smacked of corporate synergy.

2006

40 Year Old Virgin
Batman Begins
King Kong
Sin City
Wedding Crashers

Average Box Office: 163 million
Average Tomatometer: 81%

Snubs: Brokeback Mountain seems odd, considering its cast was in the demographic sweet spot, and that MTV will gravitate towards Oscar movies with contemporary social issues and a bit of controversy. Likewise, after nominating musical biopics, Walk the Line also got shut out. Perhaps MTV was not receptive to a country western setting.

This would be the first time in the history of the MTV Awards that no Best Picture nominee from the Oscars carried over here. This would also be the first time in six years that no sequels were nominated. (Although two fall under the category of "reboot"/"remake") Over at the Oscars, this would be the first time since the 80's no nominee had made over 100 million. On the box office side, the years was a downturn in attendance, halting a commercial winning streak Hollywood had been on. As a result, this was a very weird year. This lineup is actually, on average, one of the more critically acclaimed, but in a lot ways, be it the start of Nolan's legendary Batman trilogy, the technical aspects of Sin City, or Judd Apatow's rise as a comedy godfather, this collection of movies is more notable for what they led to than what they were.

2007

300
Borat
Blades of Glory
Little Miss Sunshine
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Average Box Office: 187
Average Tomatometer: 73

Snubs: The Departed. At this point, Leonardo DiCapro had not had one of movies nominated for almost a decade. Not surprising, once the audience outgrows you, they outgrow you. But it was still a popular, acclaimed movie with an all-star cast. It probably wouldn't seem so strange if not for Little Miss Sunshine, which seemed to represent the Oscar set, and that 2006 wasn't bursting at the seam with choices.

Having a movie from spring instead of the previous year was now pretty common, but this year, there were two, which I think says a lot about how dire Hollywood's 2006 output was. The second Pirates of the Caribbean was the summer movie, kind of by default, and it would be the worst-reviewed winner here so far. Note that four of these five movies are comedies, and the jury is out on 300 . Blades of Glory would be Will Ferrell's sole Best Movie nom, and it's something of an odd-choice--it's considered decent Will Ferrell in Will Ferrell mode, but it's much more forgotten than his collaborations with Adam McKay. Talladega Nights was a much bigger hit, but MTV seems to stay away from Middle American aesthetic when possible.

2008

I Am Legend
Juno
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Superbad
Transformers

Average Box Office: 227 million
Average Tomatometer: 64%

Snubs: Historically, the MTV Awards tend not to nominate movies that were sequels, when their predecessors were also not nominated. So one would normally not expect Bourne Ultimatum to make it in. However, considering it was lauded as an achievement in not having a terrible third movie, how the series represented the "new school" of action movies, and that they got on the National Treasure train of all things, its miss here is quite glaring.

Twilight is talked about as the "dark age" for the MTV Awards, but this lineup is the critical nadir, with the only the one-two punch from Michael Cera keeping this assortment afloat. Say what you will about Twilight films, they were a genuine cultural phenomenon, with a young cast. National Treasure 2 and I Am Legend were almost forgotten as soon as they left theaters, and it's not like either were so good that one would say "This year was truly a six movie banner year!". Likewise, as much as people talk about the Twilight steamroller, before that, Pirates of the Caribbean franchise was getting a bit of a free ride here. There's also some belief that Transformers won on the strength of being part of the Viacom arm (it won "best move you haven't seen yet" the year before) The ceremony, such as it was, became a promotional tool, and was outright blatant about it at this point. It's very funny, because 2007 is widely talked about as a great year for cinema, but for popcorn flicks, film culture was never more galvanized.

2009

The Dark Knight
High School Musical 3: Senior Year
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
Twilight

Average Box Office: 254 million
Average Tomatometer Score: 78%

Snubs: Wanted might have been a good chance to Angelina Jolie a movie here, (She is probably the biggest star to have a movie that's neither been nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars or in this category) and it might have been an interesting bit of a meta to nominate Tropic Thunder.

And here we are, the first Twilight movie nominated. It was somewhat under the radar , but once it won, it became a lightning rod for backlash (particularly from fans of The Dark Knight). For the next few years, Twilight, and MTV's relationship with it would be a bit of a punching bag. Corporate synergy? Pandering to a crowd who would tune in to see Pattinson and Stewart collect "Best Kiss" (perhaps the most famous of MTV's categories). In any case, "Young Adult" movies would dominate the awards from her on out, even while also gravitating towards prestige fare again. (Slumdog Millionaire would be the First Best picture winner in five years to even be nominated) What's overshadowed is High School Musical 3, another teen phenomenon, and one that originated from The Disney Channel. In other news, for the first time we see two superhero movies nominated in the same year, though they're both pretty logical choices, and perhaps the two movies best loved by people not normally into superhero movies. By the way, with Iron Man, this would mark Gwyneth Paltrow's third movie, the most for any female movie star until the 2010's came along. For someone with a reputation for being out of touch, Paltrow does have a knack for choosing populist projects every now and again.

2010

Alice in Wonderland
Avatar
The Hangover
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Twilight: New Moon

Average Box Office: 391 million
Average Tomatometer: 65%

Snubs: Inglourious Basterds, considering Tarantino is a reasonably popular director here, and that movie cemented him as just not a cult figure, but one of prominents. One might also say Star Trek missed out, as it was one of those "refreshing, brisk" blockbusters like Pirates and Iron Man. It seems Batman aside, the MTV crowd tended not to give the top prizes for reboots. Precious was also a reasonably iconic movie with an urban bent, but alas, the Johnny Depp movie was too fresh in viewers' minds.

This is the first Harry Potter movie to be nominated, after seeing the previous five fail to make the cut. It may be possible that the ostensible target audience finally grew up to MTV age, or the stars were grown up and now palatable sex symbols. Perhaps with Twilight becoming the Yankees of MTV Awards, its rival franchise needed to be the Red Sox. In any case, Harry Potter would finally and permanently become a fixture here for the rest of its duration. After a spike from last year, the average reviews for the movie drops ten percent. Twilight didn't help, but perhaps it was Johnny Depp holding this thing back, not the Cullens?

2011

Black Swan
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Inception
The Social Network
Twilight: Eclipse

Average Box Office: 217 million
Average Tomatometer Score: 79

Snubs: We've been over this, but it looks like Toy Story still never gets any love. At this point, CGI animated films haven't appeared in this pedigree for some six years.

For the first time since 2000, three movies that were nominated for best picture were nominated here. Just the year before, the field was expanded to ten nominees, and that had to help, but Black Swan, Social Network and Inception were all considered legitimate Best Picture possibilities. It seems our long national nightmare of serious movies not having commercial appeal was now over. The YA craze was in full force, however, making an interesting juxtaposition.

2012

Bridesmaids
The Hunger Games
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II
The Help
Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1

Average Box Office: 281 million
Average Tomatometer: 74%

Snubs: The Planet of the Apes was another successful reboot, but we've been down this route before. Thor and Captain America were both very successful and well received, but comic books movies need to have a real event status to get in. Otherwise, no huge snubs. The Oscars were a little less commercial, and there weren't a lot of runaway his on the blockbuster side.

Now we're at peak Young Adult, with the three big franchises all competing with each other, as Harry Potter, Twilight, and The Hunger Games are all at the same table. You have no idea what a historic moment this is. Twilight would win, of course, but The Hunger Games was definitely breathing down its neck. A somewhat odd choice is The Help--Oscar fare is not unwelcome here, but it's usually edgier stuff. Maybe it was because it was originally a vehicle for Emma Stone, who was briefly Jennifer Lawrence before Jennifer Lawrence. That, or the fecal pastry wouldn't be completely out of place in the raunchy comedies that routinely make it here. On that note, with Bridesmaids, we would see four movies starring women. Not to mention many Hermione is sometimes considered the real hero of the Harry Potter saga, making this a very estrogen-driven slate.

2013

The Avengers
The Dark Knight Rises
Django Unchained
Silver Linings Playbook
Ted

Average Box Office: 316 million
Average Tomatometer: 85%

Snubs: Nothing particularly glaring--21 Jump Street, Argo, Skyfall and Les Miserables all could have been nominated, but none of them broke too much precedent being left out. Magic Mike maybe, (Channing Tatum is a darling of the current generation), although for all the movie's buzz, people who watch it find it to be kind of low key and somewhat depressing. Oh, there was one major snub, one that actually made the press.

After completely dominating the MTV Movie Awards where they almost existed merely as a victory lap for the Twilight franchise, the final chapter in "The Saga" was left out. It's hard to argue with the movies that made it in. But why the shut-out now, at the moment its grand finale? Perhaps with the Hunger Games coming along, Twilight felt like yesterday's news. It's possible that with Kristen Stewart making headlines with her personal life, and the split with Robert Pattinson, (which had been a large part of the media cycles to promote the films) fans were soured on the series. We don't know how exactly the nomination process works, but MTV might have scuttled it aside, knowing it wasn't going to be a cash cow, that its stars would not feel obligated to show up, meanwhile more fecund (and less press-averse) stars of new hotness like The Hunger Games and Avengers were in tow. Anyways, it's another rather typical lineup--the year's biggest hit, the youth-fronted prestige movie, the raunchy comedy. Avengers would be the first comic book movie to win the top prize, and would be short respite from the YA genre dominating.

2014

12 Years a Slave
American Hustle
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Wolf of Wall Street

Average Box Office: 200 million
Average Tomatometer: 85%

Snubs: Definitely Gravity. In fact, I would consider this one of the most shocking omissions in the award's history. With all the Oscar movies they did pick, it seems strange they missed on the most commercial, special-effects intensive one. Is George Clooney poison for this sort of award? Picking too many Oscar movies would make them feel like they were putting on airs? Perhaps the younger audience didn't care for the minimalist story structure. (Compared to the sprawling casts of the other films) One can make the argument that Frozen was overlooked--it was a kid's movie, but one with a very undeniable cultural penetration.

