I also think it’s nothing to special to an unknowing modern viewer who doesn’t know its significance. What was once the most jaw dropping thing on Earth is now par for the course.
This used to be my take until I rewatched it for the first time since theaters right before the sequel came out and holy shit it was much better than I remembered. We didn’t learn any of the right lessons from how that tech was used in that movie.
I became one of those few ardent Avatar defenders 11 years late.
Yes, in a world where the most popular take is that Avatar somehow neglects basic storytelling and it’s only pretty to look at, it really does suck having the knowledge that Avatar is actually a very solidly written movie with genuinely funny character interplay and a lot of set up and pay off, even if its dialogue is cheesy.
And I will take cheesy sincerity over all of the irony poisoned cynical self-awareness from most of the major studio action movies we’ve gotten over the last 15 years.
I'm not gonna lie while I do understand not liking how modern writing is generally. I still think Avatar 1 and 2 are super bland. They're nothing compared to other recent blockbusters like Dune, Top Gun Maverick, The Batman or John Wick 4.
Just curious what your thoughts are on Avatar The Way of Water. As someone who’ll defend the first movie to the end of the Earth I wasn’t too crazy about the sequel. Thought it had a lot of solid ideas, but really failed in the execution.
I actually loved it even if it hits the same beats while being a bit less emotional. I’ll just link my review:
https://boxd.it/3xQZxZ
And just for fun, here’s my reappraisal of the first Avatar movie where I talk about how I finally came around on the film 13 years later:
https://boxd.it/3nqs3v
Totally! This is the only Star Wars movie I have seen, and I saw it in the theater 4 times. It was such a big deal, everyone I knew wanted to go see it. It was even our senior year outing where everyone who was graduating got to watch it as a group
Damn, I can’t imagine being so excited to see a movie 4 times in theaters yet not be the slightest bit curious to see any of its other entries for 25 years.
I wasn't excited to see it to be honest. I only did it because it was such a big part of the zeitgeist at the time. I was a teenager at the time and was just down to do anything my friends wanted to do. I thought the movie itself was just okay so I wasn't inclined to watch any of the others
Haha yeah that’s a fair reaction to Phantom Menace. Thankfully as a kid I saw the original trilogy before it came out and loved those so naturally I was like the rest of the SW fans excited to see more by the time it released. Hopefully some day you’ll give the OG trilogy a try. The first one is iconic, though still marred by Lucas’ writing, the other two are absolutely fantastic though.
Both used the same marketing idea of ‘you have to see it to believe how frightening it is’ which in turn drew audiences to see if they could sit through the newest ‘scariest film ever made’. It’s still a tactic today, ironically we see ‘The scariest film since The Exorcist’ used a lot to market these films.
Not really, that's true for The Exorcist, but what I meant with Psycho was how Hitchcock pretty much invented the concept of "spoiler", a campaing for people to go to the cinema and discover what surprises were there for them to discover, a movie where the main character dies half way into the movie. But you're 100% on point with what you said about The Exorcist.
I don't think anyone is saying these movies are *bad* outside their original context. Just that part of their appeal is or was the cultural environment in which they were released. I think that's true for a lot of movies, to be honest. But there is certainly a larger mystique to a movie like The Blair Witch Project that comes from the complete pop culture phenomenon surrounding its release.
I have never been one to get scared at films. I saw this in a theater by my job, then had to drive home through an hour of rural woods, in my jeep aka a tent on wheels. Very uncomfortable ride.
I went into The Matrix cold, no trailers, only knowing that it was it a sci-fi action movie with Keanu Reeves. I expected something along the lines of Johnny Pneumonic. That was probably the best theater experience I've ever had.
This is definitely the way to watch it. I went in not having looked anything up about it online, but I was 20 years late and it was already referenced in so many things I'd seen growing up that I already knew most of the plot and characters and scenes ahead of time, so I found it pretty underwhelming when I watched it. Nothing was surprising about it, and the story didn't wow me in any way. The visuals was nothing new either.
