Pop Culture Phenomenon Films: 10’s

Rise of the Guardians is a 2012 American animated fantasy action-adventure film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures.

The film was directed by Peter Ramsey (in his feature directorial debut) from a screenplay by David Lindsay-Abaire, based on the book series The Guardians of Childhood and the short film The Man in the Moon by William Joyce.

It stars the voices of Chris Pine, Alec Baldwin, Jude Law, Isla Fisher, and Hugh Jackman. The film tells a story about Guardians Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, and the Sandman, who enlist Jack Frost to stop the evil Pitch Black from engulfing the world in darkness in a fight of dreams.



When an evil spirit known as Pitch lays down the gauntlet to take over the world, the immortal Guardians must join forces for the first time to protect the hopes, beliefs and imagination of children all over the world.

With Renee Fleming performing the song, “Still Dream” and music composed by Alexandre Desplate,






Chris Pine, was in Wonder Woman and it’s sequel as a Steve Trevor, Alec Baldwin in The Shadow, Jude Law in Captain Marvel, and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in the X-Men series.

Bond is about meet his most deadliest enemy yet.

When Bond's latest assignment goes gravely wrong, agents around the world are exposed and MI6 headquarters is attacked.

While M faces challenges to her authority and position from Gareth Mallory, the new Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee,

it's up to Bond, aided only by field agent Eve, to locate the mastermind behind the attack.

Skyfall, marked the last film for Dame Judi Dench as M, with her having one of the longest tenures in the series as M.

After the birth of Renesmee, the Cullens gather other vampire clans in order to protect the child from a false allegation that puts the family in front of the Volturi.

Officially, this movie was the end of the series. Baring stuff of course.

Primatologist Davis Okoye shares an unshakable bond with George, the extraordinarily intelligent, silverback gorilla who has been in his care since birth.

But a rogue genetic experiment gone awry mutates this gentle ape into a raging creature of enormous size.

To make matters worse, it’s soon discovered there are other similarly altered animals.

As these newly created alpha predators tear across North America, destroying everything in their path, Okoye teams with a discredited genetic engineer to secure an antidote, fighting his way through an ever-changing battlefield, not only to halt a global catastrophe but to save the fearsome creature that was once his friend.

This is it. The final stand for our heroes. If they don’t defeat Thanos, who now has the Infinity Gauntlet and is bent on universal conquest, then pretty all of everything is doomed.

The film, officially marked the end of the original The Avengers franchise, with Gwyneth Paltrow, Robert Downey Jr., and Scarlett Johnansen (outside of the Black Widow prequel) finishing their time in the MCU.

For some, this should have ended the MCU (or at least the time being). No prequels, no streaming specials, no sequels, or streaming series.

That’s it. For now. Or forever. But we know what would happen next.

Star race car Lightning McQueen and his pal Mater head overseas to compete in the World Grand Prix race.

But the road to the championship becomes rocky as Mater gets caught up in an intriguing adventure of his own: international espionage.

A spoiled, wealthy yacht owner is thrown overboard and becomes the target of revenge from his mistreated employee.

For Nick, Kurt and Dale, the only thing that would make the daily grind more tolerable would be to grind their intolerable bosses into dust.

Quitting is not an option, so, with the benefit of a few-too-many drinks and some dubious advice from a hustling ex-con, the three friends devise a convoluted and seemingly foolproof plan to rid themselves of their respective employers... permanently.

Kindhearted Griffin Keyes is one of the best-loved caretakers at the Franklin Park Zoo, but he's more comfortable with the animals than with females of his own species as proven by his failed marriage proposal to the self-absorbed Stephanie several years ago.

The animals have listened to Griffin pine over her for years and, after she reappears in his life, they decide to help Griffin rekindle the relationship and become the alpha male she wants him to be.

They inadvertently reveal their secret ability to talk and, after Griffin's initial shock, teach him the rules of courtship, animal-style.

Surprisingly, the animals' advice really works and Griffin is about to get everything he's ever dreamed of--or is he?

As the Avengers and their allies have continued to protect the world from threats too large for any one hero to handle, a new danger has emerged from the cosmic shadows: Thanos.