For the first time in twenty years, no summer movie was even nominated (And neither are the two alternates I suggest). 12 Years a Slave was particularly surprising to people, as it's considered one of the best movies that's the least entertaining to watch. However, it does harken back to the early days of MTV Awards, where they gravitated towards this kind of fare, and the movie's unrelenting nature probably gave it "badass" cred. Wolf of Wall Street also seems like interesting subject matter, but it is a raunchy comedy, just one that happened to be directed by Martin Scorsese This also marks Leonardo DiCaprio's fifth move to get nominated here, pretty much a record for any actor without having to reprise his or her role. (Orlando Bloom has been in eight, but it's a lot of sequels and smaller parts) It's very interesting that after largely sitting out on the 2000's, DiCaprio has made it back in a big way. I don't know if it's because Titanic's popularity with young girls is evergreen, or DiCaprio has become something of a latter day Tom Hanks--not a heatthrob per se, but somebody audiences trust with their dollar. American Hustle shows just how much Jennifer Lawrence is the darling of her generation--almost every movie of her's post X-Men has been nominated here. The weirdest nomination is Smaug, considering the first Hobbit movie was skipped over, and it actually made less than Gravity. However, back in the day, the Lord of the Rings movies were pretty huge with this crowd back in the day, and as Smaug is considered the best move in this trilogy, it was the only chance to throw it a bone.

2015

American Sniper
Boyhood
The Fault in Our Stars
Gone Girl
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
Selma
Whiplash

Average Box Office: 174 million
Average Tomatometer: 86%

Snubs: Perhaps X-Men: Days of the Future Past, due to it being considered the best in the series, and the presence of JLaw, but it is an aging franchise, and with another Jennifer Lawrence dystopia AND another Marvel comics movie in the mix, it's hard to keep up. 2014 in general was considered an above average year for blockbuster-type movies, with Interstellar, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and Edge of Tomorrow, but believe it or not, "solid blockbuster" isn't always enough.

It looks like the MTV Awards finally expanded its field in the wake of the Academy's. It's something of a game to play "What the real five best picture nominees are" with the Oscars, so what would it look like here? I would be confident in Guardians, American Sniper, and seeing how it won, Fault in Our Stars. It's also very likely the newest Hunger Games movie would make it in. So what's the fifth? Gone Girl was a big hit, but adult thrillers aren't usually popular here. Whiplash is the lowest grossing picture in this category, even taking inflation into account. Boyhood was an Oscar frontrunner for a while, but it didn't even win. I would go with Selma, pretty much on the basis of African American period pieces often having a place at the MTV Awards. Because it they let three whole indies in, and because 2014 was a box office down year, it had the lowest overall box office average since the 90's, but it also had the highest critical average since the 90's.  For all we make fun of youths and their love of novels about sad teens with powers, young people are actually quite capable of recognizing quality, and don't always fall for the hype machine as we assume. It's not certain how much the MTV Movie Awards will go on, but for all the jokes about kisses and shirtless scenes, it's a pretty savvy crowd. Except for the later half of the 2000's. Man, that nostalgia revival is going to be tough to deal with.

think of something honest

so lazy

Oscars

Pronto

Holiday Heiarchy

It's December first, and so it's now time for people to put up their Christmas decorations and radio stations to play their Christmas songs--if they haven't already. It seems people start getting the Christmas stuff out earlier and earlier, with Halloween (sometimes) serving as the ultimate bastion. It seems some holidays just have more clout than others. Why is that? Which Holidays are considered big stars, and which seem to come and go?

Christmas

Obviously the biggest holiday. Pretty much the standard for holidays, Christmas is a maybe a fifth season. It's a little like the New York Yankees or McDonald's where it's the undisputed juggernaut, and at times rather resented for it. It's not hard to see how it became the king of the holiday kingdom. First, when someone got the bright idea to make it officially about gift-giving, people started looking forward to it. When it became about kids receiving bounty, people started to look forward to it in its formative years, and advertisers saw no reason why they couldn't whet children's appetites for more stuff. Then there's the part where, as the days grow shorter and colder, we sort of need something cheerful to remind of us of it. It's no mistake that December celebrations are pretty common throughout most pre-Christian western cultures. Another thing that prolongs the whole Christmas celebration is that even within Christian denominations, people can't decide which part of the season they want to emphasize--the feast of St. Nicholas? The Epiphany? So when people say the catch-all "Happy Holidays", they're not trying to strangle the baby Jesus in his cradle, there's simply a lot of days to include, even for gentiles.

Christmas itself is mega-iconic, even ubiquitous, in American popular culture. Santa Claus is maybe the most important figure of modern folklore. Halloween and Valentine's Day have copacetic genres, but Christmas is a genre. Christmas Specials have taken on a life of it's own, as Rudolph and teh Grinch are pop culture icons, and Charlie Brown has a life of his own outside the season, but his Christmas specials is one of the most remembered pieces of the 20th century. Christmas movies can be extremely popular--two of the top ten AFI movies are holiday classics, and stars like Jim Carrey and Will Ferrell have seen Christmastime movies as the biggest of their careers. Likewise, the ancillary markets can be rich as well, as TV stations and stores will constantly have it stuck in rotation, giving new life to often-forgotten works like Year Without a Santa Claus. Even the resentment for Christmas due to perceived issues like commercialism, sentiment, hypocrisy, (as in "Why can't good will be a year-round thing?") or where you stand on the religious-vs-secular divide--that itself has a market. Anti-Christmas works like Bad Santa and various horror (usually about a killer in a Santa Suit) have been lucrative. It's also sometimes in the background for movies like Die Hard and the works of Tim Burton and Shane Black--not as an indictment, but to contrast the Yuletide with some dark and lurid story elements--like a tonal sweet and sour chicken.

New Years
Kind of part of the Christmas sphere of influence (Most people have their decorations up at this point), it does have a little bit of its own identity, as something a little sexier and more adult than Christmas. (Actually, in may ways, embodying the decadent parts of Christmas that ended up getting it banned by Puritans) It has its own patron, (Baby New Year) and traditions, (resolutions, making out) it ultimately serves as the official end to the Holiday season as well as the year itself. kids go back to school, and movie studios cut back on their event movies. It has been the subject of a horror film here and there, especially around 2000, when people were existentially afraid of the coming Y2K-pocalypse.

Valentine's Day
The beginning of the second wave of "second stringer" spring Holidays. Valentine's Day doesn't get the day off, and people generally don't have Valentine's Day parties or Valentine's Day family gathering. Still, it's up there as culturally significant. Probably because it's pretty easy to put together. A heart here, and borrowing Cupid for its patron, and it's all set. It helps that romance is a pretty universal concept, and it's not a hard idea to get across. Almost every TV series (particularly sitcoms) has at least one episode dedicated to it, and while not that many movies take place on the holiday itself, it's a very popular time for releasing romantic "date movies", especially because a lot of romantic comedies and the like can be cheap to make. (Which is important during the winter months, which are some of the slowest of the year) It even has an "official" movie, Valentine's Day, which kind of became shorthand for the "ensemble romantic comedy with a holiday theme", as it's by far the most successful. (But came well after Love Actually) Also, there's an interesting trend where trading card companies put pout packs of rather cheap cards with cartoon characters to exchange at school. Valentine's Day is probably up there in terms of backlash as well, as the commodification of romance gets it the biggest criticisms of being a "Hallmark Holiday". Likewise, being single is enough of a slog without being made to feel like you're not contributing to the economy because of it. It has a few interesting achievements in the holiday slasher subgenre--the original My Bloody Valentine is considered a lost classic, and 2001's Valentine has the dubious distinction of ending the Scream era.

St Patrick's Day
Right now the biggest holiday tied to an ethnicity, (though Cinco De Mayo is getting up there), St Patrick's Day is tied in with America's fascination with Irish culture (and drinking), as "Irish" is the second most common ethnicity in the U.S.'s collective ancestry. As a result, there are parades in areas with a high Irish American population. In many ways, it's a true-second (or third) tier holiday, as its mascot is usually a no-name leprechaun, and should Easter fall in March, it's not even the most important holiday of the year. Many people from Ireland also tend to find it an aggravating exploitation of stereotypes. Leprechauns themselves are a popular subject for movies and TV (the Leprechaun series of horror movies for instance), but very few take place on St Patrick's Day in particular.

How Far Into the Marvel Universe?

With Guardians

Anglophelia, Magic Teenagers and SWORDS, the Sphere of Literary Blockbusters.

The Maze Runner is opening this weekend, and it's the lastest hopeful in adaptation of films known as "Young Adult". "Young Adult" is hard to define, because it's not really a genre, it's a demographic. Likewise, it's almost intergenarational one. It's considered different from fantasy adaptations, except when it's not. Comic book adaptations are not considered YA, even though, narratively, there's very little difference between say, Spider-Man and Twilight. Also, isn't it funny that so many YA movies are skewing dystopias, when they uses to be about vampires. And before they were about wizards? Wait, except, Harry Potter wasn't really considered YA per se...they were children's books which the fanbase grew up with. Or, they were classified with Lord of the Rings as fantasy. Although those were considered epic. Are they fairy tales? Why is Harry Potter not considered a fairy tale, but Alice in Wonderland is? Basically, it's an entire multitude of genres that meet, combine, and spin-off. I'm going to look at historical epics, fantasy adaptations, "young adult" adaptations, and takes on fairy tales over the last twenty years, and how they cross-pollinated and evolved.




1994

Sam Raimi produces a series of TV movies based on the adventures of Hercules, starring Kevin Sorbo. They're popular enough to warrant a series, and the series is popular enough to warrant a spinoff, Xena: Warrior Princess. The shows are shot in New Zealand, and draws from that talent pool. Soon, the Southern Anglosphere will become one of the hottest sources of discovering talent. The 90's would also become rife with syndicated adventure shows, particularly fantasy ones, but they will die at as cable channels start to produce their own content, and stations prefer to syndicate much cheaper material.

