What Was the Worst Year in Film History?

With the recent writers and actors strikes, the immediate future for film is looking pretty bleak. So we wanted to take a look at what the worst years for film were and what caused them to be so bad. It's common to discuss the best years in film history because there are just so many to choose from. But for the worst it's more difficult than just doing the opposite and finding the years that released the worst movies, like 2003 with The Room, Gigli and The Cat in the Hat. It makes more sense to look at the years with lacklustre lineups that didn't reach the highs most years usually do.

In this video we'll explore the worst years in film history, and we found 4 of them. We'll be looking at blockbusters, Oscar lineups, and any significant events that negatively affected the film industry. Three of the years that stood out had a valid reason, whether it's a global pandemic, advancements in film technology or film strikes.

Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
00:55 - The Year With a Global Event
03:59 - The Year When Technology Changed
07:37 - The Year When the Industry Slowed Down
11:03 - The Year With No Reason

Worst Film Years. Best Film Years. Global Pandemic. Theatre Closures. Film Delays. 2020. 2021. A Quiet Place Part 2. No Time to Die. Dune. Tenet. Sound Film. Talkies. 1929. Best Silent Films. Metropolis. Napoleon. The Passion of Joan of Arc. Transition to Sound. Babylon Sound Scene. Writer's Strike. 2007 - 2008. Actor's Strike. Quantum of Solace. X-Men Wolverine. Transformers Revenge of the Fallen. GI Joe. Terminator Salvation. 2009. 2023 Writers and Actors Strike. Dune Part 2. 2023 Film Delays. 2005 Worst Year. Big Budget Movies. Revenge of the Sith. Crash Best Picture.

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#filmhistory #filmindustry #worstmovies

[eclgaming]

Despite Tenet bombing hard, I still find it really impressive that it made 360 million. Considering that it was released only four months after the pandemic hit, it was pretty successful.

[alexablood]

I love how 2009 is commonly considered one of the best years for animated movies ever, despite being one of the worst film years ever.

[JAProductions]

Whilst 2009 may have been pretty bad when it came to live action blockbusters, I’d argue that it was the best year when it came to animation. Up, Coraline, Fantastic Mr Fox, Mary and Max etc. All of them are phenomenal and are some of my favourites

[kinocollect]

I think it's interesting you added 1929 and 2020, seeing how both those years had major historical events affecting film (beginnings of the Great Depression and COVID-19 Pandemic) as well as reeling from industry changing transitions (the advent of sound in film and streaming services)

[Dantegrey]

I am a 50 year old man with autism. My special interest is Disney. The last twenty years has been down, down, down. And it's going down faster and faster. My lesser interests are not doing much better, as they all have to do with books, movies and music. These are the worst times.

[chasehedges]

The 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, early to mid 2000s and early to mid 2010s were the best years.

[chrisj.]

1966 deserves a mention. Some great foreign films (Persona, Battle of Algiers) but Hollywood was at a creative nadir, just before the rise of "New Hollywood" the next year with The Graduate and Bonnie and Clyde kicking off a new era of filmmaking.

[CherryCxmet]

I think it's interesting that 2009 is considered a bad year for film when it's widely considered one of the best years for animated films of all time.

[jakethet]

You slipped Conan in there as if he went on the air with all his unscripted shenanigans to just stay on the air. This couldn’t be further from the truth. He went back on the air to prove how important writers are to even his type of comedy. He was there to support the writers, believe it or not.

[SoapNugget]

I remember seeing TENET in theaters when it came out, the theater was basically empty and there were only a handfull of workers.

[ikeamaechi]

I commend your courage for taking on such a topic. It’s challenging to determine criteria objectively

[nicholasn.]

2020 still doesn’t feel real. It feels like some parallel universe history. You really had to be there and we were *all* there. Eerie

[jlg]

1929 still had Man With A Movie Camera, Pandora's Box, Diary of a Lost Girl, Un Chien Andalou, The General Line and 13 Laurel and Hardy shorts.

[cafeabasedecinema]

2023 (or 2024) can be a end of an era for Hollywood

[storybellz]

Excluding the very early days when things were just wonky and experimental, I always thought it must have been 1964 because I heard that that's when the fewest number of movies were made for the year due to whatever was going on. Studios were having a tough time that year. But I shall see what you think, by watching. Thank you so much for making this video, because it's a question that I've often pondered! Excited to watch :-)

[mickey]

I actually loved 2009 as a film year. There are a lot of hidden gems from that year like Dogtooth, The Messenger, Mother, Antichrist, The White Ribbon, Lourdes, The Maid, Thirst, In The Loop, About Elly, Serious Man and a lot more.

[andrewfischer]

Wait but all of those 2005 movies that lost to Crash are really good

[michaeledwards]

i agree with your summation about the transition to talkies being a major drop in quality for films, but you can’t say 1929 had “no great films” when that’s the year pandora’s box came out

[matthiasrauert]

I will defend PJs King Kong as long as i live. The actors, sets and effects were great. Sure it is long but King Kong is supposed to be an epic and instead of what he did later with the Hobbit stretching the story of 2 movies into 3 here he packed 2 movies into one which to me is rly impressive.
Also as a big fan of spec evo its insane how much effort went into the creatures and bioms of Skull Island making almost all of them believable and act like real animals. There also is a great book about this movies version of SI if anyone is interessted its called a natural history of skull island. Unfortunately u can't buy it anymore but there are many great vids on utube about it. I would recommend the video Unnatural History Channel made about it.

[chaoticgirls]

12:45 why don’t the animated ones count? They’re creative original works. Seems strange to make a distinction like that