A despot of intergalactic infamy, his goal is to collect all six Infinity Stones, artifacts of unimaginable power, and use them to inflict his twisted will on all of reality.

Everything the Avengers have fought for has led up to this moment, the fate of Earth and existence itself has never been more uncertain.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a 2011 mystery thriller film directed by David Fincher from a screenplay by Steven Zaillian.

It is based on the 2005 novel of the same name by Stieg Larsson

Disgraced financial reporter Mikael Blomkvist finds a chance to redeem his honor after being hired by wealthy Swedish industrialist Henrik Vanger to solve the 40-year-old murder of Vanger's niece, Harriet.

Vanger believes that Harriet was killed by a member of his own family.

Eventually joining Blomkvist on his dangerous quest for the truth is Lisbeth Salander, an unusual but ingenious investigator whose fragile trust is not easily won.

Between a lack lustre box office, and Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig’s busy schedules, a sequel was never made, and the trilogy unfinished.

David Fincher wanted a bigger budget because he was dedicated to making them a hard R-rated franchise, and Sony didn’t want to give it since the first movie hadn’t been super profitable.

And Daniel Craig had just filmed Skyfall so he wanted a pay increase too.

The film grossed $232.6 million against a $90 million production budget and received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for Craig and Mara's performances as well as Fincher's direction, the score, and the film's tone and visuals.

The film was chosen by the National Board of Review as one of the top ten films of 2011 and was a candidate for numerous awards, winning, among others, the Academy Award for Best Film Editing, while Mara's performance earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

A soft reboot and sequel, The Girl in the Spider's Web, was released in October 2018.

Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor, composed music for the film.

The soundtrack is nearly three hours long, and includes covers of the Led Zeppelin track, "Immigrant Song", featuring Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and the Bryan Ferry song, "Is Your Love Strong Enough?", by Reznor and Ross' own band, How to Destroy Angels.

A head injury causes a woman to develop an extraordinary amount of confidence and believe she's drop dead gorgeous.

A family is forced to live in silence while hiding from creatures that hunt by sound.

It marked the film directorial debut of John Krasinski, and also starring Krasinski along with his wife, Emily Blunt.

Part of the marketing for the film, involved the audience keeping absolutely quiet, in order to heighten the film’s experience.

Later on followed by a sequel, and prequel.

The Autobots continue to work for NEST, now no longer in secret.

But after discovering a strange artifact during a mission in Chernobyl, it becomes apparent to Optimus Prime that the United States government has been less than forthright with them.

Harry, Ron and Hermione continue their quest to vanquish the evil Voldemort once and for all.

Just as things begin to look hopeless for the young wizards, Harry discovers a trio of magical objects that endow him with powers to rival Voldemort's formidable skills.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation is a 2013 American military science fiction action film based on the G.I. Joe toy line. It is the second installment in the G.I. Joe film series and the sequel to G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009).

Directed by Jon M. Chu and written by the writing team of Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, the film features an ensemble cast with Lee Byung-hun, Ray Park, Jonathan Pryce, Channing Tatum, and Arnold Vosloo reprising their roles from the previous film, while Luke Bracey and Robert Baker take over the role of Cobra Commander, replacing Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and D. J. Cotrona, Adrianne Palicki, Ray Stevenson, Bruce Willis, and Dwayne Johnson round out the principal cast.

Framed for crimes against the country, the G.I. Joe team is terminated by Presidential order. This forces the G.I. Joes into not only fighting their mortal enemy Cobra; they are forced to contend with threats from within the government that jeopardize their very existence.

Ray Park, was in X-Men, Dwayne Johnson in Black Adam, Channing Tatum was in Deadpool & Wolverine, and Ray Stevenson in The Punisher: War Zone.

Sadly, Stevenson would pass away years later.

The film received generally negative reviews from critics, although it was considered an improvement from its predecessor and grossed $375.7 million worldwide against a budget of $130–155 million.

It was later followed Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins.

It’s lack lustre box office performance, put the G.? Joe film franchise on ice.

