People in formal attire gather in a grand movie theater lobby with large film posters and neon signs, including a 'Barbenheimer' sign.

The COVID-19 pandemic heavily impacted film releases especially early in the decade, resulting in a drastic drop in box office revenue as well as many films postponing their release or shifting it to a streaming services. Avatar: The Way of Water is the highest-grossing film of the decade so far, and currently the third-highest-grossing film of all time. Other financially successful films at the box office include Top Gun: Maverick, Dune and its sequel Dune: Part Two, and the Wicked film duology. Superhero films mostly continued to do well financially, such as most successes from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, continuing with its "Multiverse Saga" (accompanied with a series of shows and specials created exclusively on Disney+ which interconnect with the films). Several successful horror films included M3GAN, the X trilogy, Barbarian, and Sinners. In 2023, the films Barbie and Oppenheimer were both released on the same day, which led to the creation of the double feature phenomenon known as "Barbenheimer". Both films became critically and commercially successful with both receiving a nomination for Best Picture at the 96th Academy Awards, and the latter winning both the award and nabbing Christopher Nolan's first Best Director award. Critically successful films nominated for awards include Nomadland, CODA, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Hundreds of Beavers, Licorice Pizza, The Fabelmans, Killers of the Flower Moon, Past Lives, Elvis, Belfast, The Power of the Dog, Poor Ver más