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Blockbusters: The 12 Top Grossing Films 25 Years Ago

All of these movies had the most success at the worldwide box office in 2001

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2001 was a year in which the world changed a great deal. The attacks on 9/11 changed how we traveled, attended events, and even lived our lives.

Besides that, technology was also transforming our lives. Cell phones were starting to be found in every pocket, and computers were a part of our daily life.

Streaming of movies was virtually unheard of. Netflix was only a DVD rental service, and people still flocked to the theaters to see the latest movies.

What movies did people go to the movies to see twenty-five years ago? Here is a list of the biggest blockbuster films of 2001 in terms of worldwide box office numbers.

12. A Beautiful Mind ($313,542,341)

Directed by Ron Howard and starring Russell Crowe, A Beautiful Mind was about the brilliant mathematician and Nobel Laureate John Nash who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia.

The movie would win four Academy Awards including the coveted Best Picture in 2002.

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11. Rush Hour 2 ($347,325,802)

The 2001 sequel, Rush Hour 2, starred Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan as investigators looking into a bombing at the U.S. Embassy in Hong Kong. The head of a local crime syndicate sends is men to thwart the investigation.

Rush Hour 2 did much better at the box office than the original Rush Hour and ended up being the highest grossing movie in the series. Much of the filming was done on location in Hong Kong with some of the street chase scenes done in the public without blocking the streets off, using actual pedestrians as unpaid extras.

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10. Hannibal ($351,692,268)

This sequel to The Silence of the Lambs was directed by Ridley Scott.

It was set ten years after The Silence of the Lambs and followed the escaped Dr. Hannibal Lecter played by Anthony Hopkins who is now living in Florence, Italy.

Instead of Jody Foster, Julianne Moore plays FBI Agent Clarice Starling who was publicly disgraced after a botched undercover drug operation. Starling is trying to recapture the cannibalistic serial killer.

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9. Planet of the Apes (2001) ($362,211,740)

This is not a remake of the 1968 movie. The story is quite different. There are, of course, some similarities. An astronaut crash lands on a planet ruled by apes.

Astronaut Leo Davidson travels through space and time to end up on a planet where apes and gorillas lord over humans. Davidson leads a group of rebel humans and is aided by some chimpanzees to find his wrecked spaceship.

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8. Jurassic Park III ($368,780,809)

Jurassic Park III was the first movie in the series not directed by Steven Spielberg and not based on a Michael Crichton novel.

Directed by Joe Johnston, the third movie in this franchise brings back paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant played by Sam Neil. He is tricked by a couple searching for their lost son into going to Isla Sorna, a island where dinosaurs were bred. Of course, as with the rest of the movies in the franchise, when dinosaurs and people mix, all hell breaks loose.

The movie would box office more than $368 million worldwide.

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7. The Mummy Returns ($433,013,274)

The Mummy Returns was written and directed by Stephen Sommers. It grossed over $436 million worldwide.

Brendan Fraser is back as Rick O’Connell along with his wife, Evelyn played by Rachel Weisz. Now, they have a son. There old enemy Imhotep is also resurrected and that must face him and the Scorpion King, played by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in his major movie debut.

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6. Pearl Harbor ($449,220,945)

This 2001 movie had a huge $140 million dollar budget. It is a good thing it brought in almost $450 million worldwide.

This movie was about the historic bombing of Pearl Harbor and the follow up Doolittle’s Raid is a romance war drama starring Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, and Kate Beckinsale.

The movie was heavily criticized for having numerous historical inaccuracies, including the types of planes used.

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5. Ocean’s Eleven (2001) ($450,717,150)

Just like the original 1960 Rat Pack version of Ocean’s Eleven, the 2001 version had an all-star cast. George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Andy Garcia, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Bernie Mac, Carl Reiner, and Casey Affleck all acted in this thriller.

This movie about a casino heist had many scenes filmed on location inside the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas.

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4. Shrek ($484,944,448)

This animated film about a fairytale adventure grossed almost a half of billion dollars worldwide. It featured the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and John Lithgow.

A grumpy ogre, Shrek, helps rescue a princess to convince Lord Farquaad to stop banishing annoying fairytale characters to his swamp. Of course, the solitary Shrek finds love and friendship along the way.

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3. Monsters, Inc. ($528,773,250)

Monsters, Inc. is a 2001 Pixar film about a monster city that is powered by the screams of children. Every night, monsters sneak into children’s room just to get them to scream.

When monsters Mike Wazowski and James P. Sullivan accidentally let a human girl into their world, they find out that the power derived from screams is not as great as those achieved by laughter.

The popular movie had groundbreaking animation and grossed over $528 million. It also won a 2002 Oscar for Best Original Song.

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2. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring ($868,385,360)

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was the first film in Peter Jackson’s trilogy. They were, of course, an adaptation of the work by J.R.R. Tolkien.

It grossed an amazing $868 million dollars worldwide. That was just the start of the massively popular film series.

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1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone ($974,755,371)

It is not surprising that the much anticipated first adaptation of the popular book series by J.K. Rowling grossed almost a billion dollars. Children and adults alike flocked to see their beloved characters come to life on the big screen.

For fans, the castings for the famous trio, Harry, Ron and Hermione couldn’t have been any better. Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) perfectly embodied the book characters they had come to love.

Some of the bestselling books of all time would turn into some of the highest box office grossing movies of all time in this extremely successful film series.

It all started in 2001 with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

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In case your are curious, here are the rest of the top 20:

13. American Pie 2 ($287,553,595)
14. Bridget Jones’s Diary ($281,929,795)
15. Spirited Away ($274,925,095)
16. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider ($274,703,340)
17. A.I. Artificial Intelligence ($235,926,552)
18. The Others ($209,947,037)
19. The Fast and the Furious ($207,283,925)
20. Vanilla Sky ($203,388,341) source

What were your favorite movies from 2001? What movies were you surprised that did not do better at the box office? Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments.

As always, thanks for reading!

If you like my listicles, you can find the complete list of them here, organized by subject: The Unabridged List of All of my Listicles

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