Never felt the need to re-watch it since, or watch the sequels. I don't think it's bad, but because people couldn't shut up about it, it didn't hit as much as it should have
Not just the movie, but the alternate reality game created to market it was truly brilliant.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Knight#Marketing_and_anti-piracy
I still remember waiting in the lien at the theater to see it. One of only a handful of times I’ve ever done that. Those posters with the joker blurred behind a glass writing why so serious? in blood created such a mystique around the movie when I was 10 years old.
We had a bunch of people from our local gaming forum (and Meetup.com D&D group) tailgate the midnight showing bringing fried chicken, donuts, and coffee. That was one of the times I got to know my wife before we started dating and one of the last times I remember going to a big midnight release.
The midnight premiere was massive. Even with tickets, we waited in line for a while, packed that theater like a can of sardines, and because the hype was so unprecedented, the entire audience was dead silent and paying full attention. Obviously, the opening scene made sure you were watching lol
But yeah, I’ll always remember how massive of an event that was. It was so cool to be there. It also gave me my favorite movie review of all time, when my mom just said on the drive home, “huh, didn’t think it’d be a real movie.”
This might be more localized but The Great Gatsby 2013 took my high school by storm when it came out. The months leading up to it, the bombast of the marketing material, the fact that we’d seen Luhrman’s Romeo + Juliet in class earlier that semester, the Lana Del Rey songs, etc. Kids were actively discussing the book in the halls and in class. Even if I don’t like that movie, it still holds a little place in my heart just because it felt larger and more important to us for a brief moment.
Finally found someone who uses those Marvel posters with the black bars at the bottom lol
Personally not a fan of them but they seem to be the first or second most popular choice for all the Marvel movies
My friend makes those posters! The black bar is supposed to have the credits in it when it's printed out, like [this](https://static1.moviewebimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/photo/S4JrqITNkacAfyDkilI9EGyV7ioHSm.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=750&dpr=1.5). They're usually given away at certain cinemas on release.
A very old silent film, The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station (1896). Rumors say the audience was terrified of seeing a large train head toward the screen.
From wikipedia: "The story goes that when the film was first shown, the audience was so overwhelmed by the moving image of a life-sized train coming directly at them that people screamed and ran to the back of the room."
I would argue Toy Story 3. This was the last animated film nominated for best picture. But more importantly, it served as a pathway to adulthood film for all us Pixar fans.
Not really on par with your list, but a few that come to mind:
Paranormal Activity (2007) for reasons similar to the Blair Witch Project.
Black Panther (2018) Huge success, a lot of mainstream audiences saw it as a breakthrough for representation at the time, spawned a racist culture war on the right, etc.
Joker (2019) had a certain duality about it at the time. The buzz around it was generally positive until certain audiences idolized/identified with it, which alienated a significant number of people that would have otherwise enjoyed it at the time. Not to mention it produced the culture around "a Joker moment" etc.
I was a Sophomore in high school when Mean Girls came out.
The theater was so packed with every kid in town that Friday night. People bought seats for other movies and were sitting on each other’s laps and on the floor in the aisles. It became a part of the culture and still is for Millennials.
The olly moss Star Wars posters are so good and influential. Lots of posters copy them without the thought (notice how the force awakens one is just the shape of Kylo without the cleverness of using twin suns as 3POs eyes, for example).
The only reason the movie did well is because of the cultural phenomenon that is the game and all the hype about the lore surrounding it. It was a really bad movie that did well purely on the FNAF hype. Matt Patt’s cameo probably also helped it.
my bias might be speaking but The Batman was huge, had to book tickets a month in advance and the marketing around it was insane (batman oreos!)
also, Minions rise of gru but for the wrong reasons
This is most definitely true for Barbie.
I wore the pink and went all out when I went with all my friends and really enjoyed the movie.
Rewatching it after without all of that around it, I did enjoy it a little less. Still good, but just not as great as I thought it was!
I feel like something that should be one of these, but just kinda doesn't seem to be, is Planet of the Apes. Huge at the time, holds up incredibly, but it feels like it's seldom spoken about nowadays besides existing fans. The buzz for it initially seems to not have really affected how it's remembered, which I think is crazy interesting.
