2011 in film

Overview of the events of 2011 in film
Overview of the events of 2011 in film
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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.[1]

Evaluation of the year

Richard Brody of The New Yorker observed that the best films of 2011 "exalt the metaphysical, the fantastical, the transformative, the fourth-wall-breaking, or simply the impossible, and—remarkably—do so ... These films depart from 'reality' ... not in order to forget the irrefutable but in order to face it, to think about it, to act on it more freely".[2] Film critic and filmmaker Scout Tafoya of RogerEbert.com considers the year of 2011 as the best year for cinema, countering the notion of 1939 being film's best year overall, citing examples such as Drive, The Tree of Life, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, Keyhole, Contagion, The Adventures of Tintin, and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. He stated that "2011 housed not just some of the greatest art films of our age, but a revolution in the language of blockbuster filmmaking. One big-budget action film after another used digital cameras to show the world behind explosions in starker, stranger light, while constructing a backbone of classical ideas and images."[3]

Highest-grossing films

The top 10 films released in 2011 by worldwide gross are as follows:[4]

Highest-grossing films of 2011
Rank Title Distributor Worldwide gross
1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Warner Bros. $1,341,511,219
2 Transformers: Dark of the Moon Paramount $1,123,794,079
3 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Disney $1,045,713,802
4 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 Summit $712,205,856
5 Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol Paramount $694,713,380
6 Kung Fu Panda 2 $665,692,281
7 Fast Five Universal $626,137,675
8 The Hangover Part II Warner Bros. $586,764,305
9 The Smurfs Sony $563,749,323
10 Cars 2 Disney $559,852,396

Box office records

2011 was the first year to have three films cross the billion-dollar milestone,[5] surpassing the previous year's record of two films[6] and also the first time when at least 10 films grossed more than $500 million worldwide (in 11th and 12th place, Puss in Boots and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows also earned over $500 million making it twelve films to do so)

  • Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides grossed $1,045,713,802, becoming the second film in the franchise to have grossed over $1 billion, and the 37th-highest-grossing film of all time.
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 grossed $1,342,511,219, becoming the third-highest-grossing film of all time during its theatrical run, the highest-grossing film in the Harry Potter franchise, the highest grossing Warner Bros film and the highest grossing book adaptation and the highest of 2011 worldwide.
    • In the US and Canada, it set single-day and opening-weekend records, with $91,071,119 and $169,189,427, respectively. In addition, the film set a worldwide opening-weekend record with $483,189,427.
  • Transformers: Dark of the Moon grossed $1,123,794,079 and is currently the highest-grossing in the franchise. It also held the record as the highest-grossing film worldwide ever distributed only by Paramount for 11 years until it was surpassed by Top Gun: Maverick in 2022.
  • Pirates of the Caribbean became the first franchise to have more than one film gross over $1 billion, with On Stranger Tides joining 2006's Dead Man's Chest.
    • On Stranger Tides also became the fifth film of the decade to surpass the billion-dollar milestone, breaking the previous record of four films (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2003, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest in 2006, The Dark Knight in 2008, and Avatar in 2009) during the 2000s.
  • The Shrek franchise became the first animated film series to gross more than $3 billion with the release of Puss in Boots.
  • The Smurfs surpassed Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel as the highest-grossing live-action/animated film of all time with $563.7 million.

Events

Awards

Category/Organization 17th Critics' Choice Awards
January 12, 2012		 69th Golden Globe Awards
January 15, 2012		 Producers, Directors, Screen Actors, and Writers Guild Awards 65th BAFTA Awards
February 12, 2012		 84th Academy Awards
February 26, 2012
Drama Musical or Comedy
Best Film The Artist The Descendants The Artist
Best Director Michel Hazanavicius
The Artist		 Martin Scorsese
Hugo		 Michel Hazanavicius
The Artist
Best Actor George Clooney
The Descendants		 Jean Dujardin
The Artist
Best Actress Viola Davis
The Help		 Meryl Streep
The Iron Lady		 Michelle Williams
My Week with Marilyn		 Viola Davis
The Help		 Meryl Streep
The Iron Lady
Best Supporting Actor Christopher Plummer
Beginners
Best Supporting Actress Octavia Spencer
The Help
Best Screenplay, Adapted Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin
Moneyball		 Woody Allen
Midnight in Paris		 Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash
The Descendants		 Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy		 Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash
The Descendants
Best Screenplay, Original Woody Allen
Midnight in Paris		 Woody Allen
Midnight in Paris		 Michel Hazanavicius
The Artist		 Woody Allen
Midnight in Paris
Best Animated Film Rango The Adventures of Tintin Rango
Best Original Score The Artist
Ludovic Bource		 — The Artist
Ludovic Bource
Best Original Song "Life's a Happy Song"
The Muppets		 "Masterpiece"
W.E.		 — — "Man or Muppet"
The Muppets
Best Foreign Language Film A Separation — The Skin I Live In A Separation
Best Documentary George Harrison: Living in the Material World — — Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest Senna Undefeated

