The noughties were a pivotal decade in box office history, serving as a bridge between the classic cinema of the 20th century and the blockbuster-laden landscape familiar to moviegoers today.

CGI changed the way films were made, paving the way for superhero spectaculars and fantasy franchises to generate billions of dollars worldwide. But which movies made the most money? Read on to discover the highest-grossing movies in every year of the noughties.

Box office data courtesy of Box Office Mojo, with all dollar amounts in US dollars. Pound conversions are based on the historic exchange rate for each year.

The year 2000 wasn’t a vintage one for the global box office. In fact, its highest-grossing movie - Mission: Impossible 2 – ranks at just 48 out of 50 in the highest-grossing films of the decade. Taking the second spot was Gladiator with a global gross of $460 million (£304m). The sword-and-sandals epic cleaned up at the Oscars, bagging five awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Russell Crowe.

What is remarkable by today’s standards is the almost total absence of superhero films, with just one – the first X-Men movie – in the top 20. In fact, the bulk of the year’s best performers were original features rather than sequels or franchise outings. As we’ll find out, things would look very different by the end of the decade.

The first Harry Potter movie was a critical and commercial smash, racking up close to a billion dollars worldwide and becoming the second highest-grossing film in history at the time. The first instalment of another fantasy adaptation, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, took second spot with a global gross of $868 million (£602m). A $350 million (£242m) gap to 2001’s third most successful film, Monsters, Inc. goes some way to explaining the proliferation of fantasy and young adult novel adaptations in the ensuing years.

Elsewhere, 2001 saw the debuts of several future franchise juggernauts, including Shrek, Fast & Furious, and Ocean’s Eleven.

The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter also dominated in 2002, although this time their positions were reversed, with The Two Towers grossing $923 million (£616m) and Chamber of Secrets pulling in $878 million (£585m). Sam Raimi’s first Spider-Man movie took third spot with a $804 million (£536m) gross, marking the first time in history that three films had passed the $800 million mark in a year. 

Spider-Man was also the first film to earn $100 million in a weekend. It became the highest-grossing superhero film ever by the end of its run, a record that would be broken twice by the end of the decade.

With no Harry Potter spoiling the party, there was one movie to rule them all in 2003, with Return of the King grossing a phenomenal $1.1 billion (£648m) worldwide. It became the second film to pass the $1 billion mark after Titanic and the second-highest-grossing movie of the decade overall. An absolute awards magnet, it was nominated for 11 Oscars and won them all.

Taking second spot was Finding Nemo, with its $871 million (£533m) worldwide take, making it the highest-grossing animated movie ever (until 2004). The eagerly anticipated Matrix: Reloaded was third with a $739 million (£452m) gross, but The Matrix Revolutions, released just six months later, saw a substantial drop-off, pulling in $427 million (£261m).

Harry Potter returned in 2004, but Prisoner of Azkaban’s $795 million (£434m) only earned it second spot, with Shrek 2 becoming the highest-grossing movie of the year by some margin. Shrek 2 subsequently took the crown of the highest-grossing animated movie ever, holding on to it until 2010.

Also breaking records was Spider-Man 2. It raced to a $200 million domestic gross in just eight days and $300 million in 19 days, on its way to becoming the third highest-grossing movie of the year. Mel Gibson’s controversial The Passion of the Christ earned $609 million (£332m), becoming the highest-grossing independent film ever, while Meet the Fockers’ $522 million (£285m) made it the highest-grossing comedy of all time.

With an $895 million (£492m) global gross, Goblet of Fire was the highest-grossing film of the year, although only the sixth highest-grossing Harry Potter movie overall. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith was second with $849 million (£467m), while The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe completed the top three with $745 million (£410m). 

It was a strong year for awards fare, with King Kong, Brokeback Mountain and Walk the Line also released. But in one of the most controversial Oscar wins ever, Crash walked away with the Best Picture award. Its $98 million (£54m) gross made it the 53rd highest-grossing film of the year.

The most expensive movie ever made at the time, with an estimated $225 million budget (a record that’s been broken around 50 times since), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest had to deliver. Despite a lukewarm critical response, moviegoers lapped it up, and it became the fastest movie to gross $1 billion worldwide and the third-highest-grossing movie ever at the time.

In second spot, The Da Vinci Code’s £760 million (£413m) helped propel Sony Pictures to over $3 billion in global box office revenue for the first time in its history. Meanwhile, Superman’s first big-screen outing in almost 20 years, Superman Returns, earned a disappointing $391 million (£212m), with Warner Bros. putting the Man of Steel back under wraps for another eight years as a result.

Outdoing its predecessor with a budget of around $300 million, At World’s End also swashbuckled the box office but ultimately fell short of the $1 billion mark. Remarkably, 2007 would be the final year until the pandemic when a movie did not gross $1 billion. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was close behind with $941 million (£469m) and is the second 2007 movie to make the top 10 of the decade’s highest-grossing overall.

Threequels took the third and fourth spots, with Spider-Man 3 earning $895 million (£447m) and Shrek the Third racking up $813 million (£406m). 

The second part of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy dominated the box office in 2008. It became the highest-grossing superhero movie ever and the fourth-highest-grossing movie of all time. It was also the fastest film to reach $400 million domestically, achieving the feat in just 18 days. 2008 was also the year Marvel got down to business with Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, with the former earning $585 million (£317m), making it the eighth highest-grossing movie of the year.

Elsewhere, two iconic characters returned to the big screen, with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull earning $786 million (£425m) and Daniel Craig’s second 007 outing Quantum of Solace pulling in $589 million (£319m).

Released at the end of the year, much of Avatar’s staggering worldwide gross of $2.7 billion (£1.7bn) was delivered in 2010, but it earns its spot here as the highest-grossing film of 2009 and the highest-grossing of the decade overall – by a long shot. James Cameron’s science fiction epic was a box office phenomenon that shattered records. It quickly passed Titanic to become the highest-grossing movie ever, before becoming the first film to gross more than $2 billion worldwide. Subsequent re-releases have pushed its lifetime gross to over $2.9 billion.

Given the success of Avatar, it's easy to forget that three other films delivered $800 million-plus grosses that same year: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince with $933 million (£598m), Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs with $886 million (£568m) and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen with $836 million (£536m).

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