Entertainment
The 7 Most Influential Adventure Movies of the Last 25 Years
Few movie genres have had so much staying power as adventure. Since the early days of cinema, audiences have been utterly transfixed by movies about grand, dangerous, and thrilling adventures in far-off lands, filled with daring heroes, handsome rogues, spirited damsels, and wicked villains. Adventure movies have had a long and storied journey on the big screen, from the early days of The Thief of Bagdad all the way to the Indiana Jones movies of the ’80s.
In the 21st century, the genre endures as a prime source of entertainment, even if its popularity isn’t exactly what it once was. Indeed, the genre’s inherent, old-fashioned sensibilities might seem a tad outdated by today’s standards, but audiences will still run to the theater for the right kind of adventure movie. Over the last 25 years, a few adventure movies have raised the bar and set new standards, becoming greatly influential not only within the genre but in cinema as a whole.
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003)
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Frodo on the floor about to put on the One Ring in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Image via New Line Cinema -
Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas, Boromir, Samwise, Frodo, Gimli, Merry, and Pippin forming The Fellowship in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Image via New Line Cinema -
Viggo Mortensen and Liv Tyler in ‘Lord of the Rings: Two Towers’ Image via New Line Cinema -
Gollum, played by actor Andy Serkis, crouched down smiling menacingly in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Image via New Line Cinema -
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Mumakil charge against the Riders of Rohan Image via New Line Cinema
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Frodo on the floor about to put on the One Ring in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Image via New Line Cinema -
Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas, Boromir, Samwise, Frodo, Gimli, Merry, and Pippin forming The Fellowship in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Image via New Line Cinema -
Viggo Mortensen and Liv Tyler in ‘Lord of the Rings: Two Towers’ Image via New Line Cinema -
Gollum, played by actor Andy Serkis, crouched down smiling menacingly in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Image via New Line Cinema -
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Mumakil charge against the Riders of Rohan Image via New Line Cinema
No movie—or in this case, movies—are more foundational to 21st-century filmmaking than The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Sir Peter Jackson‘s adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien‘s equally seminal novel is the pillar upon which all of this century’s blockbusters rise. The trilogy tells the story of the hobbit Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) as he and a fellowship of allies carry the One Ring to the fires of Mount Doom as the Dark Lord Sauron assembles an army to take over Middle-earth.
The Lord of the Rings revived the fantasy genre and proved that blockbuster filmmaking could perfectly balance commercialism with artistry. It accrued a total of 30 Oscar nominations, winning a whopping 17 statuettes, including Best Picture for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. The films launched a new wave of fantasy and adventure movies based on literary IPs, with every studio wanting to replicate Jackson’s success, if not critically, then at least commercially. It wasn’t an easy task, as not even Jackson could do it with the subsequent Hobbit trilogy. The Lord of the Rings‘ legacy remains untouched, though; if anything, it has only kept increasing over the years, now standing as certified masterpieces of cinema as a whole.
‘Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl’ (2003)
In 2003, Disney took a huge gamble by making a movie out of a theme park ride, one that wasn’t particularly popular. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl also had the daunting task of reviving the pirate and swashbuckling genre, which was all but killed eight years earlier, when the disaster that was Cutthroat Island put a knife through its heart and bankrupted Carolco Pictures in the process. The risk paid off, alas, and The Curse of the Black Pearl became a sensation.
The film not only launched an incredibly successful franchise, including two sequels that rank among the biggest cultural phenomenons of the 2000s. However, it also signaled a shift in the industry: suddenly, studios didn’t need to stick to books, shows, or movies for inspiration, as theme park rides and even board games were all game. Disney would make multiple attempts at replicating Pirates‘ success, tackling other theme park rides like Haunted Mansion and Tomorrowland; none were as successful. Similarly, competitor studios went all in on the whimsical, adventure vibe of the movie, leading to multiple movies with varying degrees of success, from solid performers that went on to become cult classics, like Stardust, to outright disasters that are best left forgotten, like Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
‘Sherlock Holmes’ (2009)
The ’80s showed that action heroes can come from the most unlikely of places. However, that idea took a whole new form in the late 2000s, when studios got the idea to turn classic literary characters into men of action, if not necessarily action stars per se. Perhaps the most influential of these new heroes was Guy Ritchie‘s take on Sherlock Holmes, played by Robert Downey Jr. in the middle of his post-Iron Man career resurgence.