2011 films

By country/region

By genre/medium

Births

Deaths

Month Date Name Age Country Profession Notable films
January 2 Anne Francis 80 US Actress
2 Pete Postlethwaite 64 UK Actor
2 Miriam Seegar 103 US Actress
  • The Valley of Ghosts
  • What a Man
2 Patricia Smith 80 US Actress
  • The Spirit of St. Louis
  • Mad City
2 Margot Stevenson 98 US Actress
3 Jill Haworth 65 UK Actress
3 Yosef Shiloach 69 Iran Actor
9 Peter Yates 81 UK Director
11 David Nelson 74 US Actor
15 Susannah York 72 UK Actress
  • Tom Jones
  • A Man for All Seasons
16 Paul Picerni 88 US Actor
16 Juan Piquer Simón 75 Spain Director
20 Bruce Gordon 94 US Actor
21 Theoni V. Aldredge 82 Greece Costume Designer
24 Bernd Eichinger 61 Germany Producer, Screenwriter
  • The NeverEnding Story
  • Resident Evil
26 María Mercader 92 Spain Actress
  • Heart and Soul
  • Giovannino
26 Mario Scaccia 91 Italy Actor
27 Charlie Callas 83 US Actor
30 John Barry 77 UK Composer
31 Michael Tolan 86 US Actor
February 2 Margaret John 84 UK Actress
3 Maria Schneider 58 France Actress
4 Fred Hole 75 UK Art Director
4 Tura Satana 72 Japan Actress
5 Donald Peterman 79 US Cinematographer
  • Men in Black
  • Cocoon
10 Bill Justice 97 US Animator
11 Myrna Dell 86 US Actress
12 Betty Garrett 91 US Actress, Dancer, Singer
  • On the Town
  • My Sister Eileen
12 Kenneth Mars 75 US Actor
13 Larry Holden 49 US Actor
13 T. P. McKenna 81 Ireland Actor
  • Ulysses
  • Straw Dogs
14 David F. Friedman 87 US Producer
16 Alfred Burke 92 UK Actor
  • Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
  • Interpol
16 Len Lesser 88 US Actor
17 Perry Moore 39 US Producer, Director
  • The Chronicles of Narnia
  • Lake City
18 Walter Seltzer 96 US Producer
20 Raphaël Bretton 91 France Set Decorator
26 Greg Goossen 65 US Actor
27 Gary Winick 49 US Director, Producer
28 Annie Girardot 79 France Actress
28 Nick LaTour 84 US Actor
28 Jane Russell 89 US Actress
March 4 Charles Jarrott 83 UK Director
11 Hugh Martin 96 US Composer
17 Michael Gough 94 UK Actor
18 Enzo Cannavale 82 Italy Actor
21 Joe Wizan 76 US Producer
  • Along Came a Spider
  • Jeremiah Johnson
22 Helen Stenborg 86 US Actress
  • Enchanted
  • The Bonfire of the Vanities
23 Elizabeth Taylor 79 UK Actress
  • Giant
  • Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
27 Farley Granger 85 US Actor
  • Rope
  • Strangers on a Train
April 2 Bill Varney 77 US Sound Engineer
3 Kevin Jarre 56 US Screenwriter
  • Tombstone
  • Glory
4 Wayne Robson 64 Canada Actor
  • Affliction
  • The Incredible Hulk
6 Skip O'Brien 60 US Actor
9 Sidney Lumet 86 US Director, Producer, Screenwriter
11 Angela Scoular 65 UK Actress
  • On Her Majesty's Secret Service
  • Casino Royale
14 Trevor Bannister 76 UK Actor
  • Are You Being Served?
  • Captain Jack
17 Michael Sarrazin 70 Canada Actor
23 Terence Longdon 88 UK Actor
  • Ben-Hur
  • Helen of Troy
24 Marie-France Pisier 66 France Actress
28 William Campbell 87 US Actor
May 3 Jackie Cooper 88 US Actor, Director
  • Superman
  • Skippy
4 Mary Murphy 80 US Actress
5 Arthur Laurents 93 US Screenwriter
  • Rope
  • The Turning Point
5 Dana Wynter 79 Germany Actress
8 Hilton Rosemarin 58 Canada Set Decorator
9 Dolores Fuller 88 US Actress
15 Barbara Stuart 76 US Actress