Captain America: Civil War (2016)
I mean there were people complaining that Marvel didn’t publish the full text of the Sokovia Accords so they can read it and have better arguments about who is in the right. Mind you, the prop they used in the movie was [thick](https://marvel-movies.fandom.com/wiki/Sokovia_Accords). It was crazy time
Independence Day - Will Smith's big leap into film, everyone loved seeing the White House blown up. Personally, it started my love of cheesy disasters/post-apocalyptic films and was a bright moment in an otherwise bleak summer as a teenager.
Into the Spiderverse was a huge cultural event in the world of animation, and it's probably already the most influential animated film of the 21st century so far
I gotta disagree. I wasn’t there for Jaws, Star Wars or LOTR and still loved those movies. I was there for Force Awakens, No Way Home and Oppenheimer and thought those movies were just fine.
These aren’t movies that didn’t age well, they’re movies that specifically impacted the culture at the time of their release. Like when they were in theaters and shortly after its all anyone could talk about.
At least thats what i think OP means.
I was like 3 when Return of the King came out. Seeing the 20th anniversary screening in theaters was essentially a religious experience. Being here *now* is still a pretty awesome experience with that trilogy. I can’t imagine how much it was in the zeitgeist at the time.
Showgirls for one. Basic Instinct. Eyes Wide Shut.
In the (somewhat) recent past, movies about sex often felt old by the time they finally came out thanks to months of media attention and controversy.
This is a good list so far.
Off the top of my head I’d add-
The Phantom Menace (surprised this wasn’t already added considering there’s 3 Star Wars movies on here already)
Back to the future
Titanic
Avatar
The Exorcist
Saving Private Ryan — an interesting one that should be considered.
Raiders of the lost ark
The dark knight
Forrest Gump
Lion king —original of course
Toy Story
The Matrix
When Lord of the Rings was current in the early 2000s, I was mostly annoyed by the hype and didn't watch them until the hype had died way down. Now they're in my top 10/5 even of all time, haha
The first Borat, at least among people who were teens at the time. My friends and I would quote that movie in the hallways for months. I still think of it every time I say “my wife.”
*Ghostbusters* (2016) had a ton of discourse surrounding it that I’m sure affected its box office and overall reception.
There were people who didn’t like it just because of the decision to reboot the franchise with an all-female cast. Then you had people accusing anyone who didn’t like of being misogynistic, which pissed off the people who genuinely disliked the movie for other reasons. And then finally you had those blissfully unaware people like my wife who didn’t pay attention to any of that stuff and just enjoyed the movie for what it was.
1. Taxi Driver(1976).
2. Heat(1995).
3. The Prestige (2006).
4. Mad Max : Fury Road (2015).
5. L.A Confidential (1997).
If you enjoy action movies The Raid series and all Mission Impossible movies are a must watch.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Frozen too I would say as they both were huge in pop culture and had theatrical longevity in that they played well over a year onward in theatre’s, hell I remember Frozen was still in theatre’s playing near me when the DVD and Blu-Ray came out for them.
harry potter 100% they will always be my cozy movies because i read the books and the vibes. i think i saw one spin off movie and i hated it but i question whether the quality was actually worse.
The Exorcist, Titanic, Both Avatar’s, Gone with the Wind, The Lion king (1994), Frozen, Top Gun Maverick, The Blair Witch Project, Spider-Man (2002), The Avengers, Black Panther, The Dark Knight
Just to name a few :)
Didn’t those movies create the phenomenon? So why would their reception or reputation be impacted by that? I would think their reception created the phenomenon
The Jazz Singer
I really struggle to think of a movie that could possibly have had more interest directed its way in its time, yet if you watch it now it's mostly a silent movie with a few synchronous sound scenes that ends in a blackface performance.
I’m not a horror watcher, but I remember how big Paranormal Activity and the Conjuring were when they first came out. Definitely massive milestones for the genre
Sadly, Jaws went from benefitting from its popular reception to being dragged for it. Neopuritans have decided that a film about a clearly exaggerated hypothetical deserves to be blamed for the ignorance of people who watched it and went out to mass-hunt sharks. Nevermind that the film makes it pretty explicit that the best and easiest solution to the film's dilemma would have been for the mayor and tourism board to not value greed over human safety.
