‘Tis the season for “Best of the Decade” lists, with 2009 winding down and everyone from Paste to The Onion AV Club to NME rolling out massive, multi-genre countdowns. Of course, as avowed cultural consumers, we admit our addiction to these eclectic, well-curated lists. But we have to wonder how much they say about American entertainment trends at large.
Perhaps that’s why we’re so fascinated with Wikipedia’s rundown of the highest-grossing films of the decade. The Wrap sees the list — whose top five includes one Lord of the Rings, one Harry Potter, and two Pirates of the Caribbean movies, along with The Dark Knight – as “proof originality doesn’t pay in Hollywood.” And we don’t disagree. But what jumped out at us was proof of something altogether different: At the box office, it seems, the 2000s were the decade of the geeks.
