The year 2009 saw the release of many films. Seven made the top 50 list of highest-grossing films. Also in 2009, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that as of that year, their Best Picture category would consist of ten nominees, rather than five (the first time since the 1943 awards).
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Evaluation of the year
editFilm critic Philip French of The Guardian said that 2009 "began with the usual flurry of serious major movies given late December screenings in Los Angeles to qualify for the Oscars. They're now forgotten or vaguely regarded as semi-classics: The Reader, Che, Slumdog Millionaire, Frost/Nixon, Revolutionary Road, The Wrestler, Gran Torino, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It soon became apparent that horror movies would be the dominant genre once again, with vampires the pre-eminent sub-species, the most profitable inevitably being New Moon, the latest in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight saga, the best the subtle Swedish Let the Right One In and the worst the British horror spoof Lesbian Vampire Killers. Documentaries continued to flourish, introducing us to fascinating new worlds: Afghan TV talent shows (Afghan Star), Australian exploitation cinema (Not Quite Hollywood), haute couture (The September Issue). Animation thrived, the 3-D comeback threatened to become permanent rather than a gimmick, and the two were conjoined in a dozen 3-D animated features, the finest being Pixar's Up. Remakes and sequels abounded, none of any merit. The same went for films based on comic strips and graphic novels. British cinema generally bubbled in the doldrums. The well-acted Fish Tank was overrated, as was the dull costume drama The Young Victoria. The best films by native directors were fuelled by our obsession with soccer (Ken Loach's Looking for Eric and Tom Hooper's The Damned United) or directed by foreigners (New Zealander Jane Campion's Bright Star, and two films by Danes: Nicholas Winding Refn's Bronson and Lone Scherfig's An Education). The most original British film was Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor's low-key, low-budget Helen, a formally innovative look at provincial life. 2009 was a mostly undistinguished year for Hollywood, with indifferent films from Woody Allen (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), Michael Mann (Public Enemies) and others, and deadly blockbusters such as Angels & Demons and 2012. The Coen brothers, however, were on form, examining their midwestern Jewish roots in A Serious Man, and Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker was the best film yet about Iraq. From Europe we had several striking revisionist accounts of violent resistance to Nazi occupation in the second world war: Flammen & Citronen (Denmark), Max Manus: Man of War (Norway) and The Army of Crime (France). But they were drowned in the tsunami of Quentin Tarantino's lunatic second world war fantasy Inglourious Basterds. The most likable European picture was the Italian Mid-August Lunch, the directorial debut of 60-year-old Gianni Di Gregorio (screenwriter on Gomorrah), and the three most memorably argumentative and provocative were Paolo Sorrentino's Il Divo, Lars von Trier's Antichrist and Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon. The performances I most enjoyed were impersonations: Meryl Streep's Julia Child (Julie & Julia) and Christian McKay's Orson in Me and Orson Welles."[1]
Highest-grossing films
editThe top 10 films released in 2009 by worldwide gross are as follows:[2]
| Rank | Title | Distributor | Worldwide gross |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Avatar | 20th Century Fox | $2,743,577,587[nb 1] |
| 2 | Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince | Warner Bros. | $933,959,197 |
| 3 | Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs | 20th Century Fox | $886,686,817 |
| 4 | Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen | Paramount | $836,303,693 |
| 5 | 2012 | Sony | $769,679,473 |
| 6 | Up | Disney | $735,099,082 |
| 7 | The Twilight Saga: New Moon | Summit | $709,827,462 |
| 8 | Sherlock Holmes | Warner Bros. | $524,028,679 |
| 9 | Angels & Demons | Sony | $485,930,816 |
| 10 | The Hangover | Warner Bros. | $469,328,079 |
- ^ Excludes grosses from subsequent re-releases.