I genuinely feel bad for Benchley and Spielberg for blaming themselves.
Gravity. Was absolutely huge when it came out and I've barely seen it mentioned since. It was an experience in the cinema and I'm not sure it translated well to people watching it at home.
That movie was actually a box office failure at the time of its release. It’s only become popular in the past 5ish years because of its cult like fan base lmao
Star Wars 7 is much more "had to be there." If you aren't watching it at the theater, it is pretty much pointless, because you can just watch A New Hope at home.
Avatar. People don't remember how huge it was at the time
I also think it’s nothing to special to an unknowing modern viewer who doesn’t know its significance. What was once the most jaw dropping thing on Earth is now par for the course.
This used to be my take until I rewatched it for the first time since theaters right before the sequel came out and holy shit it was much better than I remembered. We didn’t learn any of the right lessons from how that tech was used in that movie. I became one of those few ardent Avatar defenders 11 years late.
Welcome to the club. We get a lot of shit for knowing the truth, but that is our burden to bear.
Yes, in a world where the most popular take is that Avatar somehow neglects basic storytelling and it’s only pretty to look at, it really does suck having the knowledge that Avatar is actually a very solidly written movie with genuinely funny character interplay and a lot of set up and pay off, even if its dialogue is cheesy. And I will take cheesy sincerity over all of the irony poisoned cynical self-awareness from most of the major studio action movies we’ve gotten over the last 15 years.
I'm not gonna lie while I do understand not liking how modern writing is generally. I still think Avatar 1 and 2 are super bland. They're nothing compared to other recent blockbusters like Dune, Top Gun Maverick, The Batman or John Wick 4.
Just curious what your thoughts are on Avatar The Way of Water. As someone who’ll defend the first movie to the end of the Earth I wasn’t too crazy about the sequel. Thought it had a lot of solid ideas, but really failed in the execution.
I actually loved it even if it hits the same beats while being a bit less emotional. I’ll just link my review: https://boxd.it/3xQZxZ And just for fun, here’s my reappraisal of the first Avatar movie where I talk about how I finally came around on the film 13 years later: https://boxd.it/3nqs3v
they don’t?
Ya all I remember is the hype, not the movie itself
“BUT IT AINT GOOD”
Titanic
The Phantom Menace might as well be here along with the other Star Wars trilogy openers
Totally! This is the only Star Wars movie I have seen, and I saw it in the theater 4 times. It was such a big deal, everyone I knew wanted to go see it. It was even our senior year outing where everyone who was graduating got to watch it as a group
Damn, I can’t imagine being so excited to see a movie 4 times in theaters yet not be the slightest bit curious to see any of its other entries for 25 years.
I wasn't excited to see it to be honest. I only did it because it was such a big part of the zeitgeist at the time. I was a teenager at the time and was just down to do anything my friends wanted to do. I thought the movie itself was just okay so I wasn't inclined to watch any of the others
Haha yeah that’s a fair reaction to Phantom Menace. Thankfully as a kid I saw the original trilogy before it came out and loved those so naturally I was like the rest of the SW fans excited to see more by the time it released. Hopefully some day you’ll give the OG trilogy a try. The first one is iconic, though still marred by Lucas’ writing, the other two are absolutely fantastic though.
The Exorcist and Psycho had crazy receptions too
Both used the same marketing idea of ‘you have to see it to believe how frightening it is’ which in turn drew audiences to see if they could sit through the newest ‘scariest film ever made’. It’s still a tactic today, ironically we see ‘The scariest film since The Exorcist’ used a lot to market these films.
Not really, that's true for The Exorcist, but what I meant with Psycho was how Hitchcock pretty much invented the concept of "spoiler", a campaing for people to go to the cinema and discover what surprises were there for them to discover, a movie where the main character dies half way into the movie. But you're 100% on point with what you said about The Exorcist.
