2025s biggest movie anniversaries: Jaws to Batman Begins and beyond
We love a year ending in five, don’t we, folks? If nothing else, it makes it easier to calculate which great films are celebrating their 10th or 15th (or 40th or 50th) anniversaries, making them ripe for rewatching, and for reconsidering their legacies.
Whether gradually or all at once, these films — from superhero movies to kitsch musicals to coming-of-age films — had a lasting impact on global cinema and American culture that can still be felt today. Time has been kind to them, and they remain as effective and accessible as they ever were.
1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens — 10th anniversary
It may seem hard to imagine now, but there was once a time when Star Wars was over. Done. The end. Fin. But then Disney purchased Lucasfilm in 2012, setting plans in motion for a series of sequel films that would discard the mostly book-based lore, and follow the events of 1983’s Return of the Jedi with a new seventh installment. Fast-forward to 2015, and the excitement for a new entry, featuring new stars and familiar faces alike, had reached fever pitch. Upon the Christmas release of The Force Awakens, the Hollywood mega-franchise rose from its slumber and became even bigger, breaking a series of box-office records and becoming only the third movie to gross $ 2 billion worldwide, alongside juggernauts Avatar and Titanic.
Director J.J. Abrams imbued The Force Awakens with a breakneck pace, and a nostalgia for practical effects that broke with the digital traditions of the oft-pilloried prequel trilogy. Suddenly, Star Wars felt like Star Wars again (the originals, that is, rewatched by generations over decades on VHS), and for the first time in 30 years, Harrison Ford’s Han Solo, Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia, and Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker graced our screens. But it also promised a direction forward. In addition to his whizbang sensibilities, Abrams’ keen eye for casting was also on full display, resulting in the creation of a new quartet who, despite the series’ subsequent ups and downs, remained beloved fixtures of the series: Daisy Ridley’s scrappy Jedi-in-training Rey, John Boyega’s turncoat Stormtrooper Finn, Oscar Isaac’s maverick pilot Poe Dameron, and the angstiest of I-can-fix-hims, Adam Driver’s brooding, cross-saber wielding baddie Kylo Ren. In the decade since its release, The Force Awakens has practically become the “legacy sequel” roadmap. If you want to revive a franchise, this is how you do it.
2. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World — 15th anniversary
The “cult movie” doesn’t really exist anymore, but Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was likely the last time such a major box office bomb (or bob-omb) benefitted from a surge in fandom. Produced while Bryan Lee O’Malley’s six-part Scott Pilgrim comic series was still being written, Edgar Wright’s visually dazzling adaptation works as an alternate telling. It follows the titular, under-achieving Toronto garage musician (Michael Cera) through a series of video game-inspired fist fights against the seven evil exes of his captivating new squeeze, the sardonic Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead).
The film’s ensemble is so ridiculously star-studded — including Anna Kendrick, Kieran Culkin, Brie Larson, Chris Evans, Brandon Routh, Aubrey Plaza, among others — that it’s hard to imagine it not raking in the cash. Regardless, its impact in geek circles was immediately palpable, becoming one of the most recognizable sources of cosplay at any given convention, with its wide array of instantly beloved characters. It’s a film that doesn’t get nearly the credit it deserves as a postmodern slacker classic for a new generation, doing for millennials what Clerks and Dazed and Confused did for Gen X in the ’90s, by reflecting a sense of arrested development (brought on by recessionary downturn and the ensuing nihilism) that many young adults had likely begun to feel, but didn’t yet have the words for. Plus, it’s an all-out blast.
3. Batman Begins — 20th anniversary
The platonic ideal of the “gritty” reboot, Batman Begins likely had as many negative effects on Hollywood as positive ones, though that can be said of any sufficiently influential film. It also launched Christopher Nolan into the stratosphere, giving him the platform to make both passion projects like The Prestige and smart, big-canvas action movies like sequel The Dark Knight. Of course, the foundations for the latter were laid in its 2005 predecessor, which not only resurrected Batman for the big screen (after the much-derided Batman & Robin) but also gave the Caped Crusader, and superheroes in general, an air of prestige they’d seldom had.