1995

Mel Gibson's Braveheart, which is is the first high profile medieval times movie since 1991's Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. It accentuates freedom, and a revenge story, perhaps as an enticement to American audiences. While a moderate box-office success, it goes on to win Best Picture, at the Academy Awards. While historical movies have won Oscars before, this is the furthest back in time the Academy has gone to award a movie since Ben Hur in 1960.

1996

Dragonheart is a European style fantasy film about a disgraced knight (Dennis Quaid), joining forces with a dragon to overthrow an evil prince. The movie is not a huge success, but is considered an impressive display of special effects. Dennis Quaid does not use an English accent.

1997

Buffy The Vampire Slayer hits the airwaves. The creation of Joss Whedon, who originally pitched it as a movie which would reverse the "damsel in distress" tropes found in horror movies. By this point, Scream had come out, and horror films would have a self-aware style for the next few years. It would also become popular to poach stars from teen shows on Fox and the WB for their horror pictures, including Buffy's star Sarah Michele Gellar. The shows soon moves away from horror specifically, and starts to gravitate towards Urban Fantasy. Vampires would run detective agencies and battle demonic law firms. Teenagers would learn magic, and use it to solve relationship problems. However, despite the very strong fanbase and acclaim Buffy the Vampire Slayer would receive, it would not be a sizable mainstream hit. As soon as youth-oriented slashers died out, teen movies would go through other trends, like Shakepeare updates, dance competitions, and even parodies of popular teen genres. However, teenagers fighting the forces of evil would not catch on for quite some time.

Titanic is released--the movie falls under many genre classifications--disaster, romance, historical epic. It's considered a big, effects-intensive movie, with historical weight behind it. Despite the not-so-modern subject matter, Leonardo DiCaprio becomes intensely popular with young women. DiCaprio had recently done an update on William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the iconic story about star-crossed young lovers. English actress Kate Winslet, who first came to known through Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures, fakes an American accent.

1998

Drew Barrymore stars in Ever After: A Cinderella Story. It's a live action, somewhat feminist, "realistic" take on Cinderella fairy tale. It's not the first live action adaptation of a fairy tale, nor the first to "demythify" folklore, (It's been done with King Arthur foreeeever) it's able to take subject matter out of the "kiddie" zone, and make it a viable trip to the theater for a generation of young women. Kate Winslet's Heavenly Creatures co-star Melanie Lynskey, has a small part. which shows how fickle career trajectories can be. Everyone adopts an English accent, to varying results.

2000 

Gladiator is released. The movie is directed by Ridley Scott, and stars Russel Crowe, who was born in New Zealand, but got his start in the Australian film industry. Like Braveheart, it tries to relate to American audiences by giving the main character a revenge arc, and emphasizes the displacement of a tyrant. Like, Braveheart, it would also win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. However, Gladiator is a much bigger commercial success. Because the historical epic, especially the swords and sandals epic, was so popular in old school Hollywood, producers start looking to capitalize on Gladiator's success. It can makes them some bucks, and maybe even nab a little bit of prestige whole they're at it.


The Patriot is released. It's another revenge-themed, historical epic about revenge and freedom once again starring Mel Gibson. (And in tow, rising young Australian actor, Heath Ledger, who got attention for 10 Things I Hate About You, an update on William Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew") However, this time, the action takes place in the post-gunpowder era, on the American continent. It manages to earn more than Braveheart, but much less than Gladiator, and receives much less awards attention than either.

New Line releases Dungeons and Dragons, which is both a huge critical and commercial failure. Of the core cast, only Jeremy Irons is a Brit. Everybody speaks with American accents, except for Irons, and, in a small role, former Doctor Who star Tom Baker.

2001 

A Knight's Tale is released, starring Heath Ledger. It uses a medieval setting to put on a new spin on sports movie tropes. The movie opens decently, but never makes a permanent mark, despite a high concept young adult setting, and a star that would become iconic, and lots of swordfighting--lots of things would characterize the new millennium in film.

Shrek, opens. The movie operates as something like a counter to the typical Disney fairy tale. While not under the radar, it wasn't expected to dominate the summer box office like it did. Possessing an American cast, it's often not compared to other fantasy movies, but rather snarky CGI animations, it is worth noting it would cement the top three movies of 2001 at the U.S. box office having European fantasy literature as its subject.

Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone comes out. It breaks box office records, and gets good reviews, although some complain the movie plays it safe as not to alienate the fans and family audience. Although directed by an American, author J.K. Rowling manages to veto the casting of any American actors. (The series soon becomes a who's who of Brits) It plays out at close to three hours--quite long for a children's film, but it doesn't seem to hurt the popularity of the film at all. The film takes place in contemporary times, (give or take a few years) but the director Chris Columbus gives it a softly retro, timeless feel.

A month later, that other highly anticipated adaptation of a fantasy series comes out, Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring. It is slightly less successful than Harry Potter, but more strongly received critically, and even earns an Oscar nomination for best picture. The movie takes place in a mythical realm called Middle Earth, (considered to be a pre-Europe) and is shot in New Zealand. The cast is largely international, although the amongst the bigger stars, it has a slight American plurality. Elijah Wood, Liv Tyler, and Sean Astin all portray English-sounding accents for their role. Wood was never a teen heartthrob, but he is very young. A lot kudos also goes to the WETA workshop, and its chief, Richard Taylor. The company produces makeup, weapons, costumes, and CGI, and completely revolutionizes the visual language of blockbusters, at least those taking place in a time long ago or far away.

The movies are very different in tone, but there are a few aesthetic similarities. Both have grey-bearded wizard mentors, (common throughout the genre), Gandalf and Dumbledore. Thier actors, Ian McKellen and Richard Harris, respectively, take shots at one another in the press. Both have show-stopping sequences in the middle where our heroes have to take on a giant, CGI-troll. Both have have black hooded, skulking antagonists. As a result, many parodies at the time conflate the two works. However, "Lord of the Rings" has the image of skewing older than Harry Potter.

2002

Harry Potter has its sequel, Chamber of Secrets, and Lord of the Rings has its sequel, The Two Towers. Both a very successful, and considered improvements on their predecessors. Both have CGI-generated characters who speak in weird vernacular and act as servants/nuisances to our heroes. (Dobby and Gollum, respectively) However, Chamber of Secrets makes less than Sorceror's Stone, while Two Towers made more than Fellowship. In fact, Two Towers made more than Attack of the Clones, the latest Star Wars movie. All three of the Lord of the Rings movies were shot simultaneously, while the Harry Potter crew shoots movie to movie. Because of intensity of the schedule, Columbus bows out of directing, and it's decided the movies will come out roughly every 18 months, as opposed to every year.


2003

Pirates of the Caribbean, based on the the Disney theme park ride, is released. People are surprised just how much they like it, owing much to the electric, eccentric performance of its star, Johnny Depp. Depp is American but much of the principal cast is English, including Keira Knightly, Geoffery Rush, and Orlando Bloom. Bloom first came to attention as Legolas in Lord of the Rings, and is something a teen heartthrob, an Errol Flynn for the millenial generation, and Pirates is his second mega-blockbuster in less than a year. The film even manages to make more than the highly anticpated sequel to the futuristic Matrix. Pirates, like Gladiator before it, becomes credited for reviving what was thought to be a dead, old-fashioned genre. Once again, While Depp earns an Oscar nomination for his performance (very rare for a fantasy film!), it doesn't get a best picture nominations, as the deck is stacked with these kinds of films.

Underworld comes out. Starring Kate Beckinsale, it features a female vampire and male werewolf as star-crossed lovers. While movies have featured both vampires or werewolves as (often-doomed) protagonists, this the first movie where all the main characters are. The movies take place in the present day, but have a gothic, old world aesthetic. It's believed the movie is a blatant rip-off of the role playing game, Vampire: The Masquerade, and the company sues. Underworld manages to spawn three sequels.

Master and Commander, The Far Side of the World the first of three historical epics is released. Starring Russel Crowe, and A Knight's Tale's Paul Bettany, is an adaptation of a series of novels about naval warfare during the time of Napoleon. It makes roughly half of what Gladiator did, but the reviews are enough to secure it a nomination for best picture.

The Last Samurai, where Tom Cruise finds himself in Japan as its moves away from Feudalism, is the most recent of all the year's epics, but manages to evoke a sense of an older time, with much of the sword-fighting and armor. The movie does alright at the box office, (and much better overseas) but gets the least Academy recognition.

Cold Mountain, is a Civil War epic, and its American subject matter makes its overseas box-office much softer. Its gets a few Academy Award nominations, but it fails to get Best Picture, despite being the horse of Oscar perennial Mirimax. In fact, this the first time Mirimax has failed to get a nomination for Best Picture since 1992.

Return of the King, is the final installment in the Lord of the Rings saga, however, does quite well at the Oscars, managing a sweep of eleven awards to eleven nominations. It also manages, after Titanic, to become the second movie, after Titanic, to make a billion dollars at the worldwide box office. While superheroes are a growing genre in the US, they do moderate business overseas compared to  films that resemble Lord of the Rings. Already, there is talk of bringing The Hobbit to the screen, but studio New Line doesn't have the rights, MGM does.

 2004

Anne Hathaway, who broke out due to 2001's Ella Enchanted, a film that's both a modern day take on fairy tales and yet...not. The best way to describe it is as sort of a live-action Shrek. The movie is released by Mirimax, leading some to ask if this is what Lord of the Rings would look like under their influence. Interestingly, it does take the Lord of the Rings/Dungeons and Dragons approach to non-human races, which used to be a lot more...disorganized. Whether it's a musical or not is debatable--it possesses a few musical numbers, but it seems after Shrek, fantasy and musicals had a bad break-up, and Ella Enchanted serves as one last roll in the hay before fantasy takes its things and goes. Anne Hathway is the only one who doesn't speak in an English accent.