Avatar surpassed Titanic as the highest-grossing film of all time on January 25, 2010.[3] Avatar then became the first film to earn more than $2 billion at the box office on January 31, 2010.[4] Avatar was surpassed by Avengers: Endgame as the highest-grossing film of all time on July 21, 2019.[5] Due to a re-release, Avatar retook the title from Endgame on March 13, 2021.[6]
Events
edit| Month | Day | Event |
| January | 22 | The 81st Academy Awards nominations are announced with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button leading with 13 nominations, followed by Slumdog Millionaire with 10. Both films are nominated for Best Picture. Heath Ledger is posthumously nominated for Best Supporting Actor award for his performance in The Dark Knight, exactly one year after his death. |
| 25 | The 15th Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony is held at the Shrine Exposition Center, Los Angeles. | |
| Annie Awards ceremony is held in the UCLA's Royce Hall, Los Angeles. | ||
| 31 | The 61st Directors Guild of America Award dinner is held in the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza, Los Angeles. | |
| February | 5 – 15 | The 59th Berlin International Film Festival is opened with the world premiere of Tom Tykwer's The International. The Golden Bear prize is awarded to The Milk of Sorrow. The Silver Bears prizes are awarded to Asghar Farhadi, Best Director, Sotigui Kouyaté, Best Actor and Birgit Minichmayr, Best Actress. The festival is closed by the international premiere of George Tillman Jr.'s Notorious |
| 7 | The 61st Writers Guild of America Awards is held. | |
| The 62nd BAFTA Awards ceremony is held in the Royal Opera House, London. | ||
| 21 | The 29th Golden Raspberry Awards ceremony is held in Hollywood, California. | |
| 22 | The 81st Academy Awards ceremony is held at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. | |
| March | 29 | The 14th Empire Awards ceremony is held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, England. |
| May | 31 | The 2009 MTV Movie Awards ceremony was held at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California |
| July | 23 – 2 August | The 9th Era New Horizons Film Festival in Wrocław was held |
| December | 18 | Avatar is released in theaters, breaking many box-office records, including becoming the highest-grossing movie at the time. |
Awards
edit2009 films
editBy country/region
edit- List of American films of 2009
- List of Argentine films of 2009
- List of Australian films of 2009
- List of Bangladeshi films of 2009
- List of Bengali films of 2009
- List of Bollywood films of 2009
- List of Brazilian films of 2009
- List of British films of 2009
- List of Chinese films of 2009
- List of Canadian films of 2009
- List of French films of 2009
- List of Hong Kong films of 2009
- List of Italian films of 2009
- List of Japanese films of 2009
- List of Kannada films of 2009
- List of Mexican films of the 2000s
- List of Malayalam films of 2009
- List of Pakistani films of 2009
- List of Russian films of 2009
- List of South Korean films of 2009
- List of Spanish films of 2009
- List of Tamil films of 2009
- List of Telugu films of 2009
By genre/medium
edit- List of action films of 2009
- List of animated feature films of 2009
- List of avant-garde films of 2009
- List of crime films of 2009
- List of comedy films of 2009
- List of drama films of 2009
- List of horror films of 2009
- List of science fiction films of 2009
- List of thriller films of 2009
- List of western films of 2009
Births