Each role in Nolan’s Gotham — inspired partially by Chicago and partially by Hong Kong’s Kowloon Walled City — was filled out by character actors with gravitas, from Morgan Freeman’s playful techie Lucius Fox and Michael Caine’s wry butler Alfred, to Gary Oldman’s contentious cop Jim Gordon. The transformation of Bruce Wayne, embodied thoughtfully by Christian Bale, is grounded both emotionally and physically, with each aspect of Batman’s lore being granted thematic weight by Nolan and David S. Goyer’s nonlinear screenplay. Of course, no Batman movie works without a great villain or two, a task that Cillian Murphy’s slimy Scarecrow and Liam Neeson’s pained Ra’s al Ghul are more than up for. The film was even nominated for the Oscar for Best Cinematography, and rightly so, given how Nolan and D.P. Wally Pfister widened the world of Gotham through oppressive gas-lamp washes, causing the movie’s central theme of fear — how it manifests, and how it can be weaponized — to practically permeate every shot. It’s hard not to get lost in it.
4. Final Destination — 25th anniversary
Against all odds, the delightfully sinister Final Destination franchise is alive and kicking, with its sixth entry — the legacy sequel Final Destination: Bloodlines — set to release this summer. Fittingly, it’ll also mark 25 years since the Rube Goldberg-ian horror series began, with James Wong’s first entry. “You can’t cheat death,” warns the original’s poster, though even a statement that direct isn’t enough to prepare unsuspecting viewers for just how literal and goofy the tagline ends up being. Of course, it helps to have the late Tony Todd show up in numerous entries to explain what is (or might be) going on.
Just as a group of friends are set to take off on a plane, one of them has a premonition of their mid-air deaths and forces them to disembark, only for his vision to come true moments later. However, death itself — as an invisible force embodied by the movement of the camera — begins coming for them one by one, through a series of eerie and violent coincidences, from a swinging billboard to a shower clothesline noose, as though it were claiming overdue debts. The franchise has since spawned some of the genre’s most memorable kills, all of which are owed to the original’s whip-smart, meta-textual conceit, as though every aspect of the film itself — by virtue of promising its audience violent thrills — were conspiring to kill off its young protagonists in increasingly bizarre, elaborate, and tongue-in-cheek ways.
5. X-Men — 25th anniversary
The film that arguably kicked off the modern superhero boom, the influence of the first X-Men can still be felt across the genre — not the least because Hugh Jackman is still playing Wolverine a quarter of a century later. It took the concept of comic book superheroes seriously, steeping its story of mutant oppression in Nazi imagery, alongside a Holocaust-surviving anti-hero, Magneto (Ian McKellen), and an intellectual and philosophical rival concerned with political optics, best frenemy Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart). But as somber as it can be, the movie is also unafraid to have fun, between the likes of Jackman’s snarking, snarling anti-hero, and Rebecca Romijn’s seductive shapeshifter/brawler Mystique.
The film may be a time capsule of the turn of the century, but its impact still remains. Its unique leather outfits (in lieu of the comics’ colorful spandex) were certainly a mark of time and place, but they also served the kind of tactical function that comic book movies still adopt in their costume designs to this day, no matter how dull or bright. The production also launched the career of one Kevin Feige, Marvel’s current super-producer; he’d been a Hollywood assistant up to that point, but was bumped up to associate producer on this film because of his knowledge of the comics. So, the Marvel Cinematic Universe would quite literally not exist without X-Men either.
6. Clueless — 30th anniversary
Is there a better modern Jane Austen movie? “Ugh! As if!” An adaptation of Emma set in the Beverly Hills public high school, Amy Heckerling’s Clueless did for It Girls what her Fast Times at Ridgemont High did for stoners over a decade prior, with its distinctly upbeat spin, resulting in the proliferation of plaid blazers, and the popularization of filler words (such as “like” and “so”) to accentuate everyday speech. You might see that as a downside, but listen to yourself the next time you paraphrase a story secondhand!
Spunky, popular, and stylish, Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone) seems to have it all. Like Austen’s heroine, she fancies herself a matchmaker. After getting two teachers to date, she takes awkward new girl Tai (Brittany Murphy) under her wing, as her new “project.” With jealousies, falling-outs, and colliding teenage hormones, the film features every ingredient for a classic coming-of-age saga, all wrapped up in good-natured packaging. The result is a film that reclaims popular notions of femininity with a positive spin, buoyed by a to-die-for ’90s soundtrack sure to conjure nostalgia for anyone who watched it upon release, featuring everyone from Coolio to Counting Crows. And yes, like any hallmark of American cinema, it also received a stage musical in 2018.