16 Edward Hardwicke 78 UK Actor
  • Elizabeth
  • Oliver Twist
20 Randy Savage 58 US Actor
  • Spider-Man
  • Bolt
21 David J. Hudson 67 US Sound Engineer
21 Bill Hunter 71 Australia Actor
22 Joseph Brooks 73 US Director, Screenwriter, Songwriter
  • If Ever I See You Again
  • You Light Up My Life
22 Gimel Everett 60 US Producer, Screenwriter
27 Jeff Conaway 60 US Actor
  • Grease
  • The Eagle Has Landed
30 Clarice Taylor 93 US Actress
June 3 James Arness 88 US Actor
3 Pat Jackson 95 UK Director
  • Shadow on the Wall
  • Encore!
3 Miriam Karlin 85 UK Actress
6 John Boswall 91 UK Actor
7 Jorge Semprún 87 Spain Screenwriter
  • Z
  • The War Is Over
7 Leonard B. Stern 87 US Screenwriter, Director
8 John Mackenzie 83 UK Director
11 Gunnar Fischer 100 Sweden Cinematographer
  • Port of Call
  • Thirst
12 Laura Ziskin 61 US Producer
14 Badi Uzzaman 72 India Actor
19 Joel Simon 60 US Producer
20 Ryan Dunn 34 US Actor
22 David Rayfiel 87 US Screenwriter
23 Peter Falk 83 US Actor
25 Alice Playten 63 US Actress
  • Legend
  • Heavy Metal
25 Margaret Tyzack 79 UK Actress
26 Edith Fellows 88 US Actress
27 Elaine Stewart 81 US Actress
July 1 Leslie Brooks 88 US Actress
3 Anna Massey 73 UK Actress
  • Peeping Tom
  • The Importance of Being Earnest
5 Gordon Tootoosis 69 Canada Actor
8 Roberts Blossom 87 US Actor
15 Googie Withers 94 UK Actress
17 David Ngoombujarra 44 Australia Actor
19 Sheila Burrell 89 UK Actress
  • Paranoiac
  • Cold Comfort Farm
22 Tom Aldredge 83 US Actor
22 Linda Christian 87 Mexico Actress
24 Tresa Hughes 81 US Actress
24 G. D. Spradlin 90 US Actor
25 Michael Cacoyannis 89 Greece Director, Producer, Screenwriter
26 Silvio Narizzano 84 Canada Director
27 Polly Platt 72 US Producer, Screenwriter, Production Designer
August 2 Richard Pearson 93 UK Actor
3 Bubba Smith 66 US Actor
5 Francesco Quinn 48 Italy Actor
  • Platoon
  • Transformers: Dark of the Moon
6 John Wood 81 UK Actor
14 Shammi Kapoor 79 India Actor, Director
  • Junglee
  • Tumsa Nahin Dekha
19 Raúl Ruiz 70 Chile Director
19 Jimmy Sangster 83 UK Screenwriter
23 Sybil Jason 83 US Actress
  • The Little Princess
  • The Blue Bird
23 Michael Showers 45 US Actor
  • Traffic
  • Mad Money
24 Frank DiLeo 63 US Actor
24 Jack Hayes 93 US Composer, Orchestrator
  • The Color Purple
  • Star Trek
27 Eve Brent 82 US Actress
  • The Green Mile
  • Garfield
September 10 Cliff Robertson 88 US Actor
  • Charly
  • Spider-Man
11 Andy Whitfield 39 UK Actor
  • Gabriel
  • The Clinic
13 John Calley 81 US Producer, Executive
  • Postcards from the Edge
  • The Da Vinci Code
13 Jack Garner 84 US Actor
15 Frances Bay 92 Canada Actress
16 Norma Eberhardt 82 US Actress
19 John Dunning 84 Canada Producer
  • My Bloody Valentine
  • Meatballs
21 Paulette Dubost 100 France Actress
22 Peter E. Berger 67 US Film Editor
22 Jonathan Cecil 72 UK Actor
26 David Zelag Goodman 81 US Screenwriter
  • Straw Dogs
  • Logan's Run
26 Jerry Haynes 84 US Actor
27 Fritz Manes 79 US Producer
October 2 Peter Przygodda 69 Germany Film Editor
4 Doris Belack 85 US Actress
5 Steve Jobs 56 US Studio Executive
5 Charles Napier 75 US Actor
  • The Silence of the Lambs
  • Rambo: First Blood Part II
6 Diane Cilento 78 Australia Actress
