The Movies People Cared About Most In 2023 Were A Wild Mix

As the title suggests, Cocaine Bear is a profound metaphor for global politics in a post-pandemic world. We’re just fooling around here… it’s really about a black bear that ingests a ton of cocaine, goes on a rampage, and is loosely based on true events.

Aside from its absolutely off-the-wall premise, Cocaine Bear was released in 2023 after Ray Liotta’s passing and is one of the last movies he worked on. Though Cocaine Bear received mixed reviews, it was widely celebrated because you simply have to admire the audacity required to produce such a bizarre comedy horror film.

Earning nearly $90 million at the global box office, Cocaine Bear is a must-see for B-movie enthusiasts who appreciate a much higher production value.

Five Nights at Freddy’s is a perfect example of how in 2023, movies based on video games will most certainly reach their intended audience. Based on the video game series of the same name, Five Nights at Freddy’s takes us into a world not unlike Chuck E. Cheese’s.

But instead of being known for sub-par pizza, the franchise has murderous animatronic mascots possessed by the ghosts of homicidal children.

Critics were not fans of this film, but fans of the game overwhelmingly loved it. Five Nights at Freddy’s earned an impressive $295 million against its reported budget of $20 million. It just shows you that 2023 was the year for niche properties to be turned into commercially successful movies.

Despite its 32 percent critical score on Rotten Tomatoes, Five Nights at Freddy’s is a fan favorite and currently has an audience score of 87 percent.

If you thought 2023 was the last year new John Wick movies would come out, you’re probably sitting in a corner wearing a dunce cap for being so wrong about everything.

John Wick: Chapter 4 was not only the most commercially successful installment of the entire franchise to date ($440 million), but it was also the most well-received John Wick movie on the critical front, earning a 94 percent critical score on Rotten Tomatoes.

It goes without question that Keanu Reeves can do no wrong in 2023, and that the Matrix actor has reached mythological levels of coolness both off-screen and in the movies that we could only dream of attaining in our lifetimes. But more importantly, the franchise as a whole never fails to deliver.

And there’s plenty more where that came from. Now that 2023 has come to an end, we look forward to seeing upcoming movies from the John Wick universe, including Ballerina, as well as a possible John Wick 5 that’s rumored to be in the works.

We’re not here to talk about Scott Stapp’s triumphant 2023 comeback, but rather the Rocky spin-off movies that kicked off in 2015. Just like the Rocky films that came before it, Creed III and its predecessors represent your classic underdog story, and makes for inherently compelling cinema.

Following the story of Apollo Creed’s son, Adonis “Donnie” Johnson, we’re inspired time and time again by his radical humility, and his willingness to overcome adversity while becoming the best version of himself that he could possibly be.

Creed III continues to raise the stakes as Donnie starts mentoring a troubled youth whose life mirrors his own. The story puts Donnie’s new family-centered life at odds with his professional past, and audiences couldn’t get enough of it.

2023 proved that boxing movies like Rocky are still quite popular. And the Creed franchise’s legacy will continue to push forward with more spin-offs and sequels until they wear out their welcome.

But it doesn’t seem like the franchise will lose steam anytime soon. This most recent installment currently boasts an 88 percent critical score against an audience score of 95 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and earned over $275 million at the box office.

After the 1993 live-action Super Mario Bros. movie failed abysmally in every conceivable way, it’s hard to believe that 2023 brought us one of the best movies featuring the same characters in a whole new context.

Staying true to its source material and featuring an alarming amount of voice talent (Jack Black, Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy), The Super Mario Bros. Movie quickly became a favorite for lifelong gamers, as well as families who simply want to have a lot of fun at the movie theater.

If you enjoyed watching The Super Mario Bros. Movie upon its April 5 2023 release, your kids probably begged you to take them to the movies every following week until its theatrical run concluded.

But in this case, you were probably okay with it because Jack Black’s soul-grabbing “Peaches” ballad is the most profound love song ever to grace the silver screen since Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On.”

But what’s most impressive about The Super Mario Bros. Movie is its box office earnings. Though it was met with mixed reviews, the movie went on to pull MCU numbers, earning $1.36 billion during its theatrical run.

2023 marked the end of an era for Marvel movies. Upon wrapping the press tour for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, James Gunn ended his tenure with Marvel Studios, and shifted his focus to taking over DC Studios alongside Peter Safran. And Vol. 3 came out at just the right time because the MCU desperately needed a commercial hit.

This final installment to the Guardians of the Galaxy saga leaned into everything that worked about the films that preceded it but tugged at our heartstrings in ways that we didn’t know possible.

When Rocket is critically wounded, we learn about his troubled upbringing as the Guardians stop at nothing to nurse him back into health.

If you want to have an emotional moment over a wise-cracking raccoon, you’re not alone, as Vol 3. dominated at the box office, earning over $845 million.

Though Everything Everywhere All At Once was a 2022 release, it was a highly sought-after intellectual property that makes other multi-verse movies pale in comparison.

Filmed on what would be considered a shoestring budget by today’s standards ($25 million), we witnessed a modern cult classic materialize right in front of our very eyes.

Earning $143 million at the box office, the movie kept its relevance well into 2023, and its inherent absurdity warrants more repeat watches than we’d care to admit.

Of all the releases in 2023, Sound of Freedom has to be one of the most controversial movies to make it on this list. Centered primarily on the problem of human trafficking, Sound of Freedom is a mix between a contemporary crime thriller and a police procedural.

While the subject matter isn’t necessarily the easiest to digest, the Jim Caviezel starring film has garnered a 99 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes against a critical score of 57 percent.

But some could argue that Sound of Freedom was trending for all the wrong reasons. Utilizing a pay-it-forward model for ticket sales, the film has been criticized for padding its box office earnings.

Released on July 4, 2023, there were reports that plenty of seats were available at the movies even though some showings were said to be sold out.

But Angel Studios, the company behind this pay-it-forward model, denied such claims and asserted that the $250 million in ticket sales represented occupied seats in movie theaters.

There’s not much we can say about Oppenheimer that hasn’t already been said. Christopher Nolan’s latest effort quickly earned nearly a billion dollars at the box office, and has been universally praised by audiences and critics alike.

Leaning heavily into the use of practical effects, Oppenheimer simply blew us away with its cinematography and commitment to recreating the Trinity test for all of us to witness from the safety of an air-conditioned IMAX theater.

Oppenheimer also proved to us that even in 2023, fans of this level of artistry still want to own physical copies of movies. Upon its physical release, the Christopher Nolan film flew off shelves faster than stores could stock them.

We’re not saying that the possible renaissance of home movie sales is imminent, but Oppenheimer most certainly proved the concept.

We can’t definitively talk about 2023 movies without also talking about Barbie. Barbie was the massive hit that nobody expected, and thanks to the “Barbenheimer” marketing, it made for an interesting double-feature. While Oppenheimer astonished us with its realism, Barbie was the subversive and surrealist counterpart that we so desperately needed this summer.

Think of Barbie as Toy Story for adults. Mattel dolls come to life, and become self-aware to the point of collapsing the idealistic world that they’ve occupied their entire lives.

As the flashy figurines make their way into the real world, they experience culture-shock and learn about commercialism, the patriarchy, and how to cope with their outdated gender roles, with plenty of meta-humor to boot.

Barbie demonizes commercialism while simultaneously celebrating it, and it’s almost too much satire to handle. But it’s clear that its messaging wasn’t lost on the masses, as it earned a whopping $1.4 billion at the box office.