For now.

The Croods (also known as Crood Awakening) is a 2013 American animated adventure comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox.

The film was directed by Chris Sanders and Kirk DeMicco, both of whom also wrote the screenplay and were credited with conceiving the story alongside John Cleese.

The film stars the voices of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Clark Duke, and Cloris Leachman

The prehistoric Croods family live in a particularly dangerous moment in time.

Patriarch Grug, his mate Ugga, teenage daughter Eep, son Thunk, and feisty Gran gather food by day and huddle together in a cave at night.

When a more evolved caveman named Guy arrives on the scene, Grug is distrustful, but it soon becomes apparent that Guy is correct about the impending destruction of their world.

Nicholas Cage, was in Ghost Rider, and it’s sequel Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, as well as voice work in Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse, and a cameo in The Flash.

While Ryan Reynolds was in Blade Trinity, Green Lantern, and X-Men: Wolverine Origins, and the Deadpool series as Deadpool.

The film launched a new franchise, with a television series, Dawn of the Croods which debuted on December 24, 2015, on Netflix.

A sequel directed by Joel Crawford, titled The Croods: A New Age, was released on November 25, 2020.

Scary Movie 5 (stylized as Scary MoVie) is a 2013 American parody film directed by Malcolm D. Lee, written by David Zucker and Pat Proft, and produced by Zucker and Phil Dornfeld.

It is the standalone sequel to Scary Movie 4 (2006) and the fifth installment in the Scary Movie film series. It is the second and last film in the series to be distributed by The Weinstein Company, as well as the only one not to involve Miramax Films.

The film stars Ashley Tisdale, Simon Rex, Erica Ash, Katrina Bowden, Terry Crews, Heather Locklear, J. P. Manoux, Mac Miller, Jerry O'Connell, Molly Shannon, Snoop Dogg, Kate Walsh and Katt Williams.

A couple begin to experience some unusual activity after bringing their newborn son home from the hospital. With the help of home-surveillance cameras and a team of experts, they learn they're being stalked by a nefarious demon.

Scary Movie 5, is the first sequel in the Scary Movie spoof franchise that did not star Anna Faris or Regina Hall.

As such, it is also the last sequel in the Scary Movie franchise.

Without the previous movies’ funniest ladies, we’re left with Charlie Sheen, Simon Rex, and a bunch of B-listers doing silly cameos in a horror-comedy that tries to poke fun at horror movies such as Paranormal Activity, Sinister, and Insidious but is scarily devoid of any real laughs.

Director Malcolm D. Lee reportedly said of the Razzie-nominated Scary Movie V, “It was just a bad movie. Believe me. Don’t bother going to see that movie. Or renting it, or anything. It’s not worth your time.” That settles it, the director’s cut of Scary Movie V is to cut all of it.

Scary Movie 5 was released on April 12, 2013.[6] The film received negative reviews from critics.

With a gross of $78.4 million against a $20 million budget, it is the lowest-grossing film in the Scary Movie series despite being a box office success. A sequel, Scary Movie 6, is in development with the Wayans brothers' involvment after 18 years.

American Reunion (also known as American Pie 4: Reunion or American Pie: Reunion in certain countries[3]) is a 2012 American sex comedy film written and directed by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg.

It is the fourth and final installment in the American Pie theatrical series.

In the comedy American Reunion, all the American Pie characters we met a little more than a decade ago are returning to East Great Falls for their high-school reunion.

In one long-overdue weekend, they will discover what has changed, who hasn’t and that time and distance can’t break the bonds of friendship.

There is a certain melancholy for fans of the series, as far as things are concerned American Reunion is officially the end of the franchise.

Spanning eight films, four theatrical, and four direct to video under American Pie Presents band logo.

Things changes, friendships come and go, memories may last, but all things end.

Especially, the last slice of pie.

Released in the United States on April 6, 2012, American Reunion received generally mixed reviews from critics, but was a worldwide box office success, grossing $235 million against a $50 million budget.