  • The Wicker Man
  • Hombre
7 George Baker 80 UK Actor
  • Goodbye, Mr. Chips
  • On Her Majesty's Secret Service
8 David Hess 75 US Actor
  • The Last House on the Left
  • Swamp Thing
10 Ray Aghayan 83 US Costume Designer
10 Alan Fudge 67 US Actor
13 Sheila Allen 78 UK Actress
13 Barbara Kent 103 Canada Actress
18 Norman Corwin 101 US Screenwriter
  • Lust for Life
  • The Blue Veil
20 Sue Lloyd 72 UK Actress
31 Gilbert Cates 77 US Director, Producer
November 2 Sid Melton 94 US Actor
2 Leonard Stone 87 US Actor
3 Rosángela Balbó 70 Italy Actress
3 Bruno Rubeo 65 Italy Production Designer
4 Theadora Van Runkle 83 US Costume Designer
6 Margaret Field 89 US Actress
6 Hal Kanter 92 US Screenwriter, Director
8 Gene Cantamessa 80 US Sound Engineer
8 Heavy D 44 US Rapper, Actor
  • The Cider House Rules
  • Step Up
15 Dulcie Gray 95 UK Actress
  • The Glass Mountain
  • Wanted for Murder
15 Karl Slover 93 US Actor
16 Maureen Swanson 78 UK Actress
19 Russell Garcia 95 US Composer
19 John Neville 86 UK Actor
20 Dorothy Morris 89 US Actress
  • Cry "Havoc"
  • The Human Comedy
21 Syd Cain 93 UK Production Designer
  • Live and Let Die
  • Fahrenheit 451
27 Ken Russell 84 UK Director, Screenwriter
  • Tommy
  • Women in Love
28 Vittorio De Seta 88 Italy Director, Screenwriter
28 Patrice O'Neal 41 US Comedian, Actor
December 1 Bill McKinney 80 US Actor
3 Dev Anand 88 India Actor, Director, Producer
  • Guide
  • Hare Rama Hare Krishna
4 Marion Dougherty 88 US Casting Director
6 Giancarlo Badessi 83 Italy Actor
7 Harry Morgan 96 US Actor
  • Inherit the Wind
  • Dragnet
8 Đơn Dương 54 Vietnam Actor
11 Harold Hopkins 67 Australia Actor
12 Bert Schneider 78 US Producer
14 Don Sharp 67 Australia Director
16 Robert Easton 81 US Actor, Dialogue Coach
16 Nicol Williamson 73 UK Actor
18 Doe Avedon 86 US Actress
  • The High and the Mighty
  • The Boss
20 Yoshimitsu Morita 61 Japan Director
22 William Duell 88 US Actor
  • One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
  • In & Out
23 Denise Darcel 87 US Actress
26 Pedro Armendáriz, Jr. 71 Mexico Actor
27 Betty Jane Rhodes 90 US Actress, Singer

Film debuts

References

  • Film portal
  1. ^ "2011 Preview: Sequels – Now, More Than Ever". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 20, 2011.
  2. ^ Adams, Ryan (7 December 2011). "Richard Brody names "The 26 Best Films of 2011"". Awards Daily. Sasha Stone. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  3. ^ Tafoya, Scout (1 December 2015). "The Unloved, Part 24: "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows"". RogerEbert.com. Ebert Digital LLC. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  4. ^ "2011 Worldwide Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on July 16, 2020. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
  5. ^ Stewart, Andrew (December 28, 2011). "Domestic B.O. falls 3% in 2011". Variety. Archived from the original on January 21, 2021. Retrieved January 21, 2024.
  6. ^ Finke, Nikki (August 27, 2010). "Disney Smashes Box Office Records: Toy Story 3 Crossing $1B, Studio First To Release 2 Billion-Dollar Pics In Single Year". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on March 13, 2016. Retrieved January 21, 2024.

External links