HBO airs Deadwood. The show is an especially dark and gritty look at the old west. While Westerns are usually not considered part of the historical epic genre, this is something of a breakthrough for cable TV. Most of HBO's shows have been contemporary. Deadwood doesn't last long despite its acclaim, but the channel starts opening itself up to suggestions on how best to pervert the costume drama. Also, it raises the profile of Ian McShane, who possesses a lot of gravitas, but because Deadwood wasn't huge, isn't very expensive.


Mel Gibson gives the world his controversial Passion of the Christ. The movie is not picked up by any major studio, due to its being spoken in Aramaic, its onscreen brutality, and concerns of the movie's anti-Semitic bent. Despite the blood and controversy, or because of it, the movies becomes a huge smash. Christians book entire showings. Conservatives rally around Gibson in an election year. The film becomes the highest-grossing foreign-language film ever.

Troy is released. Based on the myth of the Trojan War, Troy scales back a lot of the mythical elements for a straight historical documentation on figures who may or may not have existed. Brad Pitt stars as Achilles, and does vaguely old-theatrical, if not British accent. The movie also stars Orlando Bloom as Paris, and Australian Eric Bana as Hector. (Also in a small role is Lord of the Rings star Sean Bean) One of the new stars is Australian Rose Byrne, who would go on o find her place in Hollywood in raunchy comedies, of all things. The movie opens very strong, but due to a crowded May, dissipates very quickly. It's no Gladiator, although, at 130 million dollars at home, and 400 million worldwide, it would be the most successful movie to try and follow in Gladiator's footsteps of the early 2000's.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the installment in the boy wizard's adventures. The series tries out the summer. A new director is brought on board, Mexican Alfonso Curaon. Many changes are made to the aesthetic. Instead of glossy style straight of of Dickens, the movie has a dark, expressionist pallor. The kids no longer wear semi-formal clothes fit for family dinners, but hoodies and jackets. The humor is generally more modern, and the music less whimsical. It gets some of the best reviews yet, but the movie still sees diminishing returns at the box office. Interestingly, it's also the third movie in less than a year to feature a werewolf as a central character.

Jerry Bruckheimer makes his summer play with King Arthur. Curiously, it takes the legend of King Arthur and put it around the time of the decline of the Roman Empire. Like Troy, it tries to take mythological figures and place them in a historical context. Like Gladiator and Braveheart, it tries present its objectives as intelligible with modern day democracy.  None of its cast is American. Originally imagined as R-Rated, cuts are made to draw fans of last summer's Pirates of the Caribbean, which also presented Keira Knightley as a spunk heroine. However, all these attempts at splitting the difference seems to hurt the movie. Critics are not impressed, and the movie outright tanks, although it makes decent money overseas.

Alexander, Oliver Stone's long-boiling passion project of Alexander the Great, is released, boasting an all-star cast. However, of all the the historical epics released this year, Alexander is by far the worst commercial performer of all of Hollywood's trips through antiquity this year. The Greeks speak with an English accent, the Macedonians speak with an Irish accent, and foreigners like Angelina Jolie speak in Count Choculese.

2005

The summer of 2005 opens with King of Heaven, helmed by Gladiator director Ridley Scott. After playing second fiddle through most of the millennium's epics, Orlando Bloom is put front and center. The studio puts it in Gladiator's release date. However, rather than the usual narrative of "FREEDOM", the film looks at the Crusades, and compares it to the conflict in the Middle East, with a critical eye towards the west. Also, the film has been heavily cut to increase more theater showings, and critics are not impressed. (The longer cut on DVD is much better received) The movie fizzles, and manages to make less than indie movie, and eventual best picture winner, Crash. The rest of the summer now has to play catch-up at the box-office, and is plagued by talks of a "slump".

HBO tries it again with Rome, which is a BBC production, that combines historical class and modern epithets. It's a co-production with the BBC, but it still manages to be too expensive. Premium cable is definitely attracting an audience with their new spin on classic genres, but they have to work out the financial kinks.

The studio moves Harry Potter back to the Holiday season with Goblet of Fire, which finally manages to reverse the decline of the franchise, and it becomes the second highest grossing movie of the series so far. It's not quite as moody and eccentric as Prisoner of Azkaban, but not quite as family friendly as the first two movies, with its first PG-13 rating. In fact, teenage issues are now coming more into the forefront, with the characters experiencing romance and mortality. It also boasts an early appearance by Robert Pattinson. Also, manages to fit in a Doctor Who, David Tennant.

Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe comes out. It's directed by Shrek's Andrew Adamson, and produced by Walden Media, although Disney distributes it. Like Potter, the main characters are all children, and thus, largely unknowns. The biggest names are Tida Swinton as the eponymous Witch, and Liam Neeson, as the voice of the eponymous Lion. (Neeson would play an angry father figure in every third movie of 2005, and would soon reinvent himself as Angry Dad) All the parties involved are hoping for a lucrative franchise, to fill the void left by Lord of the Rings, (Who's author. J.R.R. Tolkien, was friends with Narnia creator, C.S. Lewis) and the WETA worskshop works to bring Narnia to life as it did with Middle Earth. Although it skew younger than Rings, and even Potter's, the movie boasts large epic battles with mythical creatures. It also courts the Christian crowds which made The Passion such a hit. It pretty much works--although not quite as large as any Lord of the Rings movie, it's still the second highest grossing movie of the year--handily beating Jackson's own King Kong.

2006

Tristian and Isolde, a movie featuring more obscure characters from Athurian myth, is released. It's produced by Ridley Scott, who has been trying to make a movie based on the tale since the 70's. kind of hopes to be a bit of a Medieval Titanic, but the James Franco Sophia Myles movie never takes off. However, for such a cheap movie, it possesses the sumptuous Ridley Scott look, and also boasts future fixtures of the genre, Henry Cavill and Mark Strong.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is released, breaking box office records, and making more than first movie by a considerable amount. The CGI for Davey Jones is considered outstanding, but critics feel the movie felt rather overextended, considering the first movie was so popular because of its levity. The series starts to build more and more of a mythology, considering the first was more of a regular world strange things happened in. There would be two more Pirates movies, however Knightley and Bloom would only appear in the next, which was sot back-to-back with Dead Man's Chest.

Mel Gibson makes his follow-up to The Passion, the Mayan-set Apocalypto. Like The Passion, Apocalypto features a foreign language and a lot of blood, and it opens solidly, but nowhere near The Passion's level. This is perhaps due to it not attracting the Churchgoers, and Gibson's own bad publicity following a recent DUI arrest.

The Nativity is released during the Holiday season, hoping to be the beginning to Passion of the Christ's end. It's directed by Catherine Hardwicke, and presents a very young cast, including New Zealander Keisha Castle Hughes as Mary. The movie gets good reviews, and tries to attract the faith audiences, but it does not work as well as The Passion. The cast looks a lot different from many Nativity scenes, and it has neither Mel Gibson's name, nor the furor attached to bring it attention. Also, Hughes gets maybe too caught up in method acting, and has a child, which may have made Christian audiences nervous.

Eragon, based on the popular novels by Chris P comes out, once again, hoping for that Lord of the Rings audience. Its cast is mostly young, except for Gladiator's Djmoun Honsou and Jeremy Irons, but the movie itself is not received well. Fans of the book complain there are too many changes, and non-fans criticize it as a Star Wars rip-off, which is doubly damning as Star Wars is basically a futuristic version of heroic epics anyways.


2007

300 comes out. Directed by Zach Snyder and based on the comic by Frank Miller, 300 is a highly stylized take on the historical battle of Thermoplia. The movie is much less ambitious than a lot of recent movies of its pedigree, at least when it comes to going for prestige. The production is much cheaper, and the cast much less star-studded. (Although it included future names like Michael Fassbender and Lena Headley) Its main ambition is using CGI to depict a "backlot" feeling, as Sin City and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow did. It also goes back to the narrative of tyranny vs freedom. The film draws a lot of parallels to the war on terror, but parallels that are lot more flattering to the west than Kingdom of Heaven. Most of the cast speaks with an English accent, though Gerard Butler lets his Scottish brogue slip in. Xerxes sounds like a cross between Spanish and robot. The movie is huge smash, making more than even Gladiator, although it would not be an awards contender at all. However, its influence was very influential, as many historical programs would ape its style.

Walden released Bridge to Terebethia, a well-loved young adult novel. Trailers make it seem like another Narnia, but that is a simply a bait-and-switch, it is really quite faithful to its down-to-earth novel. It's one of Walden's more successful releases, and stars newcomer Josh Hutcherson. (Who would star in Walden's second biggest franchise, Journey to (Jules Verne wrote about it).

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix moves back to summer, but this time it isn't hurt. Many fans consider it the one Potter movie that's an improvement on the book, and it doesn't hurt that attention for the series is at an all-time high due to the final book being released. The film improves on Goblet of Fire's take.

An adaptation of Stardust is Neil Gaiman's Stardust hits theaters. It stars Claire Danes, newcomer Charlie Cox, Michelle Pfieffer, and a way-against type Robert DeNiro. It's a story of witches and pirates and true love, and the makers are hoping it can be The Princess Bride for a new generation. However, they forgot The Princess Bride wasn't a big hit when it came out.


Weinstein takes a stab at historical epics with The Last Legion, another movie that ties the the fall of the Roman Empire with Arthurian myth. It has Ben Kingsley as Merlin and quickly fades away.

New Line, the studio that made Lord of the Rings, tries its own hand at giving us a Lord of the Rings successor, with The Golden Compass, the first in a planned His Dark Materials trilogy. New Line's head of production is in a very public battle with Peter Jackson over Lord of the Rings finances, so he's hoping The Golden Compass will be big. It is not big. The series is something of an anti-Narnia, as the book's author, Phillip Pullman, is an avowed atheist, and the enemy of the series is an ersatz Catholic Church. It's not going to attract the family crowds. The movie is a big underperformer stateside, and what's worse, New Line played softball with overseas distributor. As a result, the studio sees little of the 300 million that was made overseas (The most for a film that failed to gross 100 million) and as a result, parent studio Warner Bros absorbs New Line, which ceases to exist as an independent distributor.

