2009 in film

Last updated

The year 2009 saw the release of many films. Seven made the top 50 list of highest-grossing films. Also in 2009, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that as of that year, their Best Picture category would consist of ten nominees, rather than five (the first time since the 1943 awards).

Contents

List of years in film
In radio
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
In television
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
+...

Evaluation of the year

Film critic Philip French of The Guardian said that 2009 "began with the usual flurry of serious major movies given late December screenings in Los Angeles to qualify for the Oscars. They're now forgotten or vaguely regarded as semi-classics: The Reader , Che , Slumdog Millionaire , Frost/Nixon , Revolutionary Road , The Wrestler , Gran Torino , The Curious Case of Benjamin Button . It soon became apparent that horror movies would be the dominant genre once again, with vampires the pre-eminent sub-species, the most profitable inevitably being New Moon , the latest in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight saga, the best the subtle Swedish Let the Right One In and the worst the British horror spoof Lesbian Vampire Killers . Documentaries continued to flourish, introducing us to fascinating new worlds: Afghan TV talent shows ( Afghan Star ), Australian exploitation cinema ( Not Quite Hollywood ), haute couture ( The September Issue ). Animation thrived, the 3-D comeback threatened to become permanent rather than a gimmick, and the two were conjoined in a dozen 3-D animated features, the finest being Pixar's Up . Remakes and sequels abounded, none of any merit. The same went for films based on comic strips and graphic novels. British cinema generally bubbled in the doldrums. The well-acted Fish Tank was overrated, as was the dull costume drama The Young Victoria . The best films by native directors were fuelled by our obsession with soccer (Ken Loach's Looking for Eric and Tom Hooper's The Damned United ) or directed by foreigners (New Zealander Jane Campion's Bright Star , and two films by Danes: Nicholas Winding Refn's Bronson and Lone Scherfig's An Education ). The most original British film was Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor's low-key, low-budget Helen, a formally innovative look at provincial life. 2009 was a mostly undistinguished year for Hollywood, with indifferent films from Woody Allen ( Vicky Cristina Barcelona ), Michael Mann ( Public Enemies ) and others, and deadly blockbusters such as Angels & Demons and 2012 . The Coen brothers, however, were on form, examining their midwestern Jewish roots in A Serious Man , and Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker was the best film yet about Iraq. From Europe we had several striking revisionist accounts of violent resistance to Nazi occupation in the second world war: Flammen & Citronen (Denmark), Max Manus: Man of War (Norway) and The Army of Crime (France). But they were drowned in the tsunami of Quentin Tarantino's lunatic second world war fantasy Inglourious Basterds . The most likable European picture was the Italian Mid-August Lunch , the directorial debut of 60-year-old Gianni Di Gregorio (screenwriter on Gomorrah ), and the three most memorably argumentative and provocative were Paolo Sorrentino's Il Divo , Lars von Trier's Antichrist and Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon . The performances I most enjoyed were impersonations: Meryl Streep's Julia Child ( Julie & Julia ) and Christian McKay's Orson in Me and Orson Welles ." [1]

Highest-grossing films

The top 10 films released in 2009 by worldwide gross are as follows: [2]

Highest-grossing films of 2009
RankTitleDistributorWorldwide gross
1 Avatar Fox $2,743,577,587 [nb 1]
2 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Warner Bros. $933,959,197
3 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs Fox $886,686,817
4 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Paramount $836,303,693
5 2012 Sony $769,679,473
6 Up Disney $735,099,082
7 The Twilight Saga: New Moon Summit $709,827,462
8 Sherlock Holmes Warner Bros. $524,028,679
9 Angels & Demons Sony $485,930,816
10 The Hangover Warner Bros. $469,328,079
  1. Excludes grosses from subsequent re-releases.