7. Jumanji — 30th anniversary
While its numerous sequels have taken the form of body-swap video game comedies, the original Jumanji was at once both simpler and more fantastical. What’s more, it also starred the late, great comedian Robin Williams in the leading role of Alan Parrish, a young boy who gets sucked into a mysterious, jungle-themed board game, only to emerge decades later, when a young, orphaned sibling pair (Bradley Pierce and Kirsten Dunst) resumes the game he inadvertently abandoned.
Based on a picture book about an enchanted board game — albeit without any humans getting sucked into its secret jungle — the movie’s fantastical (mis)adventures also have a somber undercurrent. It’s a family film no doubt, but one entirely about loss. After disappearing for decades, Alan must reconnect with a world, and a life, that was stolen from him, just as his childhood sweetheart, Sarah (Bonnie Hunt), is forced to contend with both his disappearance and re-emergence — a meeting facilitated by two grieving pre-teens. What’s more, its Wizard of Oz-esque casting, with Alan’s distant father in the real world and the hunter chasing him in the game both being played by an icy Jonathan Hyde, make its emotional metaphors all the more terrifying for young viewers.
8. Toy Story — 30th anniversary
The Pixar juggernaut is still going strong, with originals and sequels galore (including a fifth Toy Story slated for 2026). Its beginnings were far more humble, but upon revisiting the studio’s first feature film, the original Toy Story from 1995, it’s clear that their work has always placed heart above all else. While often incorrectly cited as the first film completed digitally, without a camera (a distinction that belongs to 1990’s The Rescuers Down Under), Toy Story was, however, the first-ever animated feature made in the 3D wireframe animated style, the aesthetic that now dominates American studio animation. Its janky simplicity is almost charming, but the film feels shockingly modern as a work of cinematic imagination.
What still makes Toy Story tick all these decades later is its colorful characters, especially the Tom Hanks-voiced neurotic Sheriff Woody and Tim Allen’s delusional space cop Buzz Lightyear, a pair of toys reckoning with their place in the world as children’s playthings. As examples of two vastly different types of leaders (not to mention opposing masculine archetypes of the 20th century, the old-world cowboy and the futuristic astronaut), Woody and Buzz are remarkable for eventually finding friendship and camaraderie through a common mission — not unlike Pixar’s own ethos of creative collaboration in the pursuit of enriching children’s lives.
9. Back to the Future — 40th anniversary
Iconic, idiosyncratic, and downright delightful, sci-fi romp Back to the Future remains the shimmering ideal of the four-quadrant “family” entertainment Hollywood began perfecting in the 1980s. The unlikely (and, as John Mulaney reminds us, unexplained) friendship between high school slacker Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and eccentric physicist Emmet “Doc” Brown (Christopher Lloyd) results in the teenager being dislodged in time via automotive experiment and sent to the year 1955. While stuck in the past, he must battle the most seemingly ordinary of butterfly effects — ensuring that two teenagers fall in love — in order to safeguard, well, his own existence. Those two teens, as it happens, are his future mother and father. Awkward!
Director Robert Zemeckis imbues proceedings with both a nimble pace and a detailed sense of lived reality, bringing to life Doc and Marty’s respective worlds with aplomb. The film is surprisingly grounded in its silly sci-fi musings — how many movies can claim to have cemented a real car, the DMC DeLorean, within the popular consciousness as a time machine? — and in the process, it feels ever so tangible, and just within reach. As a touchstone of time-travel mechanics, even younger viewers are likely to understand its stakes, to the point that it’s still frequently referenced in pop culture (such as in recent mega-blockbuster Avengers: Endgame). Between its sequels, video games, and recent stage musical on Broadway, Back to the Future has pretty much never left the popular zeitgeist, and it’s unlikely to anytime soon.
10. The Goonies — 40th anniversary
Would you believe that, as I was writing this list, I heard someone just outside my window quoting one of the two most famous lines from The Goonies: “Sloth love Chunk,” spoken by the kindhearted, disabled Sloth (John Matuszak)? If that sounds far-fetched, you might not be familiar with just how true its other famous line has become: “Goonies never say die!” After all, Richard Donner’s adventurous pirate saga practically became the template for kid-centric ensembles movies (and shows) going forward, alongside contemporaries like E.T. and Stand by Me. Without the ’80s boom of wandering kids’ adventures, you can say goodbye to modern touchstones like IT and Stranger Things.