2008

The follow up to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is released. This Chapter in the Narnia Saga is Prince Caspian, and it is a much softer performer in the US, making half of Wardrobe did. It's considered quite perplexing, and many wonder how such a drop occurred. Several reasons are presented; The move to summer, the lack of appealing the faith crowd, the competition, or simply that people were more aware of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe as a standalone book as opposed to Narnia as a series. Disney opts out of distributing the Narnia films.

HBO airs True Blood, based on a series of novels called The Southern Vampire Mysteries, by Chairlene Harris. It Stars Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress with the ability to read minds. She soons falls in love with a vampire, Bill Compton, played by Stephe Moyer. (The two become a real life couple) It eventually throws a love triangle in...well, a love polygon of some sort, as it seems every supernatural being wants to bite of Sookie. The most popular paramour though, is Eric Northman, played by Alexander Skaarsgard. Eric possesses many of the qualities of a breakout anti-hero--fair, slick, snarky and brooding. Most of the cast is international, but speaks with a very hammy Southern accent. The series is HBO's biggest hit.

Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert create another syndicated show, Legend of the Seeker, based on Terry Goodkind's (Don't call them) fantasy novels, Sword of Truth. It's a natural fit, as Lord of the Rings, was shot in New Zealand like Raimi and Tapert's old shows were. The show is successful, especially worldwide, but the television mode has changed and you can't be a free agent, you need a patron.

 Delays keep the next Harry Potter movie from coming out in time for November, and an independent studio sees their chance. Summit greenlights a movie based on a series of popular novels, called Twilight. Directed by Nativity's Catherine Hardwicke, and starring Kristen Stewart and Harry Potter alum Robert Pattinson, the story is a romance novel with vampires, but a strangely bloodless one. Critics find it rote, feminists find it problematic, and horror fans find its bastardized, however teen girls eat it up, making it one of the biggest movies of the year, and stars out of its media-shy cast. Strangely, it's not subject to a lot of the religious controversies many supernatural franchisetargeting youths get, as Stephanie Meyer is a devout Mormon, and the series itself is almost a  treatise on abstinence.

2009

The CW, which is successor network to the WB channel, airs The Vampire Diaries, based on the series of popular books. Like Twilight, and True Blood, it features a mortal woman in love with a vampire, and also has the requisite love triangles. It soon becomes CW's most popular show, and eventually a spin-off is commissioned.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince enters theaters, to some of the most universally positive reviews, but also fan complaints. Nontheless, the series makes it past the 300 million mark again for the first time since the inaugural entry in 2001. Once again taking the fall spot, the sequel to Twilight, New Moon absolutely explodes, making almost as much as Half Blood Prince--quite a feat considering one is amongst the highest profile franchises and the other is a one-quadrant movie, and an independent production with a much smaller budget. "Team Jacob" vs "Team Edward" become part of the cultural lexicon. In fact, "Team ___" in general spreads out. Taylor Lautner becomes the requisite Twilight cast member who's happy to be there. By now, Harry Potter is no longer being compared to Lord of the Rings, but ~. The protagonists are now roughly the same age, and Potter is less about whimsy and discovery, and more about secrets and subterfuge and love triangles. It's moved away from "Children's Fantasy" into what is now widely "Young Adult", even though, as Harry Potter, it's its own entity.

After more than two decades, Disney tries their hand again at Fairy Tales, as well as revving old-school cel animation, with The Princess and the Frog. Altough based on one of Grimm's classics, the movie takes place in Louisiana, and much is made the main character of Tiana being Disney's first black princess. The movie manages to pass the 100 million mark, but it was not the renaissance they were hoping for. The studio will make sure their next fairy tale adaptations are CGI, and possessed of gender-neuteral adjectives.

2010

Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert once again return to TV (and New Zealand) with the series Spartacus, based on the historical figure, who became the subject the 1960 movie, which is considered a classic of the sword-and-sandals drama. It airs on Starz! and its more in the vein of blood and nudity watchers of cable have come to expect, and the influence of 300 is unmistakeable. Xena herself, Lucy Lawless, is part of the cast. The show is a success, considering Starz! is just starting out with original programming, but star Andy Whitfield is disagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, and while the production delays to accommodate his treatment, he eventually succumbs. Liam McIntyre replaces the titular role, and it lasts for two more seasons.

Percy Jackson and the Lighning Thief comes out. It's directed by Christopher Columbus, who was at the helm for the first Harry Potter. In fact, Percy Jackson is largely being pitched as "Harry Potter, but with Greek Gods". It's also here that the tropes of Young Adult fiction as films begins to crystallize for moviegoing audiences. The franchise-specific buzzwords, the refuges, that sort of thing. Percy Jackson may in fact be the first "Young Adult" movie that isn't considered as such retroactively.

Disney brings Johnny Depp and Tim Burton back together for Alice in Wonderland. This will officially be the first blockbuster to be based on popular fairy tales--usually one associated with Disney. (Though Alice's categorization of "fairy tale" is kind of nominal) It even has some Lord of the Rings style battles, even though the original Alice in Wonderland was more about math. It's a huge hit, and convinces studios they can get more money with 3D.

WB releases the remake of Clash of the Titans. Once again, another Aussie is brought in to sport some swords and sandals. The movie is a decent-sized hit, perhaps most helped by Liam Neeson, recently minted as an action star, playing Zeus and uttering the very-hard-to-apply-to-everyday-situations "Release the Kracken". It's also Gemma Arterton's first role as a lead, who studios are hoping is the new Keira Knightley (Now that Knightley has largely sworn off action movies) The movie seems to have been heavily edited, and critics complain the CGI post added to the movie is superfluous and actively hurts the viewing experience.

Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott reteam for Robin Hood, a character that has a great deal of cinematic popularity. The film co-stars Cate Blanchett and Mark Strong, who's become a popular villain in period pieces. Despite the potential for breakout as Robin Hood is known for fighting taxes, and 2010 is the year of the Tea Party, Ridley Scott uses it to take shots at the war on terror, and a lot of references to the Magna Carta. A great deal of audiences also feel like they've been bamboozled into watching a prequel.  Nontheless, it's both Crowe's and Scott's biggest earner in a long time.

The newest Twilight adaptation, Eclipse, comes out, and manages to pass the 300 million mark. Because of the low budget, the Twilight movies are able to cranked out at a much faster pace than the Harry Potter movies. A lot of  the attention also centers on the half-hidden romance between its two stars, Stewart and Pattinson.

The last adaptation of the Harry Potter series hits the screens, however the book, Deathly Hallows, is split in two, with the first part receiving some of the weakest reviews of the series, (but not still not too bad) as removing most of the climactic battles makes the viewing experience feel like a lot of wheel-spinning. In box office, it dips below Half Blood Prince, and is the first time a Harry Potter movie makes less than a Twilight movie in a head-to-head contest.

The first Narnia movie released under Fox comes out, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Released in the more familiar ground of December, and playing more on the Christian allegory, it doesn't hemorrhage its audience nearly as much as Prince Caspian, but is still only moderately a blockbuster. The series is now officially at the point where the next chapter, The Silver Chair, would not feature any human characters seen in Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Fox later announces it will make The Magician's Nephew, which features Tilda Swinton's character from the first movie, but as of this writing, no new developments are in place.

2011

From Focus, comes the Eagle. It's the second movie in a year to be about the Ninth Legion, and the fourth  movie in the past ten years to be about Rome's relationship with the British Isles. It's another UK film, although it cast American Channing Tatum as the lead Roman soldier. In fact, it seems to generally cast Americans as Romans, and Brits as natives.

Warner Bros released Red Riding Hood, which is the second of the fairy movies (and more squarely in the "fairy tale" categorization than Alice in Wonderland). It's directed by Twilight's Catherine Hardwicke, and is played less as a fantasy film for the family, than a sexy horror film with teen angst and love triangles. The wolf from the story is re-imagined as a werewolf, which would not be the first or last time in regards to the Red Riding Hood story. The cast is a mix of American and British, and they do whatever accents they feel like.

An film adapts the young adult novel Beastly, which is the story of Beauty and the Beast set in the modern day. The book was optioned to be a novel in record time, but the movie was delayed as other studios were thinking what they were thinking, and the studio wanted to give it berth. Even though it combines two things that would be very popular film trends--young adult romance in a supernatural setting, and an update on fairy tales, neither element helped it become a hit.

HBO airs Game of Thrones. Based on the popular fantasy series, "A Song of Ice and Fire". It contains the grandeur and imagination (and fanbase intensity!) of Lord of the Rings, with the lurid darkness found in the burgeoning genre of historical shows found on premium cable. The series is so expensive to produce, only ten episodes are made per season. The show stars Rings alum Sean Bean, who's character dies at the end of the first season, creating a maelstrom of water cooler talk. Soon, the show (like the books), becomes an addiction and social media sensation to see who's next to become the victim of the cruel climate of Westeros. Peter Dinklage is singled out as the standout of the show, and receives quite a few acting awards. Thrones eventually becomes one of HBO's most watched shows, and while the channel sin't able to charge for ad space, the cultural cachet it has certainly helps it attract subscribers.

Thor is released. It's based specifically on the Marvel comic, which draws a lot from Norse mythology, however it interprets Asgard and its inhabitants as aliens with sufficiently advanced technology, in attempt to better fit the series in with its Avengers franchise. It's directed by Kenneh Branaugh, as his numerous adaptations of Shakespeare are said to make him a good fit for the property. The cast is of multiple nationalities, (including Australian, Chris Hemworth, as the title character), but the Asgardians speak with an English accent. Tom Hiddleston, playing Loki, develops an online fanbase similar to Alan Rickman's Snape from Harry Potter. In fact, Thor and Loki are probably subject to the most fanfiction seen for a Marvel comics adaptation.

The Harry Potter series concludes with the second part of Deathly Hallows. It's well-received, and considered a fitting send-off to the series. It manages a series high of 381 million, in the neighborhood of other saga conclusions like Return of the King and Revenge of the Sith.