Avatar surpassed Titanic as the highest-grossing film of all time on January 25, 2010. [3] Avatar then became the first film to earn more than $2 billion at the box office on January 31, 2010. [4] Avatar was surpassed by Avengers: Endgame as the highest-grossing film of all time on July 21, 2019. [5] Due to a re-release, Avatar retook the title from Endgame on March 13, 2021. [6]

Events

MonthDayEvent
January22The 81st Academy Awards nominations are announced with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button leading with 13 nominations, followed by Slumdog Millionaire with 10. Both films are nominated for Best Picture. Heath Ledger is posthumously nominated for Best Supporting Actor award for his performance in The Dark Knight , exactly one year after his death.
25The 15th Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony is held at the Shrine Exposition Center, Los Angeles.
Annie Awards ceremony is held in the UCLA's Royce Hall, Los Angeles.
31The 61st Directors Guild of America Award dinner is held in the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza, Los Angeles.
February5 – 15The 59th Berlin International Film Festival is opened with the world premiere of Tom Tykwer's The International . The Golden Bear prize is awarded to The Milk of Sorrow . The Silver Bears prizes are awarded to Asghar Farhadi, Best Director, Sotigui Kouyaté, Best Actor and Birgit Minichmayr, Best Actress. The festival is closed by the international premiere of George Tillman Jr.'s Notorious
7The 61st Writers Guild of America Awards is held.
The 62nd BAFTA Awards ceremony is held in the Royal Opera House, London.
21The 29th Golden Raspberry Awards ceremony is held in Hollywood, California.
22The 81st Academy Awards ceremony is held at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles.
March29The 14th Empire Awards ceremony is held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, England.
May31The 2009 MTV Movie Awards ceremony was held at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California
July23 – 2 AugustThe 9th Era New Horizons Film Festival in Wrocław was held
December18 Avatar is released in theaters, breaking many box-office records, including becoming the highest-grossing movie at the time.

Awards

Category/Organization 15th Critics' Choice Awards
January 15, 2010
67th Golden Globe Awards
January 17, 2010
Producers, Directors, Screen Actors, and Writers Guild Awards 63rd BAFTA Awards
February 21, 2010
82nd Academy Awards
March 7, 2010
DramaMusical or Comedy
Best Film The Hurt Locker Avatar The Hangover The Hurt Locker
Best Director Kathryn Bigelow
The Hurt Locker
James Cameron
Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow
The Hurt Locker
Best Actor Jeff Bridges
Crazy Heart
Robert Downey Jr.
Sherlock Holmes
Jeff Bridges
Crazy Heart
Colin Firth
A Single Man
Jeff Bridges
Crazy Heart
Best Actress Sandra Bullock
The Blind Side
Meryl Streep
Julie & Julia
Sandra Bullock
The Blind Side
Meryl Streep
Julie & Julia
Sandra Bullock
The Blind Side
Carey Mulligan
An Education
Sandra Bullock
The Blind Side
Best Supporting Actor Christoph Waltz
Inglourious Basterds
Best Supporting Actress Mo'Nique
Precious
Best Screenplay, Adapted Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner
Up in the Air
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner
Up in the Air
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner
Up in the Air
Geoffrey Fletcher
Precious
Best Screenplay, Original Quentin Tarantino
Inglourious Basterds
Mark Boal
The Hurt Locker
Best Animated Film Up
Best Original Score Up
Michael Giacchino
N/A Up
Michael Giacchino
Best Original Song"The Weary Kind"
Crazy Heart
N/AN/A"The Weary Kind"
Crazy Heart
Best Foreign Language Film Broken Embraces The White Ribbon N/A A Prophet The Secret in Their Eyes