edit- January 5 - Walker Scobell, American actor
- January 23 - Winslow Fegley, American actor
- January 26 - YaYa Gosselin, American actress
- February 22 - Archie Yates, English actor
- March 12 - Woody Norman, English actor
- April 15 - Julia Butters, American actress
- May 18 - Hala Finley, American actress
- June 23 - Xia Vigor, British-Filipino actress
- September 25 - Leah Jeffries, American actress
- September 26 – Alisha Weir, Irish actress and singer
- October 9 - Gordon Cormier, Canadian actor
- November 10 - Christian Convery, American-Canadian actor
Deaths
edit| Month | Date | Name | Age | Country | Profession | Notable films |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 1 | Edmund Purdom | 84 | UK | Actor | |
| 2 | Steven Gilborn | 72 | US | Actor | ||
| 3 | Pat Hingle | 84 | US | Actor | ||
| 3 | Olga San Juan | 81 | US | Actress, Dancer | ||
| 5 | Robert F. Brunner | 70 | US | Composer | ||
| 5 | Ned Tanen | 77 | US | Producer, Executive | ||
| 6 | John Scott Martin | 82 | UK | Actor | ||
| 8 | Don Galloway | 71 | US | Actor | ||
| 12 | Claude Berri | 74 | France | Director, Producer, Screenwriter | ||
| 12 | Russ Conway | 95 | Canada | Actor | ||
| 13 | Patrick McGoohan | 80 | Ireland | Actor | ||
| 14 | Ricardo Montalbán | 88 | Mexico | Actor | ||
| 14 | Angela Morley | 84 | UK | Composer | ||
| 15 | Chuck Gaspar | 70 | US | Special Effects Artist | ||
| 17 | Susanna Foster | 84 | US | Actress, Singer | ||
| 18 | Kathleen Byron | 88 | UK | Actress | ||
| 21 | Charles H. Schneer | 88 | US | Producer | ||
| 26 | Darrell Sandeen | 78 | US | Actor | ||
| 31 | Clint Ritchie | 70 | US | Actor | ||
| February | 6 | Philip Carey | 83 | US | Actor | |
| 6 | James Whitmore | 87 | US | Actor | ||
| 7 | Molly Bee | 69 | US | Singer, Actress | ||
| 7 | Lesley Brook | 91 | UK | Actress | ||
| 9 | Robert Anderson | 91 | US | Screenwriter | ||
| 13 | Dilys Laye | 74 | UK | Actress | ||
| 19 | Oreste Lionello | 81 | Italy | Actor | ||
| 20 | Robert Quarry | 83 | US | Actor | ||
| 21 | Howard Zieff | 81 | US | Director | ||
| 23 | Laurence Payne | 89 | UK | Actor | ||
| 24 | Edward Judd | 76 | UK | Actor | ||
| 27 | John Alvin | 91 | US | Actor | ||
| March | 3 | Sydney Chaplin | 82 | US | Actor | |
| 4 | Horton Foote | 92 | US | Screenwriter | ||
| 7 | Tullio Pinelli | 100 | Italy | Screenwriter | ||
| 13 | Betsy Blair | 85 | US | Actress | ||
| 14 | Millard Kaufman | 92 | US | Screenwriter | ||
| 15 | Ron Silver | 62 | US | Actor | ||
| 18 | Natasha Richardson | 45 | UK | Actress | ||
| 21 | John Cater | 77 | UK | Actor | ||
| 21 | John Franklyn-Robbins | 84 | UK | Actor | ||
| 25 | Steven Bach | 70 | US | Studio Executive | ||
| 29 | Monte Hale | 89 | US | Actor, Singer | ||
| 29 | Maurice Jarre | 84 | France | Composer | ||
| April | 1 | Lou Perryman | 67 | US | Actor | |
| 1 | Miguel Ángel Suárez | 69 | Puerto Rico | Actor | ||
| 3 | Tom Smith | 88 | UK | Makeup Artist | ||
| 4 | Jody McCrea | 74 | US | Actor | ||
| 5 | Wouter Barendrecht | 43 | Netherlands | Producer | ||
| 8 | Jane Bryan | 90 | US | Actress | ||
| 9 | Michael N. Harbour | 63 | UK | Actor | ||
| 9 | Shakti Samanta | 83 | India | Director, Producer | ||
| 11 | Simon Channing Williams | 63 | UK | Producer | ||
| 12 | Marilyn Chambers | 57 | US | Actress | ||
| 18 | Peter Dennis | 75 | UK | Actor | ||
| 22 | Ken Annakin | 94 | UK | Director | ||
| 22 | Jack Cardiff | 94 | UK | Cinematographer, Director | ||
| 25 | Bea Arthur | 86 | US | Actress | ||
| 27 | Feroz Khan | 69 | India | Actor | ||
| May | 1 | Marc Rocco | 46 | US | Director, Screenwriter | |
