Take a look at the list of the UK's top 10 grossing films of the 2000s below, and there is a striking theme. All of them are adaptations - of a novel, of a musical or a theme park ride.
The story is the same at the global box office, too, save for one notable exception - animated sequel Shrek 2.
But while Hollywood's reliance on franchise fare is nothing new, these charts also reveal how CGI defined popular cinema in the 2000s.
The Lord Of The Rings populated its battle scenes with digital actors, directed by artificial intelligence. Characters like Sonny in I, Robot were entirely computer generated, while motion capture techniques allowed Brad Pitt to age backwards in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
At times, it seemed that if there wasn't an army of orcs, a jaw-dropping, physically impossible camera swoop, or a bright blue bi-ped with eyes like Bambi, the audience wasn't interested.
But, despite the big studios' reliance on sequels and adaptations, cinemagoers frequently had their heartstrings plucked by smaller, more intimate films.
Little Miss Sunshine, Slumdog Millionaire, Bridget Jones's Diary, Once and Juno made millions with their deceptively casual storytelling and home-spun comedy.
Meanwhile, sparked by Michael Moore's incendiary film-making and sustained by the rise of DVD, documentaries flourished in the noughties - from polemicals like Super Size Me and An Inconvenient Truth, to more thoughtful, romantic pieces like Man On Wire.
 Slumdog Millionaire won eight Oscars, including best film and best director |
True life stories maintained their stranglehold at the Oscars and the Baftas.
There were prizes for biopics of gay rights campaigner Harvey Milk, musician Ray Charles, torch singer Edith Piaf, environmental activist Erin Brockovich, dicatator Idi Amin, journalist Truman Capote and - for Britain's Helen Mirren - The Queen.
But cinema largely failed to tackle current world events, with few dramas succeeding in contextualising or, indeed, railing against the political upheavals of the decade.
Notable exceptions included The Hurt Locker, a brutally realistic action movie following an elite bomb squad around Iraq, and United 93, which reconstructed the hijacking of United Airlines Flight 93 on 11 September, 2001.
Latin America flourished as a centre of cinema, producing gems like Y Tu Mama Tambien, Amores Perros and The Motorcycle Diaries.
 The 2000s also saw the Bond franchise reinvigorated, with Daniel Craig as the latest 007 |
Visionary Mexican director Guillermo del Toro flitted between Mexico and Hollywood, wrestling comic book movies Blade II and Hellboy into robust shape, while receiving plaudits for macabre fairy tales like Pan's Labyrinth, which he directed, and The Orphanage, which he produced.
The heartthrob of the decade was undoubtedly George Clooney, who managed to use his profile to rejuvenate the thought-provoking "talkies" of the 1970s, funding them through glossy, commercial affairs like the Ocean's triology.
Angelina Jolie ended the decade as Hollywood's best-paid actress, earning $27m (£16.7m) from 2008 - 2009, but her output vacillated wildly between award-baiting dramas and throwaway fluff.
At the Oscars, Kate Winslet, Cate Blanchett and Dame Judi Dench each received four nominations during the 2000s - but only Winslet took home the coveted best actress award, for Nazi-era drama The Reader.
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| | FILM | TAKINGS |
| 1. | The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King | $1.12bn (£691m) |
| 2. | Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest | $1.06bn (£655m) |
| 3. | The Dark Knight | $1bn (£618m) |
| 4. | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone | $975m (£602m) |
| 5. | Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End | $961m (£593m) |
| 6. | Harry Potter and the Order Of The Phoenix | $938m (£579m) |
| 7. | Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince | $929m (£574m) |
| 8. | The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers | $925m (£571m) |
| 9. | Shrek 2 | $920m (£568m) |
| 10. | Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire | $896m (553m) |
| Source: Box Office Mojo | ||
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| 1. | Mamma Mia! The Movie |
| 2. | Gladiator |
| 3. | The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring |
| 4. | Pirates Of The Caribbean: Curse Of The Black Pearl |
| 5. | Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone |
| 6. | Shrek |
| 7. | Bridget Jones's Diary |
| 8. | The Shawshank Redemption |
| 9. | The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers |
| 10. | Harry Potter And The Chamber of Secrets |
| Source: Official UK Charts Company | |
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| YEAR | OSCARS | BAFTAS |
| 2009 | Slumdog Millionaire | Slumdog Millionaire |
| 2008 | No Country For Old Men | Atonement |
| 2007 | The Departed | The Queen |
| 2006 | Crash | Brokeback Mountain |
| 2005 | Million Dollar Baby | The Aviator |
| 2004 | The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King | The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King |
| 2003 | Chicago | The Pianist |
| 2002 | A Beautiful Mind | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring |
| 2001 | Gladiator | Gladiator |
| 2000 | American Beauty | American Beauty |
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| YEAR | OSCARS | BAFTAS |
| 2009 | Sean Penn Milk | Mickey Rourke The Wrestler |
| 2008 | Daniel Day-Lewis There Will Be Blood | Daniel Day-Lewis There Will Be Blood |
| 2007 | Forest Whitaker Last King Of Scotland | Forest Whitaker Last King Of Scotland |
| 2006 | Philip Seymour Hoffman Capote | Philip Seymour Hoffman Capote |
| 2005 | Jamie Foxx Ray | Jamie Foxx Ray |
| 2004 | Sean Penn Mystic River | Bill Murray Lost In Translation |
| 2003 | Adrian Brody The Pianist | Daniel Day-Lewis Gangs Of New York |
| 2002 | Denzel Washington Training Day | Russell Crowe A Beautiful Mind |
| 2001 | Russell Crowe Gladiator | Jamie Bell Billy Elliot |
| 2000 | Kevin Spacey American Beauty | Kevin Spacey American Beauty |
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| YEAR | OSCARS | BAFTAS |
| 2009 | Kate Winslet The Reader | Kate Winslet The Reader |
| 2008 | Marion Cotillard La Vie En Rose | Marion Cotillard La Vie En Rose |
| 2007 | Dame Helen Mirren The Queen | Dame Helen Mirren The Queen |
| 2006 | Reese Witherspoon Walk The Line | Reese Witherspoon Walk The Line |
| 2005 | Hilary Swank Million Dollar Baby | Imelda Staunton Vera Drake |
| 2004 | Charlize Theron Monster | Scarlett Johansson Lost In Translation |
| 2003 | Nicole Kidman The Hours | Nicole Kidman The Hours |
| 2002 | Halle Berry Monster's Ball | Dame Judi Dench Iris |
| 2001 | Julia Roberts Erin Brockovich | Julia Roberts Erin Brockovich |
| 2000 | Hilary Swank Boys Don't Cry | Annette Benning American Beauty |
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| YEAR | FILM |
| 2009 | The Love Guru |
| 2008 | I Know Who Killed Me |
| 2007 | Basic Instinct 2 |
| 2006 | Dirty Love |
| 2005 | Catwoman |
| 2004 | Gigli |
| 2003 | Swept Away |
| 2002 | Freddy Got Fingered |
| 2001 | Battlefield Earth |
| 2000 | Wild Wild West |