ABC airs Once Upon a Time, which is about classic fairy tale characters trapped in the Modern World. The set-up is much like ABC's own Lost, where they juxtapose a character's current struggles, with their fairy tale background, which is usually somewhat darker than the stories tell. As it's a Disney production, the characters usually use the names (and sometimes personas) of how they were under Disney interpretations. The characters dress like Lord of the Rings in the streets, and like Rogers and Hammerstein in the sheets. That is, they're made to look quite badass when fighting, but quite frilly when romancing. The show is very popular, and produces a short-lived spinoff.

Tarsem Singh's Immortals is released. It features a lot of the stylistic choices of 300. This explicitly features characters from Greek mythology, although as something of a mishmash, as it ties the myth of the Minotaur, with an apocalyptic schemes to release the Titans, something which becomes a fixture in many Greek mythology films. It co-stars Freido Pinto, the first non-white actress to be a lead in pretty much any of these movies listed. I'm unsure of the accents half the cast is going for.

Once again, the concluding chapter of a book series split in two, with Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part I. Once again, it seems chopping a story up and leaving on a cliffhanger cuts into business, as this is the first Twilight movie to see a decrease.

2012

The first of the year's two Snow White movies come out. Mirror Mirror is directed by Tarsem Singh, who made the Immortals, and although it's also a visually distinct movie, its tone is much lighter, and plays as a comedy. Despite this, it also follows the formula, more or less, of the newcomer playing the princess, and an established movie star playing the antagonist or mentor.

The Hunger Games is released. Yet another Young Adult literary sensation, The Hunger Games features a collection of very young protagonists, with a support staff of older, established actors. The two leads are Katniss, played by rising young newcomer, and already Oscar-nominated Jennifer Lawrence, and Josh Hutcherson, who has been something of a Walden Media repertory player. Like, Twilight, the Hunger Games is released by an independent studio, Lion's Gate. (Which would go on to buy Summit, and distribute the final Twilight) Unlike Twilight, or Harry Potter, its setting is more explicitly science fiction than fantasy or supernatural. It's released in the spring, believed to not stand a chance against the major blockbusters, but it turns out to be a tremendous hit, making more than any movie in the Harry Potter or Twilight series.

The follow-up to Clash of the Titans, Wrath of Titans, is released. Of the previous cast, only Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, and Ralph Fiennes return. It's yet another movie about releasing Titans laying waste to the Earth. (Which, to be fair, makes it the first movie in the franchise ato ctually justify the name) 3D premiums are down, and the reviews trash it, Wrath makes roughly half of what Clash did.

Thor and Loki and major part of 2012's biggest movie, The Avengers. Directed by Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Avengers seems to now be part of the Tumblr fold, where many other Marvel comics adaptations were not.

The second Snow White movie comes out, Snow White and the Huntsmen. This interpretation is a lot darker, and a lot more serious. While Charlize Theron as the evil queen is very established, Kristen Stewart is coming off the Twilight franchise, and gets top billing. Thor himself Chris Hemsworth is the Huntsman. The Dwarves in the movie are regular-sized actors shrunk down using movie magic. The movie features a love triangle, but kind of a back burner one. Once again, it's about overthrowing a tyrant, and the movie is capped off with a big battle sequence of swords and armor. The movie is reasonably successful, but not so much of a hit that a sequel is a no-brainer. Stewart is caught in salacious photos with the movie's married director, creating a bit of a public backlash. The studio considers simply teaming up Hemsworth's Huntsman with other fairy tale characters, but no second installment, starring Stewart or otherwise, has solidified so far.

The very last installment of Twilight, Breaking Dawn Part 2 comes out. It's another huge success, and improves upon Breaking Dawn Part 1, but it doesn't seem to come close to the other epic wrap-ups like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It may be that the franchise finally has backlash setting in, especially with people now comparing it unfavorably The Hunger Games. It may be the fallout from Stewart's scandal earlier that summer. However, the five year cultural phenomenon is over,  with its legacy being codification of the "young adult" movie trend, which is still going. Its young cast moves on to other, wildly different directions. Stewart and Pattinson go back to indies, where hopefully people will concentrate on their acting, not their personal lives. Taylor Lautner and Kellan Lutz hope to become big action stars. Perhaps the most successful is Anna Kendrick, who already has an Oscar nomination, and is a go-to choice for musicals.

The Hobbit: An Unpexcted Journey is released. This is the "prequel" to the Lord of the Rings series, at least cinematically. (In fact, the Hobbit was published first) Peter Jackson makes the controversial decision to split the movie into two, and then into three. Only four character from the Rings trilogy appear in the Hobbit--Gandalf, Bilbo Baggins, Elrond, and Gollum. Three of those actors reprise their roles, while Bilbo, who is much younger in the novel, is played by Martin Freeman. Elijah Wood, Cate Blanchett and Christopher Lee are given small roles in An Unexpected Journey. The original book is much more of a whimsical children's story, however An Unexpected Journey is made more into an outright action movie. The excesses are widely criticized, and the movie recieves mixed reviews. It still passes 300 million, but less than any Rings movie in the U.S., however still passing a billion worldwide.

2013

Paramount releases Hansel and Gretel, Witch Hunters. Unlike much of the other fairy tale movies, this one is much more violent, and is comparable to movies like Blade and Underworld, but still taking place in a medieval-ish setting. The character use guns, which is not too preposterous since guns were not unheard of in the Middle Ages. (in fact, their absence in many fairy tale movies is somewhat anachronistic) The cast largely uses American accents, including Gemma Arterton, who's English. The movie boasts an emphasis on practical effects, though it's still CG-heavy. The movie does moderately at the box office, but much more overseas. A sequel is considered, if the reluctant cast can sort their schedules out.

Beautiful Creatures is released. It's yet another  forbidden romance around the supernatural, but this time, the girl is the supernatural, and the guy is the mere mortal. Like many modern fantasy stories, it operates using a lot of jargon and rules--in fact, because the central theme is spellcasting, it's almost something like a procedural. Once again, the reviews aren't very strong, but it gets a relative amount of support--perhaps due the chemistry of the leads, the Southern Gothic bringing something new to the atmosphere, and the impressive pedigree of the supporting cast which includes Emma Thompson, Viola Davis, and the zero for three Jeremy Irons. Audiences don't turn up, perhaps because the weird, almost campy take on the genre makes it less relateable.

Warner Bros puts out Jack the Giant Slayer. This is the probably the most male-occupied of the fairy tale franchise, with only one prominent female. It likewise throws in elements like knights and princesses, despite no such things being in the original story. It also plays the concept relatively straight--nothing like maybe the giants being evil or the hero not getting the girl. It simply takes the Jack and the Beanstalk story and plays it like a large scale action movie. It's probably the biggest money loser of the genre. It opens soft, and matters aren't helped with another fairy tale movie coming out soon.

Disney releases Oz the Great and Powerful, which is considered another fairy tale movie, despite the modernity of the book. Its cast is largely paradoxically one of the youngest but also most celebrated, as James Franco and Michelle Williams are recent Oscar nominees, Rachel Weisz is an Oscar winner, and even Mila Kunis got a lot of notice for Black Swan. Like Oz, it's an explictly male title, although Glinda and the Wicked Witch of the West are prominent characters. The movie does strong business, but not quite what they were hoping for, and its foreign gross is not much higher than the domestic--perhaps owing to its American subject matter.

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters is released, and while not an outright bomb, it fails to match the already modest take of Lightning Thief. The movie ends on a cliffhanger, though it's rather unlikely a follow-up will appear.

Sony, which has actually been rather quiet on the front, be it fantasy adaptations of young adult movies, hopes to start a franchise with The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, starring Lily Collins from Mirror Mirror. The movie is based on Cassandra Claire's novels, which themselves were spun out of fanfiction based on Harry Potter, but seem to resemble in tone, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It possesses all the hallmarks of young adult urban fantasy stories and the fanfiction they inspire--an unassuming young girl meant for greater things, and a callow, brooding love interest, a lot of secret subcultures, and of course, the love triangles. It receives scathing reviews as a hodgepodge of the genre's greatest hits. It's even called a Twilight ripoff, which must be a special indignity, as while Instruments doesn't quite predate Twilight, the window is close enough that it's likely the only franchise that didn't "inspire" Claire.

Thor: The Dark World is released. It features much of the original cast, and the addition of former Doctor Who, Christopher Eccleson. Interestingly, much of the action takes place in England. While very successful, critics feel the movie is plot is rudimentary and the villain is not given much depth. It goes on the be the lowest grosser of Marvel's "Phase 2" films.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. It's Jennifer Lawrence's first major movie since winning an Oscar for Silver Linings Playbook. Its is widely considered an improvement on the first Hunger Games, and makes a smidge more at the box office, making it the first time a sequel to a 400 million movie has made more. It's also the first time a movie with a woman receiving top billing has become the highest grossing movie of the year in over forty years.

Frozen, Disney's newest "princess" movie comes out, and is one of the biggest hits of all time, with the song "Let It Go" being a phenomenon unto itself. The movie is very, very loosely based on Hans Christian Anderson's "The Snow Queen". ABC's Once Upon a Time is set to feature characters from Frozen, which means the show about classic fairy tales will now feature characters largely created by Disney itself.

The second chapter in the Hobbit trilogy comes out, The Desolation of Smaug. Fans and critics consider it an improvement, but still rife with Peter Jackson's excesses. Like An Unexpected Journey, the film inserts fan favorites from the Lord of the Rings trilogy who were not in The Hobbit, this time Legolas, a returning Orlando Bloom. (Who to be fair, does come from Mirkwood) The film introduces several major characters who are not Tolkien creations, most notably a female elf, Tauriel. Much of the added runtime is given to Tauriel's personal arc, and a love triangle between one of the dwarves and Legolas. So the padded time means we have three movies with one or two female characters, instead of one movie with none. The movie makes 258 million, by far the least of any Middle Earth movie, and in the neighborhood of Harry Potter at its weakest.

