With countless exceptional films being released ever year, it takes an especially fine-tuned and masterful selection of films for a singular year to be considered one of the greatest years in movie history. 2001 easily falls into this category, with the year being filled with some of the most impactful and defining classics that the 21st century has to offer. It not only saw the start of many legendary franchises, but saw many defining cult classics and an overall high quality of filmmaking around every corner.
With the selection of 2001 films entering their 25th anniversary in 2026, many of these films continue to be highly revered as classics of film history whose legacies have been thriving. Many of the films released during the year are still in contention for some of the greatest films of all time, making it highly difficult to narrow it down to just 10 classics from the year. Great and memorable films like Monsters, Inc., The Fast and the Furious, and Amelie simply didn’t make the cut when the competition was this fierce.
10
‘Zoolander’
While the comedy film originally had critics divided when it was first released, the home video market and word of mouth quickly transformed Ben Stiller‘s Zoolander into a bonafide cult classic thanks to its undeniable charm and wit. The satirical take on the chaotic world of fashion and blending it with a story of international assassination and conspiracy is the exact type of manic insanity that defined comedies of the 2000s. Even amidst all of the other memorable comedies that 2001 has to offer, none have left such a notable impact on comedic culture quite like Zoolander.
Stiller’s exceptionally simple yet wildly hilarious character of Derek Zoolander has grown to be massively popular in his own right, being a great contemporary evolution of the classic dunce character with a kindhearted soul. Its entertaining supporting cast, including the likes of Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, and Milla Jovovich, only serve to further amplify the film’s comedic value, helping it achieve its cult classic status despite being banned in multiple countries.
9
‘Moulin Rouge!’
One of many wildly chaotic and entertaining films from Australian director Baz Luhrmann, Moulin Rouge! arguably sees the director at his best, when his signature chaotic style blends perfectly with the genre of musical theater. The maximalist masterpiece helped bring the musical genre as a whole out of a long-lasting slump, debuting a year before Best Picture winner Chicago and reminding audiences of the wild fun and beauty that movie musicals can provide.
While Luhrmann’s directing style certainly isn’t for everyone, its emphasis on wild visuals and in-your-face editing has helped it achieve a dedicated audience over the years. It certainly helps that the songs are incredibly catchy, the choreography is mesmerizing, and the overall story that the film tells is still full of compelling emotion even beyond the chaotic visuals. While Luhrmann has continued to make a myriad of other wild and zany maximalist films in recent years, Moulin Rouge continues to stand as the director’s best and most beloved work to date.
8
‘Legally Blonde’
The late 90s and early 2000s as a whole were massively impactful when it came to college rom-coms and coming-of-age movies as a whole, with one of the best easily being Legally Blonde. The film’s distinct satirical look at sorority culture and stereotypes clashing with the high society of law school makes for all sorts of impactful comedic shenanigans that have left audiences delighted for years. However, the film wouldn’t have become such an iconic classic without such an impactful and memorable leading performance from Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods.
Witherspoon’s performance strikes a perfect balance between kindness and navigating the world through her own, sorority-flavored perspective. There’s certainly fun to be had from the inherent disconnect between the sorority world and the cutthroat world of Harvard, and the strength and ingenuity that Elle takes to find success make her underdog story compelling to watch on-screen. The film’s overwhelming sense of charm and wit has helped it become a comedy classic of the era and a fan favorite for decades.
7
‘Ocean’s Eleven’
A heist comedy remake that fully embodies the strength of a memorable supporting cast and a fast-paced, entertaining execution, Ocean’s Eleven still stands as one of director Steven Soderbergh‘s best works. The film easily features one of the most bombastic and distinct collections of characters put to film, with each member of the absolutely stacked supporting cast adding to the overall experience and impact of the story and comedy.
It’s a distinct building upon and modernization of the original classic film that has managed to not only update the concept to contemporary standards, but establishes this remake as a classic in its own right, even surpassing the impact of the original. Even nowadays, Ocean’s Eleven continues to be one of the most immediately recognizable and beloved heist movies of all time. It simply exemplifies all the inherent strengths of the genre and the electrifying energy that they bring to the big screen.
6
‘Shrek’
It’s difficult to imagine a Hollywood animated film from the 21st century that has had more lasting appeal and overwhelming influence on the medium of feature-length animation quite like Shrek. The film’s brilliantly poignant and hilarious parody of fairy tale stories and clichés was released at the absolute perfect time, taking down years of stature that Disney had established for itself with a wildly hilarious animated film tailored to both kids and adults.
