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Milestones and Turning Points in Film History The Year 2000 |
 Timeline of Greatest Film History Milestones and Turning Points (by decade and year) Introduction | Pre-1900s | 1900s | 1910s | 1920s | 1930s | 1940s | 1950s 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
| Event and Significance | |
| Although the first TiVo digital video recorder (DVR) shipped in early 1999, it wasn't until the decade of the 2000s, after further technological improvements, that it became a commonplace media appliance for recording TV programs - allowing for 'time-shifting' of viewing, and for fast-forwarding through commercials. However, the majority of DVRs in use are now being installed in cable or satellite set-top boxes, threatening to make stand-alone TiVo machines obsolete. | |
| Only 3% of Americans had broadband Internet access. It was very difficult (without broadband, and only with dial-up) to download music and video files. | |
| The emerging cinema of China, beginning in the mid-1980s and after (i.e., Zhang Yimou's Raise the Red Lantern (1991) and The Story of Qiu Ju (1992), Chen Kaige's Farewell, My Concubine (1993), and Tian Zhuangzhuang's The Blue Kite (1993)), began to capture critical attention. This resurgence culminated in the martial arts film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), with its tale about a stolen sword, gravity-defying martial arts combat and star-crossed lovers. It marked the first major American cross-over success of an Asian action film, and became the highest-grossing sub-titled film ever released in the US, at $128.1 million. It was the first foreign-language film to gross more than $100 million in the US. It received a record 10 Oscar nominations (with four Oscar wins which were presented in 2001, including Best Foreign Language Film). The film's four wins tied it with Fanny & Alexander (1982, Swed.) as the Foreign Language film with the most wins. | |
decade |
The Hollywood studio system was dominated by six global entertainment companies: Time Warner, Viacom, Fox, Sony, NBC Universal, and Disney. These six companies generally farmed out the production of their films to literally dozens of other independents and subsidiaries. |
| Film making studios realized that lucrative profits could be scored by cheaply remaking, adapting, or 're-treading' classic TV shows or most prominently -- horror films (i.e., the theatrical re-release of The Exorcist: The Version You Haven't Seen Before (2000) with additional footage, the remade The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) and its prequel The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006), the Nightmare on Elm Street/Friday the 13th hybrid Freddy vs. Jason (2003), Renny Harlin's prequel Exorcist: The Beginning (2004), Zack Snyder's remake of the Romero film Dawn of the Dead (2004), the crossover film Alien vs. Predator (2004), the remake of the 1979 classic The Amityville Horror (2005), the loose remake of House of Wax (2005), Rob Zombie's reimagined Halloween (2007), My Bloody Valentine 3D (2009), and a reboot of Friday the 13th (2009)). | |
| Most of the films in the early part of the decade that were huge moneymakers were either comic-book related (i.e., Spider-Man (2002 and 2004)), serials (i.e., the Star Wars prequels of 1999, 2002 and 2005), animated films (i.e., Finding Nemo (2003) and Shrek 2 (2004)), based on children's fantasy stories (i.e., Harry Potter... (2001-2004) and The Lord of the Rings... (2001-2003)), or based on a theme-park ride (Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)). | |
| The live-action big-budget Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), starring Jim Carrey as the green, foul-minded, Christmas-stealing Grinch, was the highest-grossing (domestic) film of the year, at $260 million. It far surpassed the # 2 film, Cast Away (2000) with Tom Hanks at $233.6 million, and the # 3 film, the sequel Mission: Impossible II (2000) with Tom Cruise at $215.4 million. | |
| The most expensive shoes from a film sold at auction were Judy Garland's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz (1939) that were auctioned off by Christie's, New York in 2000 for $666,000. The same pair was previously sold by Christie's in 1988 for a then record of $165,000. | |
| Director Keenen Ivory Wayans' Scary Movie (2000) - the first of five horror parodies (of typical slasher films) in the next decade (through 2012) performed well with revenue of $157 million (domestic). | |
| Clint Eastwood's directing and acting project, Space Cowboys (2000) used high definition television (HDTV) technology for the first time in a Hollywood feature. | |
| The American Film Institute (AFI) released the second list in its continuing series, 100 Years...100 Laughs, to recognize the top 100 American films that were the funniest in cinematic history. Some Like It Hot (1959) was named the funniest film of all time. | |
| X-Men, the first in a trilogy of films, was the first major Marvel superhero comic ever adapted for the screen, and also one of the most profitable film franchises (of comics). | |
