Comparing 2011 and 2012 in movies is a bit easier than it is for gaming because we’re going to be taking a look at only movie releases in both years and comparing. Sure, each year had its own events outside of theatrical releases – the Academy Awards, for example – but these things tended to be very similar when comparing one year to the next, so let’s take a look at the movies released and see how we fared.
It seems that 2011 was the year of the sequel as it is noted that the year saw the release of some 28 film sequels, the most for any year in history. A lot of these films were excellent – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two, for example – while others were highly anticipated but let a lot of people down. Yes, we’re looking at you, The Hangover Part II.
2011
- Justin Bieber: Never Say Never –
Yes, this happened in 2011, and whether or not you’re a fan of the Biebs, you have to respect a kid worth over $100,000,000 who had a biographical movie about him released before his 17th birthday. - The King’s Speech – Widely praised as a wonder on film, The King’s Speech received an astounding 95% on RottenTomatoes, with Colin Firth giving a masterful performance.
- Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides – This entry in the Pirates franchise marked the first without Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly, and while the film was a commercial success worldwide, it brought in the least in box office ticket sales of any previous film in the series in the United States.
- Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol – Tom Cruise returns as Ethan Hunt in what we found to be a typical Mission Impossible film: an eerily similar storyline to the first few films, but still jam-packed with action and some series-best moments like the thrilling Dubai scenes.
- Captain America: The First Avenger – Marking the first film since The Avengers, this isn’t really a sequel or a standalone film. Part of a much larger storyline, Captain America was a film that set us up for the next half-dozen or so superhero films from Marvel.
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two – What would this list be without the finale to one of the largest franchises of all time (of any kind: book, movie, or otherwise)? This film is easily one of our favourite films of all time and really summed up the story of Harry Potter beautifully and succinctly. It ended without remorse, weaving all threads together to fit the last piece of the Potter puzzle into place.
2012
- Re-releases galore – 2012 saw the re-release of plenty of movies in 3D and IMAX. Thankfully, most of these titles were all worth re-watching in theatres, especially if you have fond memories of watching the originals. These titles include Beauty and the Beast, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Finding Nemo, Titanic, Monsters, Inc., and Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.
- The Dark Knight Rises – Aside from what we think was a cop out on the naming of the film, TDKR was still an excellent film. With that said, we have two people round these parts that have very different opinions on the film, so take a look at them here and here.
- The Amazing Spider-Man – What was supposed to be the reboot of a great franchise into an even better one turned out to be commercially successful but only ended up being “generally favourable” according to Metacritic.
- The Hunger Games – The first in the trilogy based on the books by Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games has been called the next Harry Potter franchise and has grossed more in box office ticket sales than the first Twilight film did in both box office and DVD sales. Look for the film’s sequel, Catching Fire, in November 2013.
- Skyfall – Daniel Craig returned as James Bond this year, with his first completely fresh (i.e. non-Vesper related) Bond flick. We loved the film, and while it wasn’t a typical Bond film, it actually got us more excited about the future of the series as we return to a more traditional 007. It was also far better than the other Bond title released this year and featured one of the best Bond themes ever.
- The Avengers – The highest grossing movie of the year (by almost 33%), The Avengers beat out massive titles like The Dark Knight Rises and Skyfall to sell over 1.5 billion in box office ticket sales alone. It was also one of our favourite films of the year.
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It’s really hard to say which year was better in movies. 2011 had the most sequels – some of which turned out to be decent – while 2012 had the most re-releases, all of which were excellent films. 2011 had the finale of Harry Potter while 2012 had the finale of The Dark Knight saga and a new Bond film that we’ve been waiting for since 2008’s misstep known as Quantum of Solace.
Perhaps our favourite thing about what we do is that there’s plenty up for debate here as to which year was better for moviegoers and which one you’ll remember more in the grand scheme of things. Perhaps 2013 will be even better than 2011 and 2012? Sound off below and let us know what you think!
