30 Movies Celebrating Milestones In 2021

By Rachel West. 16 Dec 2020 4:36 PM

Wanna feel old? These movies are celebrating some major milestone anniversaries in 2021.

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‘Contagion’ – 10 Years
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Ten years ago “Contagion” seemed like a thrilling alternate universe where a deadly virus outbreak changed the world as we know it. Thanks to 2020, the ensemble movie feels more relevant now than ever.
‘Casino Royale’ – 15 Years
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Daniel Craig made his debut as James Bond 15 years ago so it’s only fitting that 2021 will mark the end of his career as 007. No word on who will take over the role of the super spy following the release of "No Time To Die".
‘Donnie Darko’ – 20 Years
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A box office failure that became a cult classic following its DVD release, “Donnie Darko” was Jake Gyllenhaal’s second time as the lead in a film. The flick also marks another milestone – it’s the first movie role for Seth Rogen.
‘Legally Blonde’ – 20 Years
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Twenty years later “Legally Blonde” is still as quotable as ever. What? Like it’s hard? The movie made a lasting impression on a lot of people, including Mindy Kaling who is currently writing the screenplay for a third “Legally Blonde” film with Reese Witherspoon set to reprise her role as Elle Woods.
‘Jerry Maguire’ – 25 Years
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Show me the money! We have Tom Cruise’s turn as a sports agent in “Jerry Maguire” to thanks for giving us one of the most-enthusiastic Oscar acceptance speeches in decades. A then-29-year-old Cuba Gooding Jr. deserves another Academy Award for his acceptance which earned a standing ovation for proclaiming his love for everyone from Tom Cruise and Cameron Crowe to Regina King, and well, everybody. Gooding Jr. was only the fifth Black actor or actress to win an Oscar.
‘Romeo + Juliet’ – 25 Years
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Baz Luhrmann made Shakespeare cool by mixing the Bard’s words with a contemporary American setting, Hawaiian shirts, an incredible soundtrack and Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes as the most swoon-worthy couple ever. Twenty-five years later, it’s still just as cool.
‘Mission: Impossible’ – 25 Years
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1996 was Tom Cruise’s year. Not only did he earn praise for “Jerry Maguire”, he also made his debut as MIF agent Ethan Hunt in Brian de Palma’s “Mission: Impossible”, kicking off a franchise that, like Cruise, shows no signs of stopping. The seventh “Mission: Impossible” movie is expected to be released later this year.
‘Fargo’ – 25 Years
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“Fargo” totally changed the way we look at wood chippers. The Coen Brothers’ masterpiece earned Frances McDormand and Joel and Ethan Coen their first Academy Awards and in 2014, inspired the award-winning FX anthology series “Fargo”.
‘Twister’ – 25 Years
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It’s been 25 years since “Twister” gave us one of the greatest cinematic moments in any disaster movie: the flying cow.
‘Space Jam’ - 25 Years
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Who knew Michael Jordan teaming up with a bunch of cartoon characters would become a such a moment in pop culture history? Proving everything old is new again in 2021, a “Space Jam” sequel with LeBron James is heading to theatres later this year.
‘Scream’ – 25 Years
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Totally reinvigorating the horror genre, “Scream” was a meta self-reflexive look at the frightful flicks that had come before it, mocking the tired tropes of teen horror movies while simultaneously playing into them. Spawning a new generation of teen horror movies like “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and “Urban Legend” to “Halloween: H20” and the ultimate parody, “Scary Movie”, “Scream”’s legacy continues 25 years later with the original cast reuniting again for a fifth outing to be released in 2022.
‘Boyz N The Hood’ – 30 years
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Writer-director John Singleton burst into Hollywood with a bang at age 23. His debut film “Boyz n The Hood” was a look at being Black in America that is still as fresh, powerful, and relevant as ever. With an incredible cast of actors including Laurence Fishburne, Cuba Gooding Jr., Angela Bassett, Morris Chestnut and Regina King and Ice Cube who both make their movie debuts in the film, “Boyz n The Hood” inspired a whole new generation of actors, filmmakers and storytellers.
‘Silence Of The Lambs’ – 30 years
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It’s been 30 years since Anthony Hopkins said “Hello” to Clarice Starling. The film is still the only horror movie to ever win the Academy Award for Best Picture. We only hope the lambs have stopped screaming at this point.
'Beauty And The Beast’ – 30 Years
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In 1991, Disney’s “Beauty And The Beast” made history as the first-ever animated feature to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. A decade later, the Academy introduced the Best Animated Feature Film category.
‘Thelma & Louise’ – 30 Years
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Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon drove off a cliff and into our hearts in the road trip movie “Thelma & Louise”. Ridley Scott’s action-packed movie manages to be both heartbreaking and full of laughs. Plus, a 28-year-old Brad Pitt isn’t a bad thing to look at either.
‘Labyrinth’ – 35 Years
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Two words: David Bowie. Jim Henson’s darkly magical movie inspired – and likely terrified – an entire generation. With an unrivaled mastery of puppetry on display, not to mention the Goblin King’s codpiece and spiky wig, “Labyrinth” continues to delight audiences nearly four decades after its release.