| Warner Home Video announced that the DVD of the Oscar-winning The Matrix (1999) had exceeded the 3 million mark in units sold in the U.S., solidifying its position as the # 1 best-selling DVD of all-time. This milestone would repeatedly be surpassed in subsequent years. | |
| After her early hit Pretty Woman (1990), at the end of the 1990s, mega-star Julia Roberts had four big hit films at the turn of the century - mostly romantic comedies: My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), Notting Hill (1999), Runaway Bride (1999), and Erin Brockovich (2000) - which brought the actress her first Best Actress Oscar. She became the highest-paid actress (and one of the most powerful actresses) in Hollywood at the time, according to Forbes Magazine and other publications. She was the first female to crash the $20 million salary barrier for her role in Erin Brockovich (2000). | |
| Writer/director Christopher Nolan's time-shifting, episodic, neo-noir independent film Memento (2000) was a huge success, for its reverse-chronological order, non-linear innovative structure. The puzzling story told about a man (Guy Pearce) suffering from short-term amnesia while investigating the rape/murder of his wife. It was up for two Academy Award nominations in 2001, but didn't receive any awards. | |
| The first live-action feature film to be entirely color-corrected (or color-graded) by digital means, giving the film a sepia-tinted tone, was the Coen Brothers' O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). It was the first film in its entirety to be graded digitally on computer, by scanning in the whole film and then digitally coloring it. | |
| The Perfect Storm (2000) perfected the FX techniques of depicting digital water, by using advanced cutting-edge software that both realistically displayed life-like droplets of water as well as the large waves of the raging ocean. No miniatures were used in the film - even the Andrea Gail fishing boat was recreated digitally as it faced a climactic 150 foot crest. The live action sequences in a water tank were seamlessly combined with the digital effects of the computer-generated seascape in the background. | |
| The first major business deal of the 20th Century was the America Online (AOL) purchase of Time Warner, Inc. for an estimated $182 billion - in stock ($163 billion) and debt ($17 billion). America Online was one of the largest Internet access subscription service companies and Internet providers in the US. The historic merger, the largest corporate acquisition and the most expensive buyout on record, created a global media and entertainment conglomerate, bringing together America Online and CompuServe on-line services and Netscape's Internet browser with the Warner Brothers studio, Cable News Network (CNN) and the Time publishing empire. At the end of the decade (2009), the merger of the decade ended -- Time Warner announced that it would spin off AOL as a separate independent company. | |
| The audience participation version of Best Picture-winning The Sound of Music (1965) was first screened in the US in 2000, mimicking the popularity of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). The film's lyrics were captioned to facilitate singing-along, and audience members often dressed up in costume, were provided with 'audience response kits' (Fun Paks included sprigs of fake white flowers to wave during Edelweiss, and party poppers for when the Captain finally kissed Maria) and coached to react to the screen with appropriate crowd responses (boos for Nazis, hisses for the Baroness, and cheers-applause for Maria) and other impromptu wisecracks. | |
| The season one finale of the reality game show Survivor (Borneo), airing on August 23, 2000, attracted more than 50 million viewers, who watched as Richard Hatch, a 39-year-old corporate trainer from Newport, Rhode Island, won the $1 million prize. It was the only season to have the winner revealed on location rather than live and in the U.S. In 2005, it was reported by the US Attorney's Office that Hatch had failed to report his winnings on his Federal income tax returns, and he was indicted, and then found guilty in 2006 of tax evasion. | |
| The national average ticket price for theatre admission was $5.39, according to the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO). | |
| Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000 (2000) was one of the worst flops of the year, at only $21.5 million (domestic), with a production budget of $73 million. Star John Travolta waived his $20 million salary, and instead reportedly took home an upfront pay cut, netting only $10 million. He was promised an incentive - another $15 million bonus if the film passed the $55 million mark - but it didn't. | |
| Razzie Awards were presented to the worst films of 2000 (they were presented in 2001), this year honoring Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000 (2000) with a tying seven awards (including 'Worst Actor' to John Travolta, 'Worst Picture' and 'Worst Director'), equaling the dubious achievement of director Paul Verhoeven's Showgirls (1995). In the year 2005, Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000 (2000) won 'Worst 'Drama' of the First 25 Years,' and in 2010, 'Worst Picture of the Decade.' |