The Goonies was practically engineered in a lab to become a beloved classic; in addition to between being helmed by Superman: The Movie director Donner, it boasts a screenplay by Chris Columbus — who would go on to direct both Home Alone and the first Harry Potter — based on a story by none other than adventure maestro Steven Spielberg. Add Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom sidekick Ke Huy Quan into the mix as Data (alongside future stars like Sean Astin as Mikey, Corey Feldman as Mouth, and Josh Brolin as Brand) and the cast becomes reason enough to check out the film as a career retrospective. However, its wild, cacophonous energy keeps it feeling modern, as its titular friend group battles goons and booby traps in pursuit of pirate treasure.
11. The Breakfast Club — 40th anniversary
Over the years, writer/director John Hughes has become synonymous with multifaceted comedy with realistic flair. The Breakfast Club is perhaps his magnum opus, a high school movie that practically defined the coming-of-age drama for entire generations. It’s oft-imitated — including by blockbusters like Spider-Man: Homecoming — but seldom, if ever, equaled.
The film’s iconic “brat pack” — leads Emilio Estevez, Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, and Anthony Michael Hall — play each of their broad teenage archetypes with impeccable nuance, yielding a film that confronts the malaise of the American teenager as a person subject to ruthless expectations, who is frequently misunderstood. Its simplicity is its secret weapon, unfolding over a detention setting that forces its characters to talk to (and eventually, empathize with) one another, in a keen example of dialogue-driven cinema that sacrifices neither style nor substance in pursuit of entertainment, or in search of greater truths.
12. Pee-wee’s Big Adventure — 40th anniversary
Few characters have transitioned from TV to the big screen as seamlessly (or as joyfully) as Pee-wee Herman. Paul Reubens’ giddy creation, which he had been performing on stage for several years, made his TV debut on The Dating Game in 1979 before getting his own HBO special. It wouldn’t be long before Reubens would seek out an idiosyncratic up-and-comer to direct his filmic vehicle: none other than Tim Burton, who has since had a wildly successful career in the “creating oddities” department. (This would also be the first of many collaborations between Burton and composer Danny Elfman)
A pseudo-remake of The Bicycle Thief — Vittorio De Sica’s Italian neorealist classic from 1948 — Pee-wee’s Big Adventure is wonderfully, childishly farcical while remaining rooted in a solid cinematic foundation. Today, the late Reubens’ awkward, slapstick gait as the flip-flopping, pratfalling Pee-wee is just as iconic as his high-pitched voice and slim gray suit, worn with white loafers and a bright red bow tie. The result is a Halloween costume that’s as popular (and as instantly recognizable) as Dracula or Frankenstein.
13. Jaws — 50th anniversary
We’re going to need a bigger retrospective — that is, if we’re going to capture the full extent of Jaws‘ impact on modern movies. From John Williams’ hair-raising musical theme to Steven Spielberg’s deft and considered visual construction (including a Vertigo shot arguably more famous than the one in Vertigo), to the widely accepted truism that not seeing the monster in a movie is infinitely more terrifying, Jaws is practically an urtext for modern Hollywood. What’s more, it was the very reason the term “blockbuster” was coined, owing to the massive success of its simultaneous nationwide release, for which people lined up for hours and hours in the hopes of buying tickets.
But Jaws‘ reputation as the apex monster movie also cleverly disguises — as the film initially does — that it’s really a story of guys being dudes out on the open seas. The lovable trio of police chief and family man Brody (Roy Scheider), know-it-all oceanographer Hopper (Richard Dreyfuss), and mysterious boat captain Quint (Robert Shaw) are, in totality, not unlike the movie’s vicious shark: “a perfect engine,” only rather than eating, they’re designed to guide us through the story’s choppy waters, and anchor us in real, visceral human emotions when things go sideways.
14. The Rocky Horror Picture Show — 50th anniversary
With midnight screenings that still sell out across the country, Jim Sharman’s The Rocky Horror Picture Show — adapted from Richard O’Brien’s stage show — is at once a precious relic as well as a contemporary gateway to queer cinema, albeit with modern caveats surrounding depictions of transgender characters. Between audiences playing dress-up and talking back to the screen, its ritualistic reenactments continue to be a space of embrace. Led by Tim Curry’s mischievous, enigmatic Dr. Frank-N-Furter, an alien mad scientist from the planet “Transsexual,” even the movie’s most retrograde features and language are made to feel euphoric. The film, after all, is remarkably progressive for its time.
