Every decade has its cultural monuments, the films people still quote, meme, and rewatch. Then there are the movies that made staggering amounts of money and quietly slipped out of the conversation.
The 2010s had plenty of those. The eleven films below were all big commercial successes, and the worldwide totals are rounded figures from widely reported box office tallies. Ask a friend about them today, though, and you may get a shrug.
Alice in Wonderland (2010)
Tim Burton’s take on Lewis Carroll crossed the one billion dollar mark worldwide. It was among the first films to do that, and it arrived right as 3D was surging after Avatar.
Today it rarely comes up in lists of beloved Disney remakes. Its sequel, Alice Through the Looking Glass in 2016, performed far below it, and the whole series seems to have faded from memory.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)
This third Transformers film grossed more than one billion dollars worldwide. It was a genuine global phenomenon in the summer of 2011.
Yet the franchise’s reputation among general audiences has been rocky. Few people point to this entry when discussing great blockbusters, even though it outearned most films of its year.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)
The fourth Pirates film took in over one billion dollars worldwide, a number that still surprises people. It was driven largely by international audiences, especially in China and other overseas markets.
Critics were lukewarm, and fans tend to jump from the original trilogy straight to later talk of the series. This installment is the one that often gets skipped.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
Peter Jackson’s return to Middle-earth earned over one billion dollars worldwide. It kicked off a trilogy that, in total, made a huge amount of money.
Even so, the Hobbit films rarely get the affection reserved for The Lord of the Rings. Debates over the high frame rate and the stretching of one short book into three movies still color how people remember them.
Skyfall (2012)
Skyfall became the first James Bond film to pass one billion dollars worldwide. It was also warmly reviewed and won two Academy Awards, including Best Original Song for Adele.
Still, conversations about Bond tend to center on Casino Royale or the Connery era. Skyfall’s milestone gets mentioned far less than you’d expect for such a record setter.
Despicable Me 2 (2013)
This sequel earned roughly 970 million dollars worldwide, a remarkable haul for an animated follow-up. It cemented the Minions as a merchandising force.
Later films, such as Minions in 2015, overshadowed it in public memory. The sequel itself is seldom discussed, despite being one of the biggest animated releases of its time.
Frozen (2013)
Frozen earned about 1.28 billion dollars worldwide, and at the time it was the highest grossing animated film ever. Its songs were everywhere for years.
The sequel and the cultural saturation that followed changed how people talk about it. These days it’s rarely brought up as the box office juggernaut it once was.
Jurassic World (2015)
Jurassic World debuted with a record breaking opening weekend and went on to earn more than 1.6 billion dollars worldwide. That placed it among the highest grossing films ever at the time.
Its sequels drew mixed reactions, and the conversation tends to return to the 1993 original. The 2015 film’s enormous success is seldom revisited.
Furious 7 (2015)
Furious 7 grossed over 1.5 billion dollars worldwide. Part of its pull was its tribute to Paul Walker, who died during production.
As the series carried on with more installments, this one became less of a talking point. Yet it remains one of the franchise’s biggest commercial peaks.
Beauty and the Beast (2017)
Disney’s live action remake grossed roughly 1.26 billion dollars worldwide. It was one of the top earners of 2017.
Disney’s long run of remakes has since blurred together in many viewers’ minds. This one, despite its huge numbers, rarely gets singled out anymore.
Incredibles 2 (2018)
Incredibles 2 earned over 1.2 billion dollars worldwide and set records for an animated opening weekend at the time. It arrived fourteen years after the first film.
Still, people tend to talk about the original instead. The sequel’s remarkable commercial run has largely drifted out of everyday conversation.