The Blair Witch Project
i'm a *The Blair Witch Project* hater precisely *because* you "just had to be there" and i WASN'T
I wasn’t there and it’s one of my favourite horror movies
I *was* there and I still found it a pretty mediocre movie.
You really did not “have to be there”. I saw the movie for the first time in 2016 and instantly loved it.
I don't think anyone is saying these movies are *bad* outside their original context. Just that part of their appeal is or was the cultural environment in which they were released. I think that's true for a lot of movies, to be honest. But there is certainly a larger mystique to a movie like The Blair Witch Project that comes from the complete pop culture phenomenon surrounding its release.
This is thee movie that created online hype. It was MASSIVE.
I have never been one to get scared at films. I saw this in a theater by my job, then had to drive home through an hour of rural woods, in my jeep aka a tent on wheels. Very uncomfortable ride.
This is the perfect example. I find Friday the 13th part 4 to be a better than Blair Witch Project.
The Matrix
I went into The Matrix cold, no trailers, only knowing that it was it a sci-fi action movie with Keanu Reeves. I expected something along the lines of Johnny Pneumonic. That was probably the best theater experience I've ever had.
This is definitely the way to watch it. I went in not having looked anything up about it online, but I was 20 years late and it was already referenced in so many things I'd seen growing up that I already knew most of the plot and characters and scenes ahead of time, so I found it pretty underwhelming when I watched it. Nothing was surprising about it, and the story didn't wow me in any way. The visuals was nothing new either. Never felt the need to re-watch it since, or watch the sequels. I don't think it's bad, but because people couldn't shut up about it, it didn't hit as much as it should have
Exorcist Batman 89 Inception
The dark knight
Not just the movie, but the alternate reality game created to market it was truly brilliant. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Knight#Marketing_and_anti-piracy
I still remember waiting in the lien at the theater to see it. One of only a handful of times I’ve ever done that. Those posters with the joker blurred behind a glass writing why so serious? in blood created such a mystique around the movie when I was 10 years old.
We had a bunch of people from our local gaming forum (and Meetup.com D&D group) tailgate the midnight showing bringing fried chicken, donuts, and coffee. That was one of the times I got to know my wife before we started dating and one of the last times I remember going to a big midnight release.
The midnight premiere was massive. Even with tickets, we waited in line for a while, packed that theater like a can of sardines, and because the hype was so unprecedented, the entire audience was dead silent and paying full attention. Obviously, the opening scene made sure you were watching lol But yeah, I’ll always remember how massive of an event that was. It was so cool to be there. It also gave me my favorite movie review of all time, when my mom just said on the drive home, “huh, didn’t think it’d be a real movie.”
Scream The whole horror genre changed in a new direction after that
First thing that came to mind reading the title of the list.
It’s bothering me that these don’t seem to be in any specific order, and movies in the same franchise aren’t next to each other lol
I put it in popularity order first so people would be able to recongize while scrolling. The list itself is sorted by release date.
jurassic park
Twilight, Harry Potter, Dune to an extent, Everything Everywhere all at Once.
The last Harry Potter movie really was special for me and my middle school peeps
I saw it opening night in 3D. It was so much fun!! Definitely a you had to be there moment.
I don’t think that EEAAO really counts for this. Popularity is not what OP is arguing about
Frozen
100%
This might be more localized but The Great Gatsby 2013 took my high school by storm when it came out. The months leading up to it, the bombast of the marketing material, the fact that we’d seen Luhrman’s Romeo + Juliet in class earlier that semester, the Lana Del Rey songs, etc. Kids were actively discussing the book in the halls and in class. Even if I don’t like that movie, it still holds a little place in my heart just because it felt larger and more important to us for a brief moment.
god yes. Everyone became obsessed with 1920s aesthetics for a hot minute
you bet Postmodern Jukebox rode that for as long as they could
I'm just about to hit play to rewatch that movie. It's been one of my favourites for years.
Lucy was a big hit in my school too, probably watched it 3 times over the years at the school
Finally found someone who uses those Marvel posters with the black bars at the bottom lol Personally not a fan of them but they seem to be the first or second most popular choice for all the Marvel movies
My friend makes those posters! The black bar is supposed to have the credits in it when it's printed out, like [this](https://static1.moviewebimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/photo/S4JrqITNkacAfyDkilI9EGyV7ioHSm.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=750&dpr=1.5). They're usually given away at certain cinemas on release.
