{"id":3194,"date":"2026-10-02T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/?p=3194"},"modified":"2026-10-23T21:36:31","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T21:36:31","slug":"2001-movie-chart-toppers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/10\/02\/2001-movie-chart-toppers\/","title":{"rendered":"2001 Movie chart toppers show impact 25 years later"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Luke Paglia<\/a> \u00b7 Managing Editor<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Emma Watson (left), Daniel Radcliffe (center) and Rupert Grint (right) attend a press conference for “Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone” Aug. 23, 2000 in London. They played Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley in the film of the J.K. Rowling book. (Dave Hogan\/Getty Images\/YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As we welcome back the Grove City College Class of 2001, take a trip back in time to see what movies topped the charts 25 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The No. 1 highest-grossing movie in the United States in 2001 was \u201cHarry Potter and the Sorcerer\u2019s Stone.\u201d One of the most successful movie franchises of all time debuted on the big screen in 2001, and its success didn\u2019t stop there. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter kept coming back up until the release of \u201cHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows \u2013 Part 2\u201d in 2011. Despite coming out 25 years ago, this movie has not lost its luster and is a fan favorite and go-to classic when it gets a bit colder outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The year 2001 was filled with a lineup of legendary movies still beloved today. This includes the commencement of the Lord of the Rings movie franchise with \u201cThe Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.\u201d Arguably two of the greatest fantasy movie franchises began in 2001, and both continued to be wildly successful throughout the years and are still regarded as some of the greatest movies of all time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the top two highest-grossing movies of 2001 explored two of the most well-known worlds of fantasy literature and cinema, this year also saw animated comedies become childhood classics for many.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inception of the Shrek franchise began in 2001 with \u201cShrek.\u201d The beginning of this grumpy, green ogre\u2019s story introduced us to its great characters like Shrek, Fiona and his hilarious sidekick, Donkey. The Shrek franchise has been coming out with movies ever since, with \u201cShrek 5\u201d confirmed to be in the works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another kids’ classic from 2001 is \u201cMonsters, Inc.\u201d The big, fluffy Sully and little, green Mike took the screen for the first time in 2001 and saw a highly anticipated return in 2013 with a prequel to the first movie, \u201cMonsters University.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These four films led the box office for 2001, but many other incredible films came out that year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A thrilling heist series began with \u201cOcean\u2019s Eleven\u201d in 2001. \u201cJurassic Park III\u201d released this year, continuing the iconic franchise. The psychological, dramatic biopic \u201cA Beautiful Mind\u201d debuted in 2001, along with the satirical comedy \u201cLegally Blonde.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Luke Paglia \u00b7 Managing Editor As we welcome back the Grove City College Class of 2001, take a trip back in time to see what movies topped the charts 25 years ago. The No. 1 highest-grossing movie in the United States in 2001 was \u201cHarry Potter and the Sorcerer\u2019s Stone.\u201d One of the most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":3195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[220],"tags":[21,73,258,254],"class_list":["post-3194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movies-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-luke-paglia","tag-movies-tv","tag-oct-2-2026-edition-2"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/harry-potter-original.webp",1152,1596,false],"thumbnail":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/harry-potter-original-150x150.webp",150,150,true],"medium":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/harry-potter-original-217x300.webp",217,300,true],"medium_large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/harry-potter-original-768x1064.webp",768,1064,true],"large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/harry-potter-original-739x1024.webp",739,1024,true],"1536x1536":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/harry-potter-original-1109x1536.webp",1109,1536,true],"2048x2048":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/harry-potter-original.webp",1152,1596,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"elvinrj23","author_link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/author\/elvinrj23\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Luke Paglia \u00b7 Managing Editor As we welcome back the Grove City College Class of 2001, take a trip back in time to see what movies topped the charts 25 years ago. The No. 1 highest-grossing movie in the United States in 2001 was \u201cHarry Potter and the Sorcerer\u2019s Stone.\u201d One of the most…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3194"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3369,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3194\/revisions\/3369"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}