2014

Lionsgate/Summit promotes Twilight's Kellan Lutz  with Legend of Hercules. It boosts its sword and sword cred with Spartacus alum, Liam McIntyre. The Marketing accentuates the CGI and slow-mo, but much of the movie is pretty low tech. Once again, the plotline is overthrowing a tyrant, Hercule's stepfather Amphiptryion, who is usually presented as rather sympathetic in most adaptations of Hercules. Audiences save their wallets for the the Hercules movie that will be released later that year.

The Weistein Company releases Vampire Academy, which is kind of what it says on the tin, combining the vampire and fantastic school elements so prevalent in the young adult genre. Even though the Weisnteins have been at the forefront of many teen phenomenons, and even though the movie boasts behind the scenes talent that has brought smart, savvy high school movies like Mean Girls and Heathers, it seems teen vampires, audiences seem officially exhausted of teen vampire properties.

300: Rise of an Empire comes out. It makes roughly half of what the first 300 made in 2007, but this is actually considered a minor success, considering gap between the two movies, and that 300 wasn't a very open-ended story, and could not feature much of the original cast. Playing the two main characters are twice-surnamed Aussie Sullivan Stapleton, and Eva Green, who's considered a highlight of the movie.

The newest young adult adaptation comes out, Divergent. Rising young star Shailene Woodley is the main character, and Kate Winslet is brought in as the villain to give it cred. It's another futuristic, as opposed to urban fantasy setting, and it's actually labeled as an outright cross between Harry Potter and the Hunger Games. It receives mixed reviews, calling out the familiar, and to some, preposterous elements, but find Woodley compelling as a lead. The movie makes 150 million, not even half as much as The Hunger Games, but it establishes a solid base in a genre full of outliers. A sequel is quickly put into production. (A few months later, Woodley would star in The Fault In Our Stars, which was another very successful young adult adaptation, but I'm largely covering only YA stories with fantastic elements)

Around this time, another wave of Christian-themed movie start making some headway at the box-office. One is Son of God, which makes a decent amount of money considering it's actually theatrically released splicing of footage from History Channel's The Biblle. Also doing well is God's Not Dead, a contemporary movie starring former Hecules Kevin Sorbo, who's becoming something of a mouthpiece of the religious right.

Paramount hopes that this faith crowd will come out to see Noah, an adaptation of the famous Biblical flood story starring Russell Crowe as the title character, and a supporting cast that includes Percy Jackson himself, Logan Lerman, and Emma Watson, in her first post-Harry Potter big studio role. The movie takes a lot of liberties with the biblical tale--some even suggest it doesn't take place in a historical time period, but rather the future. The subject matter is dark, and it constantly raises the possibility Noah is insane. The studio and director are said to have fights over which cut to use, as the studio wants something that will get the faith crowd to keep going and organize screenings. When it turns out conservative Christians don't particularly like either version, they let Aronofsky have his way, and his cut is released to theaters. Critics enjoy the bizarre, ambiguous take, but Middle America is sort of turned off by it. Nonthless, it's another 100 million grosser by Russell Crowe in his wheelhouse, and a strong performer overseas.

 Disney releases Maleficent, starring Angelina Jolie. Once again, it delves into the formula of fairy tale featuring a young ingenue in the princess role, anchored by an Oscar-calibur actor hamming it up. However, the movie is named after the villain, and moreso, uses a name that is pretty much only used by the Disney interpretation of the Sleeping Beauty story. It's pretty much a remake of the 1950's animated film, but with the twist of Maleficent being a wronged anti-hero. Jolie's credited with giving a perfect star turn, but the film itself is considered weak. However, audiences like the movie (Or at least Jolie) enough for it to play throughout the summer. The movie becomes one of the biggest hits of the summer, earning more than some of the higher profile releases.

The second Hercules movie of the year is released, this time starring Dwayne Johnson. The starpower helps, as it opens to three times what Legend of Hercules did, but it's still not enough to top the charts, as Scarlett Johansson's Lucy handily beats it. The reviews don't consider it especially bad, but the marketing seems to be caught between what the movie is, and what the movie's trying to sell.

The Giver is released by Weinstein Studios. A passion project for Jeff Bridges, this is a young adult novel from 1993, that contains many of the dystopic elements that would we would see in The Hunger Games and Divergent, although the Giver was written much earlier than those books. Unfortunately, sometimes an influential work will be beaten to the punch by its descendents, making the original seem trite. (Let's call that "John Carter Syndrome") It didn't help that WC is largely not good at selling movies without Oscar buzz. The upside is, that movie possessed surprisingly good legs, and is close to doubling its production budget.

And so, here we are. We're now at a point where the most popular YA novels are sci-fi, (Though with Fault in Our Stars and If I Stay, we might be going to straight-up tearjerkers) the most popular historical movies are Biblical, and the most popular fantasy movies are based on fairy tales. This weekend we have The Maze Runner, a more male-oriented take on the Young Adult movement. In November, there will be another installment of The Hunger Games, which once again, splits up the final book. The Hobbit series will finally conclude in December, and Ridley Scott will take us through the story of Moses again in Exodus: Gods and Kings. On the horizon, is an update of Cinderella, directed by Kenneth Branaugh, and once again has the ingenue's story anchored by an Oscar winner as the antagonist. (This time, Cate Blanchett as the wicked stepmother) Guy Ritchie will direct a new King Arthur movie, with Charlie Hunnam (Who may look it, but is not Australian), and Idris Elba. No word on if they're going to tie it to ancient Rome.

 Vulture's "100" most valuable stars list came out in October of last year, so in another month or so, they'll possibly revive it. Who's careers benefitted from 2014 so far? This isn't super comprehensive, by the way. A lot of these guys have fall hits they're banking on.

Robert Downey Jr:
(Stable, possibly slight down) Obviously, can’t go up. No major box office fluctutations, but first Iron Man’s critical reception phasing out. The Judge will decide will decide whether he has it all, or is in franchise lock mode.

Leondardo Dicaprio: (Stable, possibly up?) Wolf on Wall Street, was another Oscar-nominated blockbuster. DiCaprio is the preeminent name for non-franchise films.

Jennifer Lawrence: Stable, possibly up. More Oscar recognition, and the X-Men and Hunger Games follow-ups improved on their predecessors. Only thing is, no movie has been her, and only her.

Sandra Bullock: Stable. Gravity's box-office was already counted for last year, so it won't have a huge effect on her points system. But another Oscar nomination keeps anyone from bumping her.

Brad Pitt: Stable. While he won an Oscar, it was for producing the movie, not starring.

Will Smith: Down, Hancock is now out of Vulture's five year-span, leaving the flop After Earth and the successful but diminishing Men in Black series.

Christian Bale: Possibly up? Dark Knight has slipped out out the range, but Rises wasn’t a huge step down, and American Hustle showed he has life outside Batman

Denzel Washington: Stable. No major career movements since the summer, but he does have a fall movie coming up.

Tom Hanks: Stable. His Oscar-baits were successful, but he was noteably snubbed for acting nominations.

Johnny Depp: Down. Transcendence was a flop, and a flop that prompted people to write another article about the death of the movie star. Not even shown in Into the Woods trailers.

Hugh Jackman: Stable, might be slightly up with the X-Men franchise returning to form.

Angelina Jolie: Up, Maleficent took on the boys of summer and conquered. Press for her directorial effort. Famous wedding.

Meryl Streep: Stable, possibly slightly down with “Mama Mia!” falling out of range, although another nom for Ausage County shows she is still Oscar’s queen.

Tom Cruise: Stable, maybe slightly up with Edge of Tomorrow not doing huge business, but still passing 100 million, and critics lamenting its underfperomance, as opposed to the knives-coming-out for Transendence.

Daniel Radcliffe: Down. What If seems to indicate Radcliffe has trouble establishing himself as a romantic lead.

Daniel Craig: Stable, no big career moves this year

Jennifer Aniston: Stable, with the sequel to Horrible Bosses coming out later in the year.

George Clooney: Slightly up? Gravity huge success, Monuments Men bit of a Hail Mary, doing decent in the spring.

Matt Damon: Stable, with only the moderately successful Monuments Men.

Mila Kunis: Stable, no major projects this year, as Jupiter's Ascending moved to next year, bearing nothing on her either way.

Daniel Day Lewis: Stable, maybe slightly down with his famous sabbaticals back in effect.

Ryan Gosling: Possibly down, with people not sold on his directorial skills.

Bradley Cooper: Up. He played support in American Hustle and Guardians of the Galaxy, but they both paid off.

Anne Hathaway: Stable, maybe slightly down with Get Smart out of her box-office window.

Vin Diesel: Maybe stable, maybe slightly down with Riddick’s indifferent reception. Was just a voice in Guardians, but Groot was an iconic, breakout character.

Mark Wahlberg: Up. Lone Survivor, was a runaway hit, Transformers was the lowest grossing of the series, but still big world wide, and big for a Wahlberg movie

Melissa McCarthy: Maybe stable, maybe sligtly down. Tammy was a critical poke in the eye but was profitable and a testament to McCarthy's draw with nothing else going for it.

Ben Affleck: Stable, with Gone Girl Around the corner

Liam Neeson: Stable, Million Ways to Die in the West fizzled, but Non-Stop provided more lucre in the Liam Neeson b-movie action hero industry.

Cate Blanchett: Stable, maybe up. Received another Oscar win, but it's unknown in the Hobbit movies "count" as much as the now-ineligible Indiana Jones movie she was in.

Channing Tatum: Up, thanks to 22 Jump Street, and the "he can really act!" talk of Foxcatcher.

Emma Stone: Down, neither Woody or Spidey did much to propel her foward, although the upcoming Birdman could get her an Oscar nomination.

Dwayne Johnson: Possibly down, though Hercules was not as big a misfire as it could have been

Clint Eastwood: Down, if Gran Turino now falls out of the five year box office grace period. Plus, he seems to not want to act anyways.