| 4 | Dom DeLuise | 75 | US | Actor | ||
| 4 | Jane Randolph | 93 | US | Actress | ||
| 15 | Bud Tingwell | 86 | Australia | Actor | ||
| 18 | Wayne Allwine | 62 | US | Voice Actor | ||
| 20 | Lucy Gordon | 28 | UK | Actress | ||
| 28 | Mort Abrahams | 93 | US | Producer | ||
| 28 | Terence Alexander | 86 | UK | Actor | ||
| June | 3 | David Carradine | 72 | US | Actor | |
| 3 | Shih Kien | 96 | China | Actor | ||
| 6 | Mary Howard | 96 | US | Actress | ||
| 9 | Michael Roof | 32 | US | Actor | ||
| 21 | Lorena Gale | 51 | Canada | Actress | ||
| 23 | Ed McMahon | 86 | US | Actor | ||
| 25 | Farrah Fawcett | 62 | US | Actress | ||
| 25 | Michael Jackson | 50 | US | Singer, Actor | ||
| 27 | Gale Storm | 87 | US | Singer, Actress | ||
| 29 | Jan Rubeš | 89 | Czech Republic | Singer, Actor | ||
| 30 | Harve Presnell | 75 | US | Actor, Singer | ||
| July | 1 | Karl Malden | 97 | US | Actor | |
| 4 | Brenda Joyce | 92 | US | Actress | ||
| 10 | Zena Marshall | 83 | UK | Actress | ||
| 13 | Beverly Roberts | 95 | US | Actress | ||
| 14 | Dal McKennon | 89 | US | Actor | ||
| 24 | Harry Towb | 83 | Ireland | Actor | ||
| 26 | Clayton Hill | 78 | US | Actor | ||
| 29 | Joanne Jordan | 88 | US | Actress | ||
| 31 | Jean-Paul Roussillon | 78 | France | Actor | ||
| August | 4 | Blake Snyder | 51 | US | Screenwriter | |
| 5 | Budd Schulberg | 95 | US | Screenwriter | ||
| 6 | John Hughes | 59 | US | Director, Screenwriter, Producer | ||
| 9 | John Quade | 71 | US | Actor | ||
| 12 | Ruth Ford | 98 | US | Actress | ||
| 13 | John Bentley | 92 | UK | Actor | ||
| 16 | Richard Moore | 83 | US | Cinematographer, Director | ||
| 21 | Gordon Daniel | 86 | UK | Sound Engineer | ||
| 26 | Sadie Corré | 91 | UK | Actress, Dancer | ||
| 26 | Dominick Dunne | 83 | US | Producer | ||
| 28 | Wayne Tippit | 76 | US | Actor | ||
| September | 3 | Caro Jones | 86 | Canada | Casting Director | |
| 4 | Iain Cuthbertson | 79 | UK | Actor | ||
| 4 | Carl Reindel | 74 | US | Actor | ||
| 7 | Frank Coghlan, Jr. | 93 | US | Actor | ||
| 8 | Ray Barrett | 82 | Australia | Actor | ||
| 11 | Zakes Mokae | 75 | South Africa | Actor | ||
| 12 | Larry Gelbart | 81 | US | Screenwriter | ||
| 13 | Paul Burke | 83 | US | Actor | ||
| 13 | Arnold Laven | 87 | US | Director | ||
| 14 | Henry Gibson | 73 | US | Actor | ||
| 14 | Patrick Swayze | 57 | US | Actor | ||
| 15 | Troy Kennedy Martin | 77 | UK | Screenwriter | ||
| 16 | Timothy Bateson | 83 | UK | Actor | ||
| 16 | Luciano Emmer | 91 | Italy | Director, Screenwriter | ||
| 17 | Dick Durock | 72 | US | Actor, Stuntman | ||
| 18 | Pearl Hackney | 92 | UK | Actress | ||
| 20 | John Hart | 91 | US | Actor | ||
| 20 | Katherine Parr | 88 | UK | Actress | ||
| 21 | Robert Ginty | 60 | US | Actor, Director | ||
| 30 | Robert S. Baker | 92 | UK | Producer, Director, Cinematographer | ||
| October | 3 | John Peverall | 77-78 | UK | Producer | |
| 6 | Pamela Blake | 94 | US | Actress | ||
| 10 | Sean Lawlor | 55 | Ireland | Actor | ||
| 13 | Al Martino | 82 | US | Actor, Singer | ||
| 13 | Daniel Melnick | 77 | US | Producer, Executive | ||
| 14 | Lou Albano | 76 | Italy | Actor, Wrestler | ||
| 14 | Collin Wilcox | 74 | US | Actress | ||
| 17 | Douglas Blackwell | 85 | UK | Actor | ||
| 17 | Vic Mizzy | 93 | US | Composer | ||
| 17 | Rosanna Schiaffino | 69 | Italy | Actress | ||
| 19 | Joseph Wiseman | 91 | Canada | Actor | ||
| 20 | Hubert Rees | 81 | UK | Actor | ||
| 23 | Lou Jacobi | 95 | Canada | Actor | ||
| 26 | Yoshirō Muraki | 85 | Japan | Production Designer, Costume Designer | ||