2009’s Sherlock Holmes was an action-comedy-mystery hybrid that greatly benefited from Downey Jr.’s witty, physical, and curiously charming performance, which even earned him the Golden Globe. The film’s hectic, highly modernized approach also inspired a new wave of movies taking classic properties and translating them to a modern audience, from 2011’s The Three Musketeers to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, none of which were particularly successful. The film also launched a new wave of Sherlock Holmes adaptations, most notably the BBC serial starring Benedict Cumberbatch in an Emmy-winning performance. A third entry in Ritchie’s Holmes series has been long-discussed, but nothing has materialized, and fifteen years after 2011’s Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, we’re still waiting.
‘Alice in Wonderland’ (2010)
Not every movie that was influential was strictly “good”; take Tim Burton‘s fantasy Alice in Wonderland, which might very well be one of the weakest entries into his filmography. The film acts as a sequel to the classic Disney movie and sees Alice (Mia Wasikowska) returning to “Underland,” which has been overtaken by the Red Queen (Helena Bonham-Carter). With the help of many of the classic characters from Lewis Carroll‘s tale, Alice launches a revolution to put the White Queen (Anne Hathaway) back on the throne.
The wave of Disney live-action adaptations that dominated the 2010s, and keep popping up to this day, can be traced back to Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. The film was an overwhelming success, surpassing a billion at the box office and making Disney salivate at the prospect of repackaging their timeless classics in live-action. Along with James Cameron‘s Avatar, Alice in Wonderland was also instrumental in popularizing 3D, with many movies post-2010 quickly scrambling to turn themselves into 3D, hoping to replicate Burton and Cameron’s successes. Indeed, few movies of the early 21st century were as influential as this one, believe it or not.
‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ (2012)
And speaking of mid movies that had a profound impact on the industry, we have Snow White and the Huntsman. A dark retelling of the classic tale of Snow White, the film sees the evil queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron) taking over Snow White’s (Kristen Stewart) kingdom and locking her in a tower. Years later, Snow White escapes into the Dark Forest, and Ravenna sends the huntsman Eric (Chris Hemsworth) to bring her back.
Snow White and the Huntsman is a curious case: it wasn’t exactly acclaimed by critics or audiences, yet its impact on filmmaking is undeniable, launching countless dark retellings of classic fairy tales in the years to come. Everything, from failed efforts like Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters and Jack the Giant Slayer, to criminally underrated grimdark gems like Tale of Tales, to even Disney’s own Maleficent and Into the Woods, can be traced back to Stewart and Theron’s fantasy adventure. The trend was short-lived, though, because who doesn’t want to see fairy tale figures in grimy, oppressive landscapes because the story isn’t actually how we know it? By the time The Huntsman: Winter’s War (the long-awaited sequel that didn’t feature Stewart’s Snow White) came out, the industry had ended its venture into fairy tale territory.
‘Barbie’ (2023)
Now, first things first: Barbie is a fantasy comedy with heavy adventure elements rather than a strictly pure adventure movie. However, considering the adventure takes the entire middle act of the movie and is the main driver in Barbie’s (Margot Robbie) story, it’s eligible for this list. The movie sees Barbie and Ken (Ryan Gosling) going on an adventure from Barbieland into the human world after she starts having dangerous thoughts that are directly tied to the girl playing with her in the real world.
Barbie was a proper cultural phenomenon, not only as one-half of the Barbenheimer phenomenon, but in and of itself. It was the highest-grossing movie of 2023 and earned eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture—infamously, both Robbie and Greta Gerwig were snubbed in the Best Actress and Best Director categories. As expected, the film’s massive success provoked an instant reaction in the industry, not with studios actively searching for more female-centric, female-driven movies about distinct female-oriented issues, but by green-lighting more movies based on toys. Thus far, we’ve had new adaptations of Masters of the Universe, and there are active plans to make movies about Polly Pocket and, believe it or not, even Barney.
‘The Odyssey’ (2026)
It might be cheating to include Christopher Nolan‘s The Odyssey in this list, considering it’s literally still in movie theaters. However, the impact it’s already had on the industry is perceivable, and considering Nolan’s reputation and the film’s performance, it’s easy to conclude it will go all the way to become one of the all-time greats. Matt Damon stars in this adaptation of Homer‘s epic about Odysseus’ 10-year-journey back to Ithaca.
The Odyssey has already become Nolan’s highest-grossing movie, and the dollars just keep coming. Awards predictors have it as a top contender in multiple categories at the Oscars, including Matt Damon in Best Actor. Just like Gladiator did for the sword-and-sandal genre, The Odyssey is bound to inspire a new wave of large-scale, character-driven epics. Whether they come from Greek classics or not remains to be seen, but don’t be surprised if new movies based on the Trojan War and the arguably less-widely-known epic Aeneid are announced in the following months—perhaps we’ll finally get the long-awaited adaptation of Madeline Miller‘s The Song of Achilles. How many of those will actually reach the heights of Nolan’s Odyssey? Well, that’s a different matter altogether.
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