Natalie Portman: Slightly up, thanks to Thor’s increase, though studio execs might find her exhausting

Kristen Stewart: Possibly stable--the first Twilight film was the lowest grossing, and it's passing out of the field, but not only is there Jennifer Lawrence, not only is there Shailene Woodley, there's Chloe Moretz!

Michael Fassbender: Up, thanks to 12 Years nom and X-Men increase, although since those were both villains roles, he might start finding himself more a Sean Bean than a Russel Crowe with this trajectory.

Chris Hemsworth: Down, as Thor increased, but not as much, and Rush never quite caught on as an Oscar mover

Chris Pine: Down, nobody paid attention to Jack Ryan reboot

Andrew Garfield: Down. Sony doesn't even have concrete Spider-Man plans, which puts him in an awkward position.

Henry Cavill: Stable, but possibly down, as all the news reports have him being crowded out of his own franchise.

Jeremy Renner: Stable

Adam Sandler: Down, Blended did not stop the Adam Sandler box office hemorrhaging.

Tina Fey: Down, she did not seem to luck out with the Muppets as much as Amy Adams did.

Reese Witherspoon: Stable, although she's hoping for a nomination early next year.

Tom Hardy: Stable, although buzz for Mad Max is good

Steve Carell: Stable, maybe slightly up. Anchorman sequel mitgated Get Smart falling out of the mix. Oscar buzz for Foxcatcher will help establish Carell as more than a funnyman.

Zoe Saldana: Up, with Guardians cementing her as the go-to-girl of Outer Space.

Robert DeNiro: Slightly down, boxing movie did not help

Julia Roberts: Stable, possibly slightly up due to a new Oscar nomination that adds a level of dignity to her quasi-retirement.

Emma Watson: Up, Noah was somewhat polarizing, but it was a worldwide blockbuster, which gives her some outside-Harry Potter vitality.

Robert Pattinson: Down, though he his indie career is stablizing

Cameron Diaz: Stable. Hit, flop, hit, flop. Cameron Diaz is not allowed to go too far on the scale either way, like some human embodiment of taoist balance.

Kate Winslet: Stable. her history as a consummate Oscar darling is fading due to softy received projects. But Divergent gives her box office muscle.

Jake Gylenhaal: Stable, no major projects this year, Nightcrawler on the horizon.

Javier Bardem: Stable, maybe slightly down, due to the Counselor.

Matthew McCounaghey: Big up. Dallas Buyers cemented his creative comeback, was in Wolf of Wall Street, True Detective kept his name in the press, "McCoinassance" became a cultural media term.

Chris Evans: Up. Captain America: The Winter Soldier was well loved and made more than any summer movie except stablemate Guardians of the Galaxy. Snowpiercer also already a cult hit. But how do studios feel about his wanting to bow out of acting?

James Franco: Stable, name in press, probably not for super flattering reasons

Russell Crowe: Slightly up, Noah made bank, though not as much as Crowe’s heyday.

Zach Galifinakis: Stable, no major box office hits, but he's in the probable best picture nominee  Birdman, and got some attention for interviewing the president.

Christoph Waltz: Stable, no movie movement, Big Eyes, not getting much buzz.

Will Ferrell: Stable, Anchorman 2 a hit, though not as much as some were expecting.

Shai LeBeouf: Down, no major films, name starting to become toxic. May disappear from list.

Seth Rogen: Up, Neighbors biggest hit of his.

Joseph Gordon Levitt: Down, maybe. Still probably sought after for his age range, but turning down Guardians of the Galaxy for Sin City: A Dame to Kill For seems like a poor decision in retrospect.

Amy Adams: Up, as beneficiary of the American Hustle tide.

Charlize Theron: Down, Million Ways flop, Hancock was her biggest hit, and is now out of Vulture's range.

Carey Mulligan: Maybe stable, maybe down. It's hard for women to get good roles, and she's rather quiet right now.

Ben Stiller: Down, Tropic Thunder his last big hit, out of window and Walter Mitty was not an adequate replacement.

Ryan Reynolds: Stable, no major career fluctuations, but may go down if studios decide they like him better as Chris Pratt.

Scarlett Johansson: Up. Maybe the biggest up on the list. The last year has been very good for Scarlett. Her and Skin exhibited her range, and Lucy was a runaway, profitable hit. Her name's always in the press due to pregnancy and fans asking if she can get her own Black Widow movie yet.

Jonah Hill: Up. Jump Street franchise still robust,Wolf of Wall Street shows he’s not leaving prestige movies anytime soon.

Bruce Willis: Stable? No major career happenings. Maybe down if they hold Sin City 2 against him.

Jessica Chastain: Stable, nothing major in the last year, though set to have a big fall (As in the season) Getting attention as every actress's biggest fan.

Jamie Foxx: Stable, Amazing Spider-Man 2 not well received, but bigger than movies Foxx is usually in

Kevin James: Down. Dissapearing from the scene

Paul Rudd: Slightly up. Anchorman 2 pads his box office, Ant-Man keeping his name in the news. (And with the Marvel brand stronger than ever)

Michelle Williams: Stable, no career movements, with another possible Oscar nomination on the way.

Sylvester Stallone: Down. Pretty much every movie he's done, no matter the co-star, has tanked. He doesn't even have his franchise going for him anymore. May fall off the list.

Penelope Cruz: Stable, maybe slightly down, as part of the Counselor train.

Jeff Bridges: Possibly down, as Iron Man no longer in box office sphere, and The Giver a flop, if not as much as many made it out to be.

Julianne Moore: Stable, though Mockingjay and possibly another Oscar nomination after the article is going to come out.

Jason Segal: Down. Sex Tape not a big hit, and he doesn't have a The Other Woman to balance it out. Also, his TV gig being over means out of sight, out of mind.

Naomi Watts: Stable, (although vulnerable) although she does have Birdman, it's probably not going to be a huge commercial success, and she won't get the heat Keaton and Stone will.

Jennifer Garner: Stable, maybe slightly up thanks to Dallas Buyers Club.

Colin Firth: Stable, no career moves

Rachel McAdams: Stable, maybe sightly up due to  A Most Wanted Man, or maybe down if Sherlock Holmes no longer counts.

Benedict Cumberbatch: Down, none of his starmaking efforts have paid off, though round two is coming up.

Keira Knightly: Stable, her blockbusters are dissipating, but her indie game remains good, and she's even starting to woo over audiences in non-period pieces.

Jason Statham: Stable, no major projects. 2015 will tell the tale.

Justin Timberlake: Stable, no movies

Zach Effron: Up, as Neighbors his biggest hit, and one with his name prominent.

Sean Penn: Stable, no major projects

Kristin Wiig: Possibly up, thanks to her involvement in the Anchorman sequel.

Jesse Eisenberg:  Stable, maybe slightly up thanks to getting cast as Lex Luthor

Owen Wilson: Down, no major movies, and a lot of people knocking on the door.

Jason Bateman: Stable, no major projects yet, although the fall will see him try his more serious side, and a Horrible Bosses sequel.

Tyler Perry: Possibly down, as even Madea isn't working out, but if Gone Girl is huge, he might stay on the list.

Liam Hemsworth: Down, and likely off the list. Too many new stars, and he still hasn't really done anything of note in The Hunger Games yet.

And as for people Vulture thought could be on the list next year?

Anna Kendrick: Maybe. It seems she just missed out, but while she has a promising set of movies, none of them will have come out yet. maybe her SNL appearance (Vulture really seems to respond to those) will help out.

Michael B Jordan: No. Harvey Weinstein and the Academy only had so much time for movies with black people in them, and Fruitville Station was overlooked.

Shailine Woodley: Definite yes.Two back to back blockbusters. She's constantly being compared to Jennifer Lawrence, which rather sexists, but a cheaper, less-locked-down Lawrence isn't a bad place to be.

Chris Pratt: Definite yes. Guardians of the Galaxy was ridiculously successful, and Lego Movie gives him two movies in the top ten. That's some Tom Cruise in his prime stuff right there.

Chiwetal Ejiofor: Maybe not. 12 Years a Slave won the Oscar, but he went home empty-handed. Also no major movies until 2015.

Margot Robbie: No. Still not even close to being well known, and while Scorcese women go on to have solid careers, they rarely become household names.

Kevin Hart: Yes. Ride Along was a big surprise hit, and he injects some new blood amongst the falling comedy stars.

Aaron Taylor Johnson: Maybe. Godzilla was very successful, but people couldn't stop complaining they came from Byan Cranston and got him.

Lupita N'Yongo: Maybe. She actually gets less offers than Margot Robbie. But she did win the Oscar, she's seen as a c-c-c-combo breaking fashion icon, and she has a part in the next Star Wars movie.

Dakota Johnson: No. Fifty Shades of Grade may be a sleeping giant, but it'll be sleeping until next year.

So Chris Pratt, Shailene Woodley, and Kevin Hart are shoe-ins to be on the list. Anna Kendrick, Aaron Taylor Johnson and Lupita N'Yongo are also likely-to-possible. I think if I were to select five (Which would be the number that of "future star" picks that made the cut last year), N'Yongo would be left out, as she's very new and studios are probably unsure of what to do with her If I were to select five new people who weren't predicted for the list, I would choose Emily Blunt, Rose Byrne, Mark Ruffalo, Morgan Freeman, and (depending on how Gone Girl does, or if the latter signed on for Doctor Strange), Rosamund Pike or Joaquin Phoenix. (Phoenix and Ruffalo were actually pegged to make the 2013 list) If I were to pick ten people to evacuate, it would be Liam Hemsworth, Owen Wilson, Kevin James, Ben Stiller, Shia LeBouf, Sylvester Stallone, and possibly Clint Easwood, Justin Timberlake, Kristen Stewart, Andrew Garfield or Tyler Perry. However, in a year of record-low box-office, and yet few high-profile flops, there hasn't been as much movinng and shaking.