2009 films

By country/region

By genre/medium

Births

Deaths

MonthDateNameAgeCountryProfessionNotable films
January 1 Edmund Purdom 84UKActor
2 Steven Gilborn 72USActor
3 Pat Hingle 84USActor
3 Olga San Juan 81USActress, Dancer
5Robert F. Brunner70USComposer
5 Ned Tanen 77USProducer, Executive
6 John Scott Martin 82UKActor
8 Don Galloway 71USActor
12 Claude Berri 74FranceDirector, Producer, Screenwriter
12 Russ Conway 95CanadaActor
13 Patrick McGoohan 80IrelandActor
14 Ricardo Montalbán 88MexicoActor
14 Angela Morley 84UKComposer
15 Chuck Gaspar 70USSpecial Effects Artist
17 Susanna Foster 84USActress, Singer
18 Kathleen Byron 88UKActress
21 Charles H. Schneer 88USProducer
26 Darrell Sandeen 78USActor
31 Clint Ritchie 70USActor
February 6 Philip Carey 83USActor
6 James Whitmore 87USActor
7 Molly Bee 69USSinger, Actress
7 Lesley Brook 91UKActress
9 Robert Anderson 91USScreenwriter
13 Dilys Laye 74UKActress
19 Oreste Lionello 81ItalyActor
20 Robert Quarry 83USActor
21 Howard Zieff 81USDirector
23 Laurence Payne 89UKActor
24 Edward Judd 76UKActor
27 John Alvin 91USActor
March 3 Sydney Chaplin 82USActor
4 Horton Foote 92USScreenwriter
7 Tullio Pinelli 100ItalyScreenwriter
13 Betsy Blair 85USActress
14 Millard Kaufman 92USScreenwriter
15 Ron Silver 62USActor
18 Natasha Richardson 45UKActress
21 John Cater 77UKActor
21 John Franklyn-Robbins 84UKActor
25 Steven Bach 70USStudio Executive
29 Monte Hale 89USActor, Singer
29 Maurice Jarre 84FranceComposer
April 1 Lou Perryman 67USActor
1 Miguel Ángel Suárez 69Puerto RicoActor
3 Tom Smith 88UKMakeup Artist
4 Jody McCrea 74USActor
5 Wouter Barendrecht 43NetherlandsProducer
8 Jane Bryan 90USActress
9 Michael N. Harbour 63UKActor
9 Shakti Samanta 83IndiaDirector, Producer
11 Simon Channing Williams 63UKProducer
12 Marilyn Chambers 57USActress
18 Peter Dennis 75UKActor
22 Ken Annakin 94UKDirector
22 Jack Cardiff 94UKCinematographer, Director
25 Bea Arthur 86USActress
27 Feroz Khan 69IndiaActor
May 1 Marc Rocco 46USDirector, Screenwriter
4 Dom DeLuise 75USActor
4 Jane Randolph 93USActress
15 Bud Tingwell 86AustraliaActor
18 Wayne Allwine 62USVoice Actor
20 Lucy Gordon 28UKActress
28 Mort Abrahams 93USProducer
28 Terence Alexander 86UKActor
June 3 David Carradine 72USActor
3 Shih Kien 96ChinaActor
6 Mary Howard 96USActress
9 Michael Roof 32USActor
21 Lorena Gale 51CanadaActress
23 Ed McMahon 86USActor
25 Farrah Fawcett 62USActress
25 Michael Jackson 50USSinger, Actor
27 Gale Storm 87USSinger, Actress
29 Jan Rubeš 89Czech RepublicSinger, Actor
30 Harve Presnell 75USActor, Singer
July 1 Karl Malden 97USActor
4 Brenda Joyce 92USActress
10 Zena Marshall 83UKActress
13 Beverly Roberts 95USActress
14 Dal McKennon 89USActor
24 Harry Towb 83IrelandActor
26 Clayton Hill 78USActor
29 Joanne Jordan 88USActress
31 Jean-Paul Roussillon 78FranceActor
August 4 Blake Snyder 51USScreenwriter
5 Budd Schulberg 95USScreenwriter
6 John Hughes 59USDirector, Screenwriter, Producer
9 John Quade 71USActor
12 Ruth Ford 98USActress
13 John Bentley 92UKActor
16 Richard Moore 83USCinematographer, Director
21 Gordon Daniel 86UKSound Engineer
26 Sadie Corré 91UKActress, Dancer
26 Dominick Dunne 83USProducer
28 Wayne Tippit 76USActor
September 3 Caro Jones 86CanadaCasting Director
4 Iain Cuthbertson 79UKActor
4 Carl Reindel 74USActor
7 Frank Coghlan, Jr. 93USActor
8 Ray Barrett 82AustraliaActor
11 Zakes Mokae 75South AfricaActor
12 Larry Gelbart 81USScreenwriter
13 Paul Burke 83USActor
13 Arnold Laven 87USDirector
14 Henry Gibson 73USActor
14 Patrick Swayze 57USActor
15 Troy Kennedy Martin 77UKScreenwriter
16 Timothy Bateson 83UKActor
16 Luciano Emmer 91ItalyDirector, Screenwriter
17 Dick Durock 72USActor, Stuntman
18 Pearl Hackney 92UKActress
20 John Hart 91USActor
20 Katherine Parr 88UKActress
21 Robert Ginty 60USActor, Director
30 Robert S. Baker 92UKProducer, Director, Cinematographer
October 3 John Peverall 77-78UKProducer
6 Pamela Blake 94USActress
10 Sean Lawlor 55IrelandActor
13 Al Martino 82USActor, Singer
13 Daniel Melnick 77USProducer, Executive
14 Lou Albano 76ItalyActor, Wrestler
14 Collin Wilcox 74USActress
17 Douglas Blackwell 85UKActor
17 Vic Mizzy 93USComposer
17 Rosanna Schiaffino 69ItalyActress
19 Joseph Wiseman 91CanadaActor
20 Hubert Rees 81UKActor
23 Lou Jacobi 95CanadaActor
26 Yoshirō Muraki 85JapanProduction Designer, Costume Designer
27 John David Carson 57USActor
November 4 David Tree 94UKActor
6Derek Brechin57UKFilm Editor
12 Paul Wendkos 84USDirector
16 Edward Woodward 79UKActor
17 Tony Kendall 72ItalyActor
28 Gilles Carle 81CanadaDirector, Screenwriter
December 3 Nat Boxer 84USSound Engineer
3 Richard Todd 90IrelandActor
4 Bryan O'Byrne 78USActor
5 Garfield Morgan 78UKActor
8 Joan Bridge 97UKCostume Designer
9 Gene Barry 90USActor
12 Val Avery 85USActor
15 Peter Murton 85UKProduction Designer, Art Director
15 Robert Turturice 60USCostume Designer
16 Roy E. Disney 79USStudio Executive
17 Alaina Reed Hall 63USActress
17 Jennifer Jones 90USActress
17 Dan O'Bannon 63USScreenwriter, Director, Actor
19 Donald Pickering 76UKActor
20 Brittany Murphy 32USActress
20 Shari Rhodes 71USCasting Director
20 Arnold Stang 91USActor
21 Marianne Stone 87UKActress
22 Michael Currie 81USActor
24 Giulio Bosetti 78ItalyActor
30 Perry Wilson 93USActress
31 Glauco Onorato 73ItalyActor