Fun fact: the equally childhood-traumatizing Tom Cruise fantasy movie “Legend” was filming in the studio next door and cast and crew of both films frequently intermingled during production.
‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ – 35 Years
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Ferris Bueller’s day playing hooky still seems like a pretty rad way to spend a day slacking off. Except for the whole destruction of your BFF’s dad’s car thing.
‘Top Gun’ – 35 Years
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Three years after his breakout role in “Risky Business”, Tom Cruise proved he could handle the lead in a big budget action movie with “Top Gun”. A box office phenomenon, “Top Gun” cruised to the top of the list of the highest-earning movies of 1986, earning over $176 million in ticket sales. A sequel with Cruise reprising his role was set to be released in 2020 but the pandemic pushed “Top Gun: Maverick” to July 2021.
‘Raiders Of The Lost Ark’ – 40 Years
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“Raiders Of The Lost Ark” introduced us to one of cinema’s most beloved and enduring characters: Indiana Jones. Earning over $300 million as the top box office draw of 1981, the film was such a critical and commercial success it played in theatres for over a year due to popular demand.
‘Rocky’ – 45 Years
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Cue “Eye Of The Tiger”. A low budget sleeper hit, “Rocky” turned the classic story of the American Dream and made it a lasting moment in pop culture history. Writer and star Sylvester Stallone became a bonafide movie star thanks to his performance as the boxing wonder and earned himself an Oscar nomination for both Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay.
‘Taxi Driver’ – 45 Years
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Dark, powerful and endlessly referenced, satirized and mimicked, Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” is one of the defining moments of 1970s’ cinema. With Robert De Niro and a 12-year-old Jodie Foster delivering mesmerizing performances, “Taxi Driver”’s look at urban decay and indifference still feels fresh nearly five decades later.
‘A Clockwork Orange’ – 50 years
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Brutally violent and disturbing, Stanley Kubrick adapts Anthony Burgess’ dark novel about an ultraviolent-yet-stylish gang and delivers one of the most unsettling films of the last century. Polarizing audiences and critics alike, the film was banned in several countries for its extreme sexual violence but later gained a cult following and renewed critical appreciation, including several Academy Award nominations for Kubrick.
‘West Side Story’ – 60 years
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From a Broadway musical inspired by Romeo and Juliet, “West Side Story”’s tale of two star-crossed lovers was a smash hit with audiences and critics, earning 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. And like many other milestone movies on this list, "West Side Story" is getting a shiny, new version.

Sixty years after it first hit theatres, Steven Spielberg is directing a remake of the musical which is set to open in theatres in late 2021.
‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ – 70 Years
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A then-modern adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ 1947 play, Marlon Brando’s smouldering performance as the passionate Stanley Kowalski helped the actor rise from virtual unknown to Hollywood powerhouse. For his role, Brando received the first of four consecutive Academy Award nominations for Best Actor. Though Brando didn’t win an Oscar for “Streetcar”, the film was nominated for a total of 12 Academy Awards with his co-stars Vivien Leigh, Karl Malden and Kim Hunter all taking home trophies. Despite the source material being revisited again and again over the years, director Elia Kazan’s 1951 masterpiece remains the quintessential version.
‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ – 75 Years
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Now considered a holiday classic, “It’s A Wonderful Life” wasn’t seen as a success upon its release. Coming at the end of WWII, the film’s dark subject matter didn’t make the film an instant hit. It wasn’t until decades later when it became a staple on TV in the late 1970s that “It’s A Wonderful Life” became a Christmas tradition for many families.
‘Citizen Kane’ – 80 Years
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Eight decades later, Orson Welles’ “Citizen Kane’ is still a masterpiece of filmmaking. Released in the middle of a recession, the film served as a reminder of the heights of the American Dream while its filmmaking techniques in terms of lighting, cinematography, and use of flashbacks in its narrative structure heavily influenced the next eight decades of cinema.

A critical success, “Citizen Kane” failed to recover its production costs at the box office and wasn’t re-evaluated as an essential classic until French film critics and a re-release in the 1950s gave it new attention. Directors from Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen and Stanley Kubrick to Norman Jewison, Denys Arcand and Michael Mann have all called it the “greatest film ever made” while the Coen Brothers, Francis Ford Coppola, Ridley Scott and Steven Spielberg have all cited its direct influence on their own films.
‘The Maltese Falcon’ – 90 Years
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Widely regarded as the first film noir, “The Maltese Falcon” is a film full of betrayal, double crossings, shady men and devious dames, with dialogue that is still as sharp and witty as ever. Adapted from Dashiell Hammett’s novel, Humphrey Bogart sets the cinematic standard for private detectives with his portrayal of Sam Spade as he becomes entangled in a plot to steal the mysterious statue known as the Maltese Falcon.

The statue in the movie has become the stuff of real-life legend as fans have chased the piece of memorabilia for decades. With more than one prop falcon made for filming, the statues have set auction bidding records for cinema memorabilia (Steve Wynn spent $4.1 million on one) and sparked debates over which is the true Maltese Falcon.
‘M’ – 90 Years
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Director Fritz Lang’s landmark German serial killer film “M” featuring Peter Lorre as a child murderer featured a number of technical cinematic achievements (like long tracking shots) that are standard filmmaking techniques today. Considered one of the greatest films ever made, the influence of “M” can be felt in every procedural drama and crime thriller that has come in the past 90 years – and will still keep viewers on the edge of their set through the harrowing hunt for the killer.
‘Dracula’ – 90 Years
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The image of Count Dracula most of us have is based on Bela Lugosi’s portrayal in the 1931 film about the Transylvanian vampire. A critical and commercial success, “Dracula” cemented not just the blood-sucking Count into pop culture legend, but the idea of the vampire as a handsome and charming leading man. Lugosi’s performance is the one against which all subsequent vampires are measured.
‘The Kid’ – 100 Years
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At 100 years old, comedy-drama “The Kid” is one of the finest examples of Charlie Chaplin’s career as an auteur. The silent drama was written, produced, directed, edited and starred Chaplin who also composed a score for the deeply personal film. Noted for its reliance on action rather than intertitles to tell its story, the film is notable for containing long, dramatic sequences in what is otherwise a comedy. Premiering on January 21, 1921, “The Kid” became the second-highest-grossing film of the year at the box office and is still a wonder to behold a century later.

30 Movies Celebrating Milestones In 2021

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