The following is an overview of the events of 2014 in film, including the highest-grossing films, award ceremonies, festivals, and a list of films released and notable deaths. DreamWorks Animation celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2014.
Evaluation of the year
In his article highlighting the best films of 2014, Richard Brody of The New Yorker stated, "The great surge in American filmmaking in the past ten years is due to independent financing at all levels. The American independent cinema is right now the flower of the world, but independence isn't in itself a merit badge. Artistically, the films in question range from the majestic to the meretricious. Independent financing has set truly imaginative directors into free flight. This is a moment of extraordinary cinematic invention—of filmmakers, working at a wide range of budget levels, coming up with original and personal ideas about movies and how to make them. On the other hand, this independent surge has also created a new class of culturally respectable directors and films, an ostensible art cinema that flows into the mainstream. True independent filmmaking has always been a tough proposition in the marketplace, let alone at the multiplex. Its commercial obstacles are an increasing problem even for established professionals, who now take their place alongside street-level independents. Filmmakers rightly worry that it's becoming more difficult than ever to make a salable movie, to make a living making movies. If films are becoming like books, where the artistically ambitious ones are only rarely big hits, then directors working outside Hollywood will become more and more like novelists, who often need to supplement their income with teaching or other outside jobs. As independent films become increasingly marginalized in the marketplace, this loss of status risks marginalizing critics as well—which is why the re-professionalization of the movie business has become a matter of critical advocacy."[1]
PK became the first Indian movie to gross more than $100 million at the box office.
2014 was also the first year since 1997 in which there were no animated movies among the 10 highest-grossing films of the year. However, the 11th and 12th highest grossing films of this year (Big Hero 6 and How to Train Your Dragon 2) are both animated.
^"Writers Guild Awards". Writers Guild of America. Writers Guild of America. Archived from the original on February 19, 2014. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