Film debuts

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Cameron</span> Canadian filmmaker (born 1954)

James Francis Cameron is a Canadian filmmaker. He is a major figure in the post-New Hollywood era. He often uses novel technologies with a classical filmmaking style. He first gained recognition for writing and directing The Terminator (1984) and found further success with Aliens (1986), The Abyss (1989), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), True Lies (1994), as well as Avatar (2009) and its sequels. He directed, wrote, co-produced, and co-edited Titanic (1997), winning three Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Film Editing. He is a recipient of various other industry accolades, and three of his films have been selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

The year 2000 in film involved some significant events. The top grosser worldwide was Mission: Impossible 2. Domestically in North America, Gladiator won the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Actor. Dinosaur was the most expensive film of 2000 and a box-office success.

2003 in film is an overview of events, including the highest-grossing films, award ceremonies, festivals, a list of country- and genre- specific lists of films released, notable deaths and film debuts.

The year 1996 involved many significant films. The major releases this year included Scream, Independence Day, Fargo, Trainspotting, The Rock, The English Patient, Twister, Space Jam, Mission: Impossible,Mars Attacks!, Jerry Maguire and a film version of the musical Evita.

The year 1997 in film involved many significant films, including Titanic, The Full Monty, Gattaca, Donnie Brasco, Good Will Hunting, L.A. Confidential, The Fifth Element, Nil by Mouth, The Spanish Prisoner, and the beginning of the film studio DreamWorks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Hemsworth</span> Australian actor (born 1983)

Christopher Hemsworth is an Australian actor. He rose to prominence playing Kim Hyde in the Australian television series Home and Away (2004–2007) before beginning a film career in Hollywood. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Hemsworth starred as Thor in the 2011 film of the same name and reprised the role in several films, including in Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), which established him among the world's highest-paid actors.