Oblivion is a 2013 American post-apocalyptic action-adventure film produced and directed by Joseph Kosinski from a screenplay by Karl Gajdusek and Michael deBruyn, starring Tom Cruise in the main role alongside Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko, Andrea Riseborough, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and Melissa Leo in supporting roles.

Based on Kosinski's unpublished graphic novel of the same name, the film pays homage to 1970s sci-fi, and is a "love story" set in 2077 on an Earth desolated by an alien war; a maintenance technician on the verge of completing his mission finds a woman who survived from a space ship crash, leading him to question his purpose and discover the truth about the war.

Jack Harper is one of the last few drone repairmen stationed on Earth. Part of a massive operation to extract vital resources after decades of war with a terrifying threat known as the Scavs, Jack’s mission is nearly complete.

His existence is brought crashing down when he rescues a beautiful stranger from a downed spacecraft.

Her arrival triggers a chain of events that forces him to question everything he knows and puts the fate of humanity in his hands.

In North America, the film earned 37.1 million on its opening weekend, including $5.5 million from IMAX screenings in 323 theaters, making it Cruise's best North American opening after Top Gun: Maverick, Mission: Impossible film series and War of the Worlds.

The film closed on June 27, 2013. Oblivion grossed US$89.1 million in the U.S. and US$198.8 million internationally, bringing the worldwide total to US$287.9 million.

42 is a 2013 American biographical sports film written and directed by Brian Helgeland.

The plot follows baseball player Jackie Robinson, the first black athlete to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) during the modern era.

The title of the film is a reference to Robinson's jersey number, which was universally retired across all MLB teams in 1997.

The ensemble cast includes Chadwick Boseman as Robinson, alongside Harrison Ford, Nicole Beharie, Christopher Meloni, André Holland, Lucas Black, Hamish Linklater, and Ryan Merriman in supporting roles.

In 1946, Branch Rickey, owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, took a stand against Major League Baseball's infamous colour line when he signed Jackie Robinson to the team.

The deal put both men in the crosshairs of the public, the press and even other players.

Facing unabashed racism from every side, Robinson was forced to demonstrate tremendous courage and let his talent on the field wins over fans and his teammates, silencing his critics and forever changing the world by changing the game of baseball.

Chadwick Boseman, would later go on to play T'Challa and Black Panther in the MCU Universe.

Sadly, Bozeman, would pass away a few years later.

42 grossed $95 million in the United States and $2.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $97.5 million, against a production budget of $40 million.[3][31]

The film earned $27.3 million for its opening weekend, the best-ever debut for a baseball themed film.

It then made $17.7 million and $10.7 million on its second and third weekends, finishing second and third, respectively.

After Boseman's death in August 2020, several theater chains, including AMC and Regal, re-released the film in September.

Boseman and Ford received nominations for various awards, including Best Supporting Actor (Ford), Actor in a supporting role (Harrison Ford), and Most Promising Performer (Boseman).

Lincoln is a 2012 American biographical historical drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg, starring Daniel Day-Lewis as United States President Abraham Lincoln.

It features Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader, Hal Holbrook, and Tommy Lee Jones in supporting roles.

The screenplay by Tony Kushner was loosely based on Doris Kearns Goodwin's 2005 biography Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln and covers the final four months of Lincoln's life.

The film focuses on Lincoln's efforts in January 1865 to abolish slavery and involuntary servitude by having the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution passed by the United States House of Representatives.


The revealing story of the 16th US President's tumultuous final months in office. In a nation divided by war and the strong winds of change, Lincoln pursues a course of action designed to end the war, unite the country and abolish slavery.

With the moral courage and fierce determination to succeed, his choices during this critical moment will change the fate of generations to come.





Tommy Lee Jones, was in Men In Black and Batman Forever, Joseph Gordon Leavitt was in Dark Knight Rises, Dane DeHaan in Amazing Spider-Man 2, Michael Stuhlbarg in Men in Black 3 and the Doctor Strange films, James Spader in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Tim Blake Nelson in Captain America in Captain America: New World, Jackie Earle Haley in Watchmen, and Sally Field in the Amazing Spider-Man films.

Made for $65 million, and garnered $275.3 million.