This morning I stumbled upon this fantastic post by Marco Arment titled "Popular movies I haven’t seen in the last 15 years" where the first paragraph reads:
Whenever anyone asks me about a popular movie, they’re flabbergasted that I haven’t seen it. You’d think they’d learn to just assume I’ve seen nothing, but they haven’t yet.
My first thought was something like "Wow, really? There have been a lot of good movies in the last 15 years." and although I've absolutely noticed that I'm watching less and less movies I was kind of shocked when I scrolled through the list and counted.
TLDR: I don't watch many mainstream movies. For the definition of mainstream that reads "Academy Award Best Picture nominees and top 10 highest-grossing films". So thanks Marco and I hope he doesn't mind that I copy his list verbatim.
Key: Seen it, Haven’t seen it
2000
- Gladiator
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
- Traffic
- Mission: Impossible II
- X-Men
- What Women Want
- Meet the Parents
- Chocolat
- Erin Brockovich
- Cast Away
- Dinosaur
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas
- The Perfect Storm
- What Lies Beneath
2001
- Monsters, Inc.
- Ocean’s Eleven
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
- Moulin Rouge
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
- Shrek
- The Mummy Returns
- A Beautiful Mind
- Gosford Park
- In the Bedroom
- Pearl Harbor
- Jurassic Park III
- Planet of the Apes
- Hannibal
2002
- Spider-Man
- Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
- Men in Black II
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Ice Age
- Die Another Day
- Minority Report
- Chicago
- Gangs of New York
- The Hours
- The Pianist
- Signs
- My Big Fat Greek Wedding
2003
- Finding Nemo
- The Matrix Reloaded
- The Matrix Revolutions
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
- X2
- Lost in Translation
- Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
- Mystic River
- Seabiscuit
- Bruce Almighty
- The Last Samurai
- Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
- Bad Boys II
2004
- Shrek 2
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- The Incredibles
- Ocean’s Twelve
- Million Dollar Baby
- The Aviator
- Finding Neverland
- Ray
- Sideways
- Spider-Man 2
- The Passion of the Christ
- The Day After Tomorrow
- Meet the Fockers
- Troy
- Shark Tale
2005
- Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
- Madagascar
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
- Batman Begins
- Crash
- Brokeback Mountain
- Capote
- Good Night, and Good Luck
- Munich
- War of the Worlds
- King Kong
- Mr. and Mrs. Smith
- Hitch
2006
- The Departed
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
- Ice Age: The Meltdown
- X-Men: The Last Stand
- Little Miss Sunshine
- Casino Royale
- Cars
- Babel
- Letters from Iwo Jima
- The Queen
- The Da Vinci Code
- Night at the Museum
- Mission: Impossible III
- Superman Returns
- Happy Feet
2007
- Ratatouille
- Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Transformers
- The Simpsons Movie
- 300
- No Country for Old Men
- Juno
- I Am Legend
- Atonement
- Michael Clayton
- There Will Be Blood
- Spider-Man 3
- Shrek the Third
- National Treasure: Book of Secrets
2008
- The Dark Knight
- Iron Man
- Quantum of Solace
- WALL-E
- Slumdog Millionaire
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Frost/Nixon
- Milk
- The Reader
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
- Kung Fu Panda
- Hancock
- Mamma Mia!
- Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
- The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
2009
- Inglourious Basterds
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- The Hurt Locker
- Avatar
- The Blind Side
- District 9
- An Education
- Precious
- A Serious Man
- Up
- Up in the Air
- Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
- Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
- 2012
- The Twilight Saga: New Moon
- Sherlock Holmes
- Angels & Demons
- The Hangover
2010
- Alice in Wonderland
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
- Iron Man 2
- Despicable Me
- How to Train Your Dragon
- The Social Network
- Toy Story 3
- The Kings’ Speech
- 127 Hours
- Black Swan
- The Fighter
- Inception
- The Kids Are All Right
- True Grit
- Winter’s Bone
- Shrek Forever After
- The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
- Tangled
2011
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
- Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
- The Artist
- The Descendants
- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
- The Help
- Hugo
- Midnight in Paris
- Moneyball
- The Tree of Life
- War Horse
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon
- The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1
- Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol
- Kung Fu Panda 2
- Fast Five
- The Hangover Part II
- The Smurfs
- Cars 2
2012
- Beasts of the Southern Wild
- Les Misérables
- The Avengers
- The Dark Knight Rises
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
- The Hunger Games
- Skyfall
- Argo
- Amour
- Django Unchained
- Life of Pi
- Lincoln
- Silver Linings Playbook
- Zero Dark Thirty
- Ice Age: Continental Drift
- The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2
- The Amazing Spider-Man
- Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted
- Men in Black 3
2013
- Iron Man 3
- The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
- Thor: The Dark World
- Monsters University
- 12 Years a Slave
- American Hustle
- Captain Phillips
- Dallas Buyers Club
- Gravity
- Her
- Nebraska
- Philomena
- The Wolf of Wall Street
- Frozen
- Despicable Me 2
- The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
- Fast & Furious 6
- Man of Steel
2014
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- X-Men: Days of Future Past
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier
- Birdman
- American Sniper
- Boyhood
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- The Imitation Game
- Selma
- The Theory of Everything
- Whiplash
- Transformers: Age of Extinction
- The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
- Maleficent
- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1
- The Amazing Spider-Man 2
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
- Interstellar
For the record: He has watched 33, I have 65 out of 234 (if I counted correctly). I find my numbers quite interesting, although misleading. If I subtract the 12 Marvel movies, 8 Harry Potter movies and 5 Tolkien movies, there goes a good third.