You can say a lot of things about the 2000s. You can say they were shocking, they were depressing, they were crucial and unprecedented. Yes, you can say a whole lot about the first decade of the 21st century. But one thing you cannot say is that the 2000s were boring. It felt like something consequential was happening everyday, the very world was changing before our eyes constantly. Things were not dull.
Unless you’re talking about the box office for 2006 which was undeniably, painfully dull and rather bad. After several years of major hits and anticipated sequels, 2006 was filled with a bunch of movies that are completely forgettable. Yes, they made a lot of money but there are only a couple films on this list that you would re-watch regularly. Most of the movies highlighted in this top ten are ones you would pass over when flipping through channels. 2006 was bad for a lot of reasons (especially if you were a certain former dictator of Iraq) but it was really bad for movie-going audiences because they were treated to quite a few movies that felt like undercooked after thoughts.
So after that diatribe, let’s get into the top films of 2006.
The Top Ten Movies of 2006 (Domestic)
The top film of 2006 was Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. I know you are racking your brain to remember if that is the second Pirates film or the third or fourth one (is there even a fourth one?). The answer is that Dead Man’s Chest is the first sequel in the Pirates franchise, the follow-up to the massively-successful Curse of the Black Pearl. Disney knew they had a hit on their hands long before Dead Man’s Chest premiered. Now, did they expect a $135 million opening and a total gross of $423 million? Honestly, yes they probably did. Fans came out in droves for Dead Man’s Chest, expecting a sequel that lived up to the first film.
They didn’t get that. The second Pirates film starts to show the flaws in the series and people were far-less-forgiving to the movie. The plot was convoluted and cluttered, the spirit of the film was a bit soulless. A major issue was that Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow was elevated from supporting player to main character and, with that, he lost some of his appeal. The movie became the Captain Jack Sparrow Show and it was worse because of it. But despite the diminished returns, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest was a massive hit and took 2006 by storm.
The second biggest movie of 2006 was Night at the Museum, a Ben Stiller comedy about natural history exhibits that come to life. It was a pretty basic concept but, hey, sometimes basic concepts work well with crowds. Sure enough, families ate up Night at the Museum and gave the film a surprise ranking towards the top of the chart. You can see that Museum went over well with viewers when you look at its performance over time. The film opened with $30 million (not bad!) and ended up grossing something just a hair over $250 million (wowzers!). Those results suggest the movie had serious legs, it wasn’t just a flash in the pan. Word-of-mouth for Night at the Museum was obviously very good and kept new people coming in during its run. No wonder the movie spawned several sequels.
X-Men: The Last Stand (number four, $234,362,462) was a controversial film that is often mentioned alongside Spider-Man 3 and Batman Forever in the pantheon of awful sequels. Honestly, fans were giving the film thumbs down before it even opened, mostly because of their hatred for the film’s director Brett Ratner. Ratner was replacing Bryan Singer who (back in 2006 anyway) was highly respected. Ratner wasn’t a director who fans trusted, they had bad feelings about The Last Stand before production wrapped. Ratner was going to shit on Singer’s legacy, they said. He was going to muck up what was a great superhero series! He would make the first two films feel like flukes!
And they were pretty much right. X-Men: The Last Stand isn’t very good. It does besmirch the legacy that Singer created. The movie feels rushed, flat and out of energy. The characters are phoned in, the plot is half-assed, the whole thing just feels very forgettable…much like most of the movies from the 2006 chart.
I will say this though: X-Men: The Last Stand isn’t as bad as people say. It’s certainly not a great movie but is it as bad as Batman Forever or Spider-Man 3? I don’t think so. As for Ratner, history would prove that being told you’re not like Bryan Singer is actually a good thing.
Speaking of Singer, his Superman Returns clocked in at number six with $200,081,192. The movie was pitched as a return to form for the long-dead Superman series and WB saw it as the start of a new tent pole franchise. Most audiences, on the other hand, saw the film as something of a yawn. Another successful film from 2006 that feels like something of a shrug. Par for the course.
Let’s end our walk down memory lane with some positive news: let’s talk about Casino Royale. The James Bond reboot was a revelation when it premiered. It was radically new, especially for a Bond movie. Daniel Craig as 007, a casting choice that not everyone was behind, was immediately heralded as brilliant. The film itself was tense, expertly-crafted and exciting. Hell, it made a game of poker riveting. A bunch of people sitting around a table playing cards had never been so thrilling.
Casino Royale started a new phase in the Bond legacy that continues to this day. Indeed, Craig’s last Bond outing will hit screens later this year and it’s been a mostly successful run for the actor. It all started in 2006 with Casino Royale.
Like I said, 2006 wasn’t a great year. I am not alone in my thinking, most people agree with me. Browsing Rotten Tomatoes, you’ll see that only a few films on the list received a rating higher than 75%, with Casino Royale head-and-shoulders above the rest of the bunch with a hot 95%. Most of the movies listed above were considered turkeys by critics (especially Ron Howard’s The Da Vinci Code — woof). Audiences came out in droves but they always do and always will, that isn’t a testament to a film’s quality. I stand behind my claim that 2006 was a ho-hum year for the top films. It would pave the way for 2007 which, while still lacking in terms of quality, at least wasn’t as much of a bore.