Are Audiences Picking Dumber Movies

Are movies dumber? Are they just CGI popcorn fests with no plot or character? It's fair to argue that there are still many intelligent films being made, even if they aren't huge hits ("The Hurt Locker" comes to mind) but if we accept the premise that the top grossing films influence what other sorts of films get made, what kind of trends are seen when we examine the data.

I've selected the top 10 grossing films for a random sample of years between 1986 and 2009.

 1986

1 Top Gun
2 Crocodile Dundee
3 Platoon
4 The Karate Kid Part II
5 Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
6 Back to School
7 Aliens
8 The Golden Child
9 Ruthless People
10 Ferris Bueller's Day Off

1990
1 Home Alone
2 Ghost
3 Dances with Wolves
4 Pretty Woman
5 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
6 The Hunt for Red October
7 Total Recall
8 Die Hard 2: Die Harder
9 Dick Tracy
10 Kindergarten Cop
1993
1 Jurassic Park
2 Mrs. Doubtfire
3 The Fugitive
4 The Firm
5 Sleepless in Seattle
6 Indecent Proposal
7 In the Line of Fire
8 The Pelican Brief
9 Schindler's List
10 Cliffhanger
1996
1 Independence Day
2 Twister
3 Mission: Impossible
4 Jerry Maguire
5 Ransom
6 101 Dalmatians (1996)
7 The Rock
8 The Nutty Professor (1996)
9 The Birdcage
10 A Time to Kill
2001
1 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
2 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
3 Shrek
4 Monsters, Inc.
5 Rush Hour 2
6 The Mummy Returns
7 Pearl Harbor
8 Ocean's Eleven
9 Jurassic Park III
10 Planet of the Apes (2001)
2005
1 Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
2 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
3 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
4 War of the Worlds
5 King Kong
6 Wedding Crashers
7 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
8 Batman Begins
9 Madagascar
10 Mr. & Mrs. Smith
2007
1 Spider-Man 3
2 Shrek the Third
3 Transformers
4 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
5 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
6 I Am Legend
7 The Bourne Ultimatum
8 National Treasure: Book of Secrets
9 Alvin and the Chipmunks
10 300
2009
1 Avatar
2 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
3 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
4 The Twilight Saga: New Moon
5 Up
6 The Hangover
7 Star Trek
8 The Blind Side
9 Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
10 Sherlock Holmes

It seems even in 1986 we saw popcorn action and franchises dominate the list. Genre adventures tend to be in the top, with the occasional raunchy comedy or romantic comedy

1993 was interesting with two legal thrillers on the list, and 1996 has "A Time To Kill" which of all the films listed probably the most unusual, lacking almost any action or thrills. Schindler's List is also notable, and "The Blind Side" is the only "feel-good drama" on any years list.

In 2001 8 of the 10 are big special effects romps, and the other two (Rush Hour 2 and Oceans 11) are zany cops-and-robbers fiascos.

In 2005 "Wedding Crashers" is the only non-special effects extravaganza, and 2007 goes 10/10.

While some trends can be noted it is difficult to quantify the 'quality' of films like "Crocodile Dundee" compared to "The Hangover" and to draw fair comparisons between the changing states of special effects between 1986's "Aliens" and 2005 "War of the Worlds."

The next step would be to increase the sample size to the Top 20 films over every year, and to make a time-graph of what types fo film are represented. It should stretch back to the early 80s, generally considered the era of the modern blockbuster movie.

...

Just spent half my lunchbreak trying to categorize movies. Bored to death. Headache.

xhonzi said:

We have a pair of friends who see all of these dumb comedies in the theatre multiple times and then buy them on Bluray as soon as they come out.  They loan them to us, we chuckle at a few jokes, and then they're totally gone.  In a couple years, people will have completely forgotten the modern Pink Panther 1/2 and Get Smart movies.  But Peter Seller's Pink Panther movies and Get Smart the TV show will live on.

How I wish Jar Jar could be forgotten.