| 27 | John David Carson | 57 | US | Actor | ||
| November | 4 | David Tree | 94 | UK | Actor | |
| 6 | Derek Brechin | 57 | UK | Film Editor | ||
| 12 | Paul Wendkos | 84 | US | Director | ||
| 16 | Edward Woodward | 79 | UK | Actor | ||
| 17 | Tony Kendall | 72 | Italy | Actor | ||
| 28 | Gilles Carle | 81 | Canada | Director, Screenwriter | ||
| December | 3 | Nat Boxer | 84 | US | Sound Engineer | |
| 3 | Richard Todd | 90 | Ireland | Actor | ||
| 4 | Bryan O'Byrne | 78 | US | Actor | ||
| 5 | Garfield Morgan | 78 | UK | Actor | ||
| 8 | Joan Bridge | 97 | UK | Costume Designer | ||
| 9 | Gene Barry | 90 | US | Actor | ||
| 12 | Val Avery | 85 | US | Actor | ||
| 15 | Peter Murton | 85 | UK | Production Designer, Art Director | ||
| 15 | Robert Turturice | 60 | US | Costume Designer | ||
| 16 | Roy E. Disney | 79 | US | Studio Executive | ||
| 17 | Alaina Reed Hall | 63 | US | Actress | ||
| 17 | Jennifer Jones | 90 | US | Actress | ||
| 17 | Dan O'Bannon | 63 | US | Screenwriter, Director, Actor | ||
| 19 | Donald Pickering | 76 | UK | Actor | ||
| 20 | Brittany Murphy | 32 | US | Actress | ||
| 20 | Shari Rhodes | 71 | US | Casting Director | ||
| 20 | Arnold Stang | 91 | US | Actor | ||
| 21 | Marianne Stone | 87 | UK | Actress | ||
| 22 | Michael Currie | 81 | US | Actor | ||
| 24 | Giulio Bosetti | 78 | Italy | Actor | ||
| 30 | Perry Wilson | 93 | US | Actress | ||
| 31 | Glauco Onorato | 73 | Italy | Actor |
Film debuts
edit- Maisa Abd Elhadi – The Time That Remains
- Alberto Ammann − Cell 211
- François Arnaud – I Killed My Mother
- Enric Auquer − Mediterranean Food
- Austin Butler − Aliens in the Attic
- Carly Chaikin – The Consultants
- Gwendoline Christie – The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
- Chris Colfer – Russel Fish: The Sausage and Eggs Incident
- Sharlto Copley – District 9
- Jai Courtney – Stone Bros.
- Belén Cuesta – Hierro
- Laetitia Dosch – Accomplices
- Jacqueline Fernandez – Aladin
- Gal Gadot – Fast & Furious
- Donald Glover – Mystery Team
- Chris Hemsworth – Star Trek
- Liam Hemsworth – Knowing
- Ellie Kemper – Mystery Team
- Vincent Lacoste – The French Kissers
- Billy Magnussen – Happy Tears
- Mia McKenna-Bruce – The Fourth Kind
- Tanner Novlan – Maneater
- Aubrey Plaza – Mystery Team
- Zachary Quinto – Star Trek
- Chris Riggi – Toe to Toe
- Guillermo Rodriguez – Rock Slyde
- Amaia Salamanca – Brain Drain
- Kaya Scodelario – Moon
- Yara Shahidi – Imagine That
- Gabby Sidibe – Precious
- Dan Stevens – Hilde
- Steven Yeun – My Name Is Jerry
References
edit- ^ French, Philip (13 December 2009). "2009 in review: Film". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
- ^ "2009 Worldwide Box Office". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
- ^ Segers, Frank (January 25, 2010). "'Avatar' breaks 'Titanic' worldwide record". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 28, 2010. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
- ^ Bettinger, Brendan (January 31, 2010). "Avatar Becomes the First Film to Gross More Than $2 Billion Worldwide". Collider. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
- ^ Brevet, Brad (July 21, 2019). "'The Lion King' Debuts with Record $185M & 'Endgame' Becomes Global #1". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
- ^ Tartaglione, Nancy (March 13, 2021). "'Avatar' Overtakes 'Avengers: Endgame' As All-Time Highest-Grossing Film Worldwide; Rises To $2.8B Amid China Reissue – Update". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on March 13, 2021. Retrieved June 3, 2021.