What movies are celebrating big anniversaries in 2024?

Zavvi.com11 months ago

A ton of classic movies will be celebrating milestone anniversaries in 2024.

From blockbusters and beloved animated titles to iconic horror and cult favourites, it’s safe to say that a lot of your favourite films will be included in this list. We predict you’ll be shocked to hear about some of the movies that are turning 10, 20, 25 and even older!

We’re going to break down the list of movies that’ll be hitting landmark ages year-by-year, starting with those that are turning 10 in 2024. Can you believe it’s been a decade since some of these were first released?

Films turning 10 in 2024:

The first half of 2014 saw the release of the most unexpected blockbuster of that year: The Lego Movie. Few people believed that the movie would be more than a feature-length commercial, but it became a critical and commercial success; a sequel and two spin-offs entered production, but for most, the original remained the best.

Other blockbusters released between January and June included Captain America: The Winter Soldier – a movie regularly cited as one of the best in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) – and the time-travelling X-Men adventure Days Of Future Past. As for indie successes, The Grand Budapest Hotel opened its doors in March and became Wes Anderson’s highest grossing movie, and would go on to be his biggest Oscar success the following year, as his first (and still only) movie to gain Best Picture and Best Director nominations.

Horror fans had the release of The Babadook, which scared Australian audiences in May. The psychological fright fest was released in the UK and USA in October 2014.

The Lego Movie (7^th February)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (7^th March)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (26^th March)
The Babadook (22^nd May)
X-Men: Days of Future Past (23^rd May)
Maleficent (30^th May)
Edge of Tomorrow (30^th May)
22 Jump Street (6^th June)
The Fault in Our Stars (6^th June)

The second half of the year saw the introduction of characters who would become blockbuster mainstays over the following decade. First, the Guardians of the Galaxy banded together in their inaugural outing in August; the word of mouth was so good, a sequel was announced before it even arrived in cinemas.

Then, in October, John Wick’s dog was killed, starting a decade-long revenge mission on the big screen for Keanu Reeves’ retired assassin. Other major blockbusters released in this half of 2014 included the twisty thriller Gone Girl, Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi weepie Interstellar, and Disney’s animated superhero flick Big Hero 6.

Boyhood (11^th July)
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (11^th July)
Guardians of the Galaxy (1^st August)
Gone Girl (3^rd October)
Whiplash (10^th October)
Birdman (17^th October)
Nightcrawler (17^th October)
John Wick (24^th October)
Interstellar (5^th November)
Big Hero 6 (7^th November)
The Imitation Game (14^th November)

Films turning 20 in 2024:

2004 is the most packed year included in this list, and a cursory glance at the first six months reveal why. There truly is something for everyone here, from mind-bending sci-fi (Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind), to instant comedy classics (Shaun Of The Dead, Mean Girls) and some of the most beloved blockbusters of the noughties (Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, Spider-Man 2).

Dawn of the Dead (19^th March)
Eternal Sunshine of the SpotlessMind (19^th March)
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (26^th March)
Hellboy (2^nd April)
Shaun of the Dead (9^th April)
Kill Boy: Volume 2 (16^th April)
13 Going on 30 (23^rd April)
Man on Fire (23^rd April)
Mean Girls (30^th April)

Shrek 2 (19^th May)
The Day After Tomorrow (28^th May)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (4^th June)
Napoleon Dynamite (11^th June)
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (18^th June)
White Chicks (23^rd June)
The Notebook (25^th June)
Spider-Man 2 (30^th June)

The embarrassment of riches continued into the second half of the year, which featured an immediate cult classic comedy (Anchorman), a low-budget horror that spawned an enduring franchise (Saw), and two of the most rewatched animated movies of their decade (The Incredibles and Howl’s Moving Castle).

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (9^th July)
I, Robot (16^th July)
The Bourne Supremacy (23^rd July)
The Village (30^th July)
Collateral (6^th August)
Alien vs Predator (13^th August)
Team America: World Police (15^th October)
Saw (29^th October)
The Incredibles (5^th November)
The Polar Express (10^th November)
National Treasure (19^th November)
Howl’s Moving Castle (20^th November)
Million Dollar Baby (15^th December)
Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (17^th December)

Films turning 25 years old in 2024:

The first half of 1999 was spent counting down to one major event: the release of The Phantom Menace. Anakin Skywalker’s origin story was the most talked-about movie of the year long before anybody got to see it, but it was far from the only blockbuster that captured the world’s attention.

Arguably the most influential movie of 1999, The Matrix, debuted in March, with its revolutionary action sequences and anime-inspired narrative breaking new ground for Hollywood. Its success ensured that bold, mind-bending movies could find a major audience; without it, it’s debatable as to whether movies as varied as Minority Report and Inception would be given the green light in the following decade.

It wasn’t all science fiction though. Two definitive teen comedies of the 1990s made their big screen debuts as well, whilst the South Park movie kicked off a very R-rated summer season at the movies.

She’s All That (29^th January)
Office Space (19^th February)
Cruel Intentions (5^th March)
10 Things I Hate About You (31^st March)
The Matrix (31^st March)
The Mummy (7^th May)
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (19^th May)
Notting Hill (28^th May)
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (11^th June)
Tarzan (18^th June)
South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut (30^th June)
Wild Wild West (30^th June)

1999 is regularly cited by cinephiles as one of the best movie years of our lifetimes, and when you look at what the second half of the calendar had to offer, it’s easy to see why.

