As the decade comes to a close many are in a retrospective mood. The films that have defined the 2010s are numerous and personal to us all – yet many may be thinking of the huge blockbusters that have pulled us out of bed and made us hand over an excessive amount for popcorn and a Coke. The big money makers which had, in some ways, the biggest impact and have shaped the decade. Here is the list for the biggest film of each year 2010-19!

2010: Toy Story 3, Disney, Worldwide gross of $1,066,969,703 2011: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, Warner Bros. Worldwide gross of $1,342,511,219 2012: Avengers Assemble, Disney, Worldwide gross of $1,518,812,988 2013: Frozen, Disney, Worldwide gross of $1,290,000,000 2014: Transformers: Age of Extinction, Paramount, Worldwide gross of $1,104,054,072 2015: Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Disney, Worldwide gross of $2,068,223,624 2016: Captain America: Civil War, Disney, Worldwide gross of $1,153,304,495 2017: Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Disney, Worldwide gross of $1,332,539,889 2018: Avengers: Infinity War, Disney, Worldwide gross of $2,048,359,754 2019: Avengers: Endgame, Disney, Worldwide gross of $2,797,800,564 Naturally the biggest blockbusters are sequels – all building upon the goodwill instilled in audiences from previous instalments. All with the exception of Frozen, which rides off the wave of Disney Princesses and brings us all dark memories of hearing “Let it Go” for the fourth time in a single hour and Olaf’s beady eyes following us around shopping centres due to its manic popularity.

Another stroke of gold appears to be the concluding chapter of a series. Toy Story 3, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Avengers: Endgame where all marketed as the endpoint of a series despite new material being later created in the same world if not with the same characters for all. It stands true that audiences will pay special attention to conclusions, even if they are not so conclusive, meaning especially large ticket sales and a place as one of the biggest grossing films.

It may also have become clear that Disney is the big winner of the decade with 8/10 of the biggest films of the year being distributed by them. In particular the Avengers and Star Wars franchises dominated the second half of the decade and produced 3 films that grossed over $2 billion – an accomplishment only achieved by 5 films total. Although the Star Wars trilogy has drawn to a close, it’s hard to believe Disney will leave it alone for too long before being attracted back to its promise of dollar bills from a dedicated fanbase and there appears no end to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) anytime soon as new films are being cranked out again from 2020, starting with the Black Widow movie.