Even the most vanilla audiences are given a gradual way into the story, via seemingly heteronormative high school sweethearts Brad (Barry Bostwick) and Janet (Susan Sarandon), who stumble upon Frank-N-Furter’s castle and are invited to stay the night. A kitschy, toe-tapping cabaret ensues, born from high camp and 1950s sci-fi/horror. It’s a loving throwback, as well as a welcoming wink to anyone looking to step outside the lines of what’s considered acceptable or tasteful. Like the “Time Warp,” it’s a joy to do it again and again.
15. Monty Python and the Holy Grail — 50th anniversary
Few sketch groups are as baked into the fabric of modern humor as Monty Python, a feat arguably owed to their second feature film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Combining the Arthurian with the absurd, and undercutting the grandiose with the goofy, the Terry Gilliam/Terry Jones-directed classic has continued to permeate pop culture, both directly (via a “quote-along re-release” celebrating its 48th-and-a-half anniversary) and indirectly, such as in the Tony–winning musical Spamalot by Python member Eric Idle.
From The Simpsons to SNL to Marvel’s Deadpool, most Western comedy institutions are indebted to the Pythons in some form. While much of contemporary visual humor is distinctly postmodern — it depends heavily on acknowledging the viewer, and on spoofing the expectations of traditional filmmaking — the movie was largely responsible for ushering in this era, and cementing reference (and self-reference) as its overarching lingua franca. Comedy would not take the form it does today, across film, television, and arguably new media, were it not for Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
16. Sholay — 50th anniversary
The musical blockbuster that packed theaters for more than five years in Mumbai, Ramesh Sippy’s Indian western Sholay (Embers) is arguably the most popular and influential Bollywood movie ever made, with even minor characters (and the actors who played them) becoming household names with only a single line. Modelled on a number of Indian and international films, from Raj Khosla’s Mera Gaon Mera Desh (My Farm, My Country) to Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven, it combines numerous genres and styles — from slapstick romantic comedy to spaghetti westerns — resulting in a wild mix of tones that would go on to define mainstream Hindi-language cinema for decades to come.
The film follows the efforts of reclusive village elder and former police officer Thakur Baldev Singh (Sanjeev Kumar) who, in order to protect his town from the notorious bandit Gabbar Singh (a scenery-chewing Amjad Khan) hires a pair of roguish thieves he once put in prison, believing them to be pure of heart. The duo, comprising the silent, simmering Jai (Amitabh Bachchan) and the animated loudmouth Veeru (Dharmendra) became instantly iconic, both for their loyalty and friendship — which they famously sing about during a bike ride — as well as their respective romances, with counterparts that fit each one like a glove. While Jai falls for the Thakur’s stoic daughter-in-law, the grieving widow Radha (Jaya Bhaduri), Veeru engages in a playful tête-à-tête with feisty horse-cart driver Basanti (Hema Malini), resulting in all four actors being launched into the stratosphere. From its action, to its melodrama, to its numerous musical numbers, the film has seldom left the popular consciousness in the subcontinent or among the South Asian diaspora, offering a little something for everyone.
17. Rashomon — 75th anniversary
Few films have become synonymous with both a psychological phenomenon and an entire narrative conceit, but Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon has had an indelible impact on modern cinema. Its central device — depicting multiple, contradictory versions of the same event — has trickled down in numerous ways, from the courtroom structure of David Fincher’s The Social Network, to the tilt-shifted recollections found in Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel. However, Kurosawa was one of the first to attempt such a herculean feat on screen, and he arguably did it best.
Set in the late Heian era (circa the 12th century CE), the Samurai classic frames its story as a recollection about recollections, with characters taking shelter from a storm discussing their accounts of a recent murder trial. Within this trial, numerous perspectives on the crime are heard, including Tajōmaru (Toshiro Mifune), a bandit accused of murder; a woman named Masago (Machiko Kyo), who claims the bandit raped her; and even the woman’s slain samurai husband, Kanazawa (Masayuki Mori), whose testimony is delivered through a spiritual medium. As the contradictions mount, the film investigates the very nature of truth and eye-witness accounts, while also introducing a subtle undercurrent that — intentionally or otherwise — goes unremarked upon. Masago’s behavior changes drastically between each respective flashback; while Rashomon’s plot concerns a murder trial, the story, at its core, ends up being about a multitude of perspectives — cruel, empathetic, or otherwise — on a woman coming forth about her sexual assault, which holds special relevance in the post-#MeToo era.