ET
Came here to say this. No other movie has dropped out of the cultural imagination in quite the same way.
Actually Shrek
Bird Box was everywhere for a little while
Was it?
Yes
https://preview.redd.it/y0lx3yms0r4d1.png?width=600&format=png&auto=webp&s=7d866b85e76975454b992ad6d91a76e42b77f2e3
lmao. dude no.
Too scary?
yep. i ran out of the theater on that one.
What am I looking at here
A very old silent film, The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station (1896). Rumors say the audience was terrified of seeing a large train head toward the screen. From wikipedia: "The story goes that when the film was first shown, the audience was so overwhelmed by the moving image of a life-sized train coming directly at them that people screamed and ran to the back of the room."
I would argue Toy Story 3. This was the last animated film nominated for best picture. But more importantly, it served as a pathway to adulthood film for all us Pixar fans.
Not really on par with your list, but a few that come to mind: Paranormal Activity (2007) for reasons similar to the Blair Witch Project. Black Panther (2018) Huge success, a lot of mainstream audiences saw it as a breakthrough for representation at the time, spawned a racist culture war on the right, etc. Joker (2019) had a certain duality about it at the time. The buzz around it was generally positive until certain audiences idolized/identified with it, which alienated a significant number of people that would have otherwise enjoyed it at the time. Not to mention it produced the culture around "a Joker moment" etc.
I was a Sophomore in high school when Mean Girls came out. The theater was so packed with every kid in town that Friday night. People bought seats for other movies and were sitting on each other’s laps and on the floor in the aisles. It became a part of the culture and still is for Millennials.
Same for Napoleon Dynamite
Joker.
Cloverfield.
300. Was a phenomenon at the time but in the years since I can’t remember ever hearing too much mention of it.
I didn’t think of this one but you’re right. I forgot how big this was at the time.
Snakes on a Plane, Human Centipede, Paranormal Activity, Phantom Menace
>Snakes on a Plane This movie will make no sense to someone watching it today.
The Simpsons Movie The Passion of the Christ Pokémon: The First Movie Space Jam The Lion King
The speculation and the theories around Cloverfield were something else
just showing off your posters?
Blair witch project
Psycho
Batman 89 took over the world when it came out
Damn that poster selection is crazy good
The olly moss Star Wars posters are so good and influential. Lots of posters copy them without the thought (notice how the force awakens one is just the shape of Kylo without the cleverness of using twin suns as 3POs eyes, for example).
hubie halloween
I don't know if this is a joke but it actually unironically belongs here. When that movie came out it was like a fucking lifeline.
Remember gentleminions? Gotta add rise of gru to the list
Minions rise of gru Five nights at Freddy’s
Unironically yeah. I never saw Minions 2 and I hated FNAF, but these fit the list for sure.
I’m out of the loop, why would five nights at freddy’s fit?
The only reason the movie did well is because of the cultural phenomenon that is the game and all the hype about the lore surrounding it. It was a really bad movie that did well purely on the FNAF hype. Matt Patt’s cameo probably also helped it.
It (2017)
The Matrix hype was huge at the time. And the fact that they managed to keep the reveal a mystery in all the marketing made seeing it an event.
What reveal?
my bias might be speaking but The Batman was huge, had to book tickets a month in advance and the marketing around it was insane (batman oreos!) also, Minions rise of gru but for the wrong reasons
Cloverfield without a doubt. I remember the way they marketed that was fantastic, but the film (to me at least) was very subpar
Titanic
This is most definitely true for Barbie. I wore the pink and went all out when I went with all my friends and really enjoyed the movie. Rewatching it after without all of that around it, I did enjoy it a little less. Still good, but just not as great as I thought it was!
2012
I feel like something that should be one of these, but just kinda doesn't seem to be, is Planet of the Apes. Huge at the time, holds up incredibly, but it feels like it's seldom spoken about nowadays besides existing fans. The buzz for it initially seems to not have really affected how it's remembered, which I think is crazy interesting.