Even outside of the inherent originality and impact that it had upon release, the film’s distinct style of pop culture humor and A-list stars would soon become the standard for 3D animation in Hollywood. With many different films attempting to recapture and parallel Shrek’s inherent genius, few even came close to the tactful screenwriting and brilliance of this fairy tale parody classic. The film has only grown to be more beloved in the decades since its release, as Shrek himself would become one of the most iconic fantasy movie characters of all time.
5
‘Donnie Darko’
As home video and DVD became increasingly prevalent in film culture throughout the early 2000s, it became increasingly common for a film that underperformed at the box office to soon become a massive hit through word of mouth while on home video. This is exactly what led to Donnie Darko becoming such a defining cult classic of the era, as it surpassed its initial box office disappointment to become the must-see independent thriller of the era.
The film’s offbeat approach to storytelling and strange blending of sci-fi, mystery, horror, and tension-rising thrills made it difficult to approach at the box office, but it was tailor-made for great success as a word-of-mouth underground classic. After the film’s inherent brilliance and beauty were discovered, its acclaimed reputation soon began to grow until it became one of the defining examples of cult classic success in the 21st century. Even nowadays, the film is looked back on as a catalyst for the type of non-traditional, convention-breaking filmmaking that would soon define modern independent cinema.
4
‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’
One of the most successful and immediately recognizable fantasy franchises of all time, even as the Harry Potter series continued to grow in popularity with each entry, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone still stands as an icon of the series and the fantasy genre as a whole. The film proved to be pitch-perfect in its introduction and establishment of the scope and scale of the wizarding world, establishing core facets that would go on to further define not just the series but many other YA film adaptations.
While the series has arguably had higher highs in terms of quality since this original film, there is such an inherent charm and grace to this first installment that has helped it become a fantasy classic for the ages. It’s the easiest film in the series to simply watch on a whim without having to go through the entire series, with the fantasy masterpiece being of such high quality that it immediately made Harry Potter a household name that would dominate 2000s fantasy discussions.
3
‘Mulholland Drive’
The late director David Lynch has laid claim to many highly acclaimed masterpieces of surrealist dramatic filmmaking over the years, yet arguably his most commercially successful and critically acclaimed film is Mulholland Drive. The psychological mystery film sees Lynch at the absolute apex of his talents as a filmmaker and storyteller, weaving together a beautiful and multi-layered story of identity and the ruthless nature of the Hollywood system as a whole.
Both die-hard Lynch fans and traditional audiences alike found themselves enamored by the world and mystery that Lynch creates in Mulholland Drive, creating a film that is simultaneously highly accessible and full of classic Lynch chaos. While the film would largely be overlooked by awards bodies outside a Best Director nomination for Lynch himself, Mulholland Drive would grow to be a more prominent classic of the era than many of the other films nominated that year, especially the Best Picture winner, A Beautiful Mind.
2
‘The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring’
Harry Potter was far from the only legendary fantasy franchise to see its humble beginnings in the year of 2001, as Peter Jackson‘s legendary Lord of the Rings trilogy would also see its first entry with the release of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The gargantuan fantasy epic has widely been relegated as one of the most impressive and impactful achievements in blockbuster fantasy filmmaking history, elevating the J.R.R. Tolkien classic into worldwide acclaim and recognition.
The film became an instant all-timer thanks to the respect that it had for the original story as well as the masterful craft that was constantly pushing the barrier in terms of spectacle, computerized effects, and fantasy storytelling. Much like the other films in the trilogy that would follow, The Fellowship of the Ring is still widely acclaimed not only as one of the greatest fantasy movies of all time, but an icon of 21st-century cinema and one of the greatest films of the generation.
1
‘Spirited Away’
Few filmmakers are so inherently synonymous with masterpiece filmmaking over the years as anime visionary Hayao Miyazaki, yet even among his masterful filmography, Spirited Away stands out as an unmistakable work of art and majesty. The film’s emotional coming-of-age story, beautifully crafted animated visuals, and overall sense of spectacle and worldbuilding have made it a magnum opus of animation, as well as often considered one of the greatest films of all time.
Spirited Away stands out as the type of beautiful, life-changing film experience that only comes along so often, hitting every emotional beat with absolute perfection to create true achievement in artistic filmmaking. The film had already received widespread acclaim and adoration when it was first released, with its classic status being further solidified over the years as the quintessential anime film experience. Even as Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki have created many more masterpieces, Spirited Away will continue to maintain a legacy as the must-see classic of the studio and the 2000s as a whole.
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