The year 2008 involved many major film events. The Dark Knight was the year's highest-grossing film, while Slumdog Millionaire won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

<i>Avatar</i> (2009 film) 2009 American film by James Cameron

Avatar is a 2009 epic science fiction film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. The cast includes Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, Stephen Lang, Joel David Moore, Giovanni Ribisi, CCH Pounder, Dileep Rao, Matt Gerald, Laz Alonso, and Wes Studi It is the first installment in the Avatar franchise. It is set in the mid-22nd century, when humans are colonizing Pandora, a lush habitable moon of a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system, in order to mine the valuable mineral unobtanium. The expansion of the mining colony threatens the continued existence of a local tribe of Na'vi, a humanoid species indigenous to Pandora. The title of the film refers to a genetically engineered Na'vi body operated from the brain of a remotely located human that is used to interact with the natives of Pandora.

The following is an overview of the events of 2011 in film, including the highest-grossing films, film festivals, award ceremonies and a list of films released and notable deaths. More film sequels were released in 2011 than any other year before it, with 27 sequels released.

2012 in film is an overview of events, including the highest-grossing films, award ceremonies, critics' lists of the best films of 2012, festivals, a list of country-specific lists of films released, and notable deaths. Most notably, Universal and Paramount, two of America's oldest surviving film studios, celebrated their centennial anniversaries, marking the first time that two major film studios celebrate 100 years. The Dolby Atmos sound format was launched for the premiere of Brave. The James Bond film series celebrated its 50th anniversary and released its 23rd film, Skyfall. Six box-office blockbusters from previous years were re-released in 3D and IMAX. Also, the year marked the debut for high frame rate technology. The first film using 48 F.P.S., a higher frame rate than the film industry standard 24 F.P.S., was The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Cameron filmography</span>

James Cameron is a Canadian director, screenwriter, and producer who has had an extensive career in film and television. Cameron's debut was the 1978 science fiction short Xenogenesis, which he directed, wrote and produced. In his early career, he did various technical jobs such as special visual effects producer, set dresser assistant, matte artist, and photographer. His feature directorial debut was the 1982 release Piranha II: The Spawning. The next film he directed was the science fiction action thriller The Terminator (1984) which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as the titular cyborg assassin, and was Cameron's breakthrough feature. In 1986, he directed and wrote the science fiction action sequel Aliens starring Sigourney Weaver. He followed this by directing another science fiction film The Abyss (1989). In 1991, Cameron directed the sequel to The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and also executive produced the action crime film Point Break. Three years later he directed a third Schwarzenegger-starring action film True Lies (1994).

2019 in film is an overview of events, including the highest-grossing films, award ceremonies, critics' lists of the best films of 2019, festivals, a list of country-specific lists of films released, and movie programming. Avengers Endgame was the year's highest grossing film and the highest-grossing of all-time until Avatar regained the top spot in 2021.

2022 in film is an overview of events, including the highest-grossing films, award ceremonies, critics' lists of the best films of 2022, festivals, a list of country-specific lists of films released, and notable deaths.

2021 in film is an overview of events, including the highest-grossing films, award ceremonies, festivals, a list of country-specific lists of films released, and movie programming.

References

  1. French, Philip (13 December 2009). "2009 in review: Film". The Guardian . Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  2. "2009 Worldwide Box Office". Box Office Mojo . IMDb . Retrieved March 7, 2020.
  3. Segers, Frank (January 25, 2010). "'Avatar' breaks 'Titanic' worldwide record". The Hollywood Reporter . Archived from the original on January 28, 2010. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
  4. Bettinger, Brendan (January 31, 2010). "Avatar Becomes the First Film to Gross More Than $2 Billion Worldwide". Collider . Retrieved April 23, 2010.
  5. Brevet, Brad (July 21, 2019). "'The Lion King' Debuts with Record $185M & 'Endgame' Becomes Global #1". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved May 20, 2021.
  6. Tartaglione, Nancy (March 13, 2021). "'Avatar' Overtakes 'Avengers: Endgame' As All-Time Highest-Grossing Film Worldwide; Rises To $2.8B Amid China Reissue – Update". Deadline Hollywood . Archived from the original on March 13, 2021. Retrieved June 3, 2021.