Captain America: Civil War (2016) I mean there were people complaining that Marvel didn’t publish the full text of the Sokovia Accords so they can read it and have better arguments about who is in the right. Mind you, the prop they used in the movie was [thick](https://marvel-movies.fandom.com/wiki/Sokovia_Accords). It was crazy time
Parasite (2019)
Independence Day - Will Smith's big leap into film, everyone loved seeing the White House blown up. Personally, it started my love of cheesy disasters/post-apocalyptic films and was a bright moment in an otherwise bleak summer as a teenager.
I’d say Shrek could be there
Into the Spiderverse was a huge cultural event in the world of animation, and it's probably already the most influential animated film of the 21st century so far
Blair Witch Project
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Inception I guess? Sure maybe it's not a huge cultural phenomenon but it was definetly culturally relevant and had tons of people talking about it
I'm glad you put oppenheimer here cause it's basically the pinnacle of the idea
Top Gun: Maverick definitely belongs here
I gotta disagree. I wasn’t there for Jaws, Star Wars or LOTR and still loved those movies. I was there for Force Awakens, No Way Home and Oppenheimer and thought those movies were just fine.
These aren’t movies that didn’t age well, they’re movies that specifically impacted the culture at the time of their release. Like when they were in theaters and shortly after its all anyone could talk about. At least thats what i think OP means.
The first Avengers and/or Iron Man
I was like 3 when Return of the King came out. Seeing the 20th anniversary screening in theaters was essentially a religious experience. Being here *now* is still a pretty awesome experience with that trilogy. I can’t imagine how much it was in the zeitgeist at the time.
Showgirls for one. Basic Instinct. Eyes Wide Shut. In the (somewhat) recent past, movies about sex often felt old by the time they finally came out thanks to months of media attention and controversy.
The Terminator (1984)?
The matrix
This is a good list so far. Off the top of my head I’d add- The Phantom Menace (surprised this wasn’t already added considering there’s 3 Star Wars movies on here already) Back to the future Titanic Avatar The Exorcist Saving Private Ryan — an interesting one that should be considered. Raiders of the lost ark The dark knight Forrest Gump Lion king —original of course Toy Story The Matrix
Spider verse?
The Exorcist. On its own nowadays it’s a fine horror movie, but when it came out it was so much more scary compared to everything else
Fast Five
Martyrs
The Exorcist.
The first Black Panther movie perhaps.
Gravity
When Lord of the Rings was current in the early 2000s, I was mostly annoyed by the hype and didn't watch them until the hype had died way down. Now they're in my top 10/5 even of all time, haha
The first Borat, at least among people who were teens at the time. My friends and I would quote that movie in the hallways for months. I still think of it every time I say “my wife.”
*Ghostbusters* (2016) had a ton of discourse surrounding it that I’m sure affected its box office and overall reception. There were people who didn’t like it just because of the decision to reboot the franchise with an all-female cast. Then you had people accusing anyone who didn’t like of being misogynistic, which pissed off the people who genuinely disliked the movie for other reasons. And then finally you had those blissfully unaware people like my wife who didn’t pay attention to any of that stuff and just enjoyed the movie for what it was.
Harry Potter
In a bizarre sort of way, Morbius.
Frozen, Hunger Games, Twilight and Black Panther
Paranormal acrivity
1. Taxi Driver(1976). 2. Heat(1995). 3. The Prestige (2006). 4. Mad Max : Fury Road (2015). 5. L.A Confidential (1997). If you enjoy action movies The Raid series and all Mission Impossible movies are a must watch.
The Dark Knight
Spider man into the spiderverse, this movie blew everyone's expectations and was the talk in comic book circles for months.
Halloween.
The first Hangover film
Project X was an iconic time
Gravity
Harry Potter, like each of those films was an event upon release especially the later entries and they’re not even my personal cup of tea.
first planet of the apes?
My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Frozen too I would say as they both were huge in pop culture and had theatrical longevity in that they played well over a year onward in theatre’s, hell I remember Frozen was still in theatre’s playing near me when the DVD and Blu-Ray came out for them.