In the summer, Stanley Kubrick’s final film stood alongside groundbreaking found footage horror, raunchy comedy and a chilling ghost story in the multiplex, whilst the last months of the decade gave us one of the best movie sequels of all time and a gritty, twisty dark comedy described by its director as “the first film of the 21^st century”.

We’ve never had it as good as we had it in 1999.

American Pie (9^th July)
The Blair Witch Project (14^th July)
Eyes Wide Shut (16^th July)
Deep Blue Sea (28^th July)
The Iron Giant (6^th August)
The Sixth Sense (6^th August)
American Beauty (1^st October)
Fight Club (15^th October)
Being John Malkovich (29^th October)

Sleepy Hollow (19^th November)
The World is Not Enough (19^th November)
Toy Story 2 (24^th November)
The Green Mile (10^th December)
Magnolia (17^th December)
Stuart Little (17^th December)
Man on the Moon (22^nd December)
Galaxy Quest (25^th December)
The Talented Mr Ripley (25^th December)

Films turning 30 years old in 2024:

1994 kicked off with the introduction of two very different comedic leading men: Jim Carrey and Hugh Grant. The former was the year’s definitive star, with three gargantuan blockbusters – and by the end of the year, he was commanding a $20 million salary for each new project.

Elsewhere, it was a good year for Disney; The Lion King brought the studio’s animation renaissance to new heights, breaking box office records for animated movies.

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (4th February)
Four Weddings and a Funeral (9^th March)
The Crow (13^th May)
The Return of Jafar (20^th May)
The Flintstones (27^th May)
Speed (10^th June)
The Lion King (24^th June)

In the second half of the year, three movies transformed the cultural zeitgeist. Forrest Gump became the year’s most unexpected blockbuster, winning over the world’s hearts on its way to several Oscar wins, whilst Pulp Fiction announced Quentin Tarantino’s bloody arrival into the mainstream.

One movie that underperformed at the box office was The Shawshank Redemption, but it found its devoted following once it was released on VHS. It’s still, to this day, the highest rated film on IMDb.

Forrest Gump (6^th July)
True Lies (15^th July)
The Mask (29^th July)
Natural Born Killers (26^th August)
The Shawshank Redemption (23^rd September)
Ed Wood (30^th May)
Pulp Fiction (14^th October)
Interview with the Vampire (11^th November)
The Santa Clause (11^th November)
Leon (18^th November)
Dumb and Dumber (16^th December)

Films turning 40 in 2024:

Was 1984 one of the great blockbuster summers? Indiana Jones returned to our screens, while Ghostbusters and Gremlins were both released on the same day – forget Barbenheimer, that was the greatest cinematic double bill of all time.

Before then, Kevin Bacon danced his way into audience’s hearts, Spinal Tap turned the laughs up to 11, and Mr Miyagi taught us the secrets of karate.

Footloose (17^th February)
This is Spinal Tap (2^nd March)
Splash (9^th March)
Police Academy (23^rd March)
Romancing the Stone (30^th March)
Sixteen Candles (4^th May)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (23^rd May)
Once Upon a Time in America (1^st June)
Ghostbusters (8^th June)
Gremlins (8^th June)
The Karate Kid (22^nd June)

Bedtimes were never the same again later on in 1984, as Freddy Kreuger was introduced, ready to lurk in our nightmares. Not that being awake was any less terrifying; the Terminator embarked on a visceral killing spree so relentless, it was hard to imagine he’d be reimagined as a hero in the sequel!

Elsewhere, 1984 was a great year for music movies. The eventual Best Picture winner, Amadeus, showed a less sophisticated side to Mozart, Prince made his acting debut – and gave us one of the greatest movie soundtracks in history – and the best concert film of all time transformed cinemas into dancefloors, all through the power of Talking Heads’ back catalogue.

The NeverEnding Story (20^th July)
Purple Rain (27^th July)
Amadeus (19^th September)
Stop Making Sense (19^th October)
Body Double (26^th October)
Paris, Texas (26^th October)
The Terminator (26^th October)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (9^th November)
Beverly Hills Cop (5^th December)

Films turning 50 years old in 2024:

What were audiences watching on the big screen in 1974? Blockbusters included the first sequel to ever win Best Picture – The Godfather Part II – Roger Moore’s latest outing as Bond, and two very different Mel Brooks comedies.

It was also a golden age for the midnight movie. October saw the releases of Black Christmas and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, laying the groundwork for the arrival of the slasher genre.

Blazing Saddles (7^th February)
The Conversation (7^th April)
Chinatown (20^th June)
Death Wish (24^th July)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1^st October)
Black Christmas (11^th October)
The Towering Inferno (14^th December)
Young Frankenstein (15^th December)
The Godfather Part II (20^th December)
The Man with the Golden Gun (20^th December)

Films turning 60 in 2024:

Finally, we’re shining a light on some of the movies turning 60 in 2024. Beatlemania reached the big screen, Sean Connery’s most iconic 007 outing established James Bond as one of the great cinema heroes, and two of the decade’s most beloved movie musicals charmed the world.

It wasn’t just the British invasion in the music charts: the Brits were dominating the film world as well.