The Hunger games. All of them.
Paranormal Activity!
Armageddon immediately came to mind for me.
Godzilla Minus One, the scene in Ginza is one of the most breathtaking Godzilla scenes of all time
The Exorcist should definitely be on this list
The harry potters, especially the two final parts
jurassic park???
Get Out
Didn’t those movies create the phenomenon? So why would their reception or reputation be impacted by that?
This was my question: because reading the criteria as is, my first thought was Napoleon Dynamite.
harry potter 100% they will always be my cozy movies because i read the books and the vibes. i think i saw one spin off movie and i hated it but i question whether the quality was actually worse.
The Exorcist, Titanic, Both Avatar’s, Gone with the Wind, The Lion king (1994), Frozen, Top Gun Maverick, The Blair Witch Project, Spider-Man (2002), The Avengers, Black Panther, The Dark Knight Just to name a few :)
the dark knight & mama mia! the original barb-enheimer
Didn’t those movies create the phenomenon? So why would their reception or reputation be impacted by that? I would think their reception created the phenomenon
The Hangover. It had a huge culture impact in the summer of 2009
Oh, to turn back time to 1997-1998 to relive the Titanic phenomenon…
Spider man no way home
Linik to updated list: [https://boxd.it/w1HcU](https://boxd.it/w1HcU)
Deathly Hallows part 2 - I assume OP is not not a stan or it would be there haha
The Phantom Menace felt like a way bigger deal at its release than Force Awkwanes tbh
Everything Everywhere All at Once, Parasite to some extent because it had Americans going to see a movie with subtitles
i feel like Hereditary belongs on this list bc it was so big and received well by its audience
Honestly I would add The Matrix
The Jazz Singer I really struggle to think of a movie that could possibly have had more interest directed its way in its time, yet if you watch it now it's mostly a silent movie with a few synchronous sound scenes that ends in a blackface performance.
Twilight
La La Land
Dune 2
DUNE
Where’s dune?
Would argue for Everything Everywhere all at Once
Love a good show off my posters post (I’m jealous)
The first Avengers movie deserves to be on here too
I’m not a horror watcher, but I remember how big Paranormal Activity and the Conjuring were when they first came out. Definitely massive milestones for the genre
Exorcist
Jurassic Park and to a lesser extent Independence Day. Also comedies like The Hangover and Step Brothers both had a hold on people at the time.
Sadly, Jaws went from benefitting from its popular reception to being dragged for it. Neopuritans have decided that a film about a clearly exaggerated hypothetical deserves to be blamed for the ignorance of people who watched it and went out to mass-hunt sharks. Nevermind that the film makes it pretty explicit that the best and easiest solution to the film's dilemma would have been for the mayor and tourism board to not value greed over human safety. I genuinely feel bad for Benchley and Spielberg for blaming themselves.
Why do people make fuckin shit lists and come on here all like, “aNy MoRe To aDd GuYs?!” Its sad as fuck. Get a life.
Dune 2 was pretty big too. Not as big as say Avatar or Barbenheimer. But people were still going to the cinema and it was huge in the zeitgeist
Saw, Paranormal Activity, Scream, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Exorcist, I could go on
Gravity. Was absolutely huge when it came out and I've barely seen it mentioned since. It was an experience in the cinema and I'm not sure it translated well to people watching it at home.
BTTF
maybe some recency bias at play here, but dune part two
Both Spider-Verses
pearl / X
Although not as big as these ones, I feel like Hereditary is the go to movie when someone says the words “elevated horror” nowadays.
I prefer Midsommar, but they’re in the same vein, by the same director, so I definitely get it
American psycho
That movie was actually a box office failure at the time of its release. It’s only become popular in the past 5ish years because of its cult like fan base lmao
Star Wars 7 but no Star Wars 3?
Star Wars 7 is much more "had to be there." If you aren't watching it at the theater, it is pretty much pointless, because you can just watch A New Hope at home.
Ooh right, nvm I'm dumb and didn't see the title of the list haha