It feels like yesterday. But honestly, looking back at what movies came out in 2015, you realize it was the year the "modern" era of the blockbuster actually cemented itself. We weren't just watching movies; we were watching the birth of the 20-year plan.
Think about it.
The Force returned. Dinosaurs broke loose (again). A guy named George Miller spent months in a desert with real cars and real explosions to prove that practical effects still kick the teeth out of CGI. 2015 was weirdly balanced. It had these massive, soul-crushing corporate wins, but it also let some of the most eccentric, high-art cinema breathe in the same multiplex. It was a year of "legacy sequels" before that term became a dirty word.
The year the "Legacy Sequel" took over the world
If you ask a casual fan about what movies came out in 2015, they’ll probably mention Star Wars: The Force Awakens first. J.J. Abrams had a massive weight on his shoulders. People were still stinging from the prequels, and Disney needed to prove that their $4 billion investment in Lucasfilm wasn't a mistake. It worked. $2 billion at the box office doesn't lie. It used the "mystery box" method to perfection, though we're still arguing about whether that was a good long-term strategy for the franchise.
Then there was Jurassic World.
Nobody expected it to be that big. Like, seriously. It shattered opening weekend records by leaning hard into nostalgia and the charisma of Chris Pratt, who was riding high off Guardians of the Galaxy. It gave us a "new" dinosaur, which felt kinda silly, but audiences ate it up. It proved that 90s kids were finally the ones with the disposable income.
But the real masterpiece? Mad Max: Fury Road.
Warner Bros. basically handed a huge budget to a 70-year-old visionary and let him go wild in Namibia. It’s a miracle that movie exists. Tom Hardy was barely talking. Charlize Theron’s Furiosa became an instant icon. It showed that "action" didn't have to mean "shaky cam and fast cuts." It was high art disguised as a demolition derby.
🔗 Read more: Evil Kermit: Why We Still Can’t Stop Listening to our Inner Saboteur
Box office monsters and the death of the middle-budget film
When you dig into the stats of what movies came out in 2015, the sheer volume of money is staggering. This was the first year where three different films crossed the $1.5 billion mark.
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- Jurassic World
- Furious 7
Furious 7 was a different beast altogether. It was the tragic farewell to Paul Walker. The Wiz Khalifa song "See You Again" was everywhere. You couldn't escape it. It turned a franchise about street racing into a global espionage soap opera that somehow made people cry.
We also got Avengers: Age of Ultron. People like to dunk on it now for being "too much setup," but it introduced Vision and Scarlet Witch. It was the peak of Joss Whedon's influence on the MCU before the Russo Brothers took over the steering wheel. It’s a dense movie. Kinda messy. But it’s essential to everything that happened later in Endgame.
But while the giants were stomping around, the "middle" started to shrink. Those $40 million to $60 million dramas? They were migrating to Netflix and HBO. We saw the beginning of the end for the traditional theatrical comedy too. Trainwreck did okay, but the writing was on the wall. If it wasn't an "event," people were staying home.
The year of the "Prestigious" survival story
2015 was obsessed with people almost dying in the wilderness.
The Revenant is the big one. Alejandro G. Iñárritu made Leonardo DiCaprio eat raw bison liver and crawl through the mud for months. It finally got Leo his Oscar. It’s a grueling watch. Beautiful, thanks to Chivo’s cinematography, but grueling. It felt like a reaction to the digital age—a push toward "extreme" filmmaking to get people to pay attention.
Then you had The Martian. Ridley Scott actually made science look... fun? Matt Damon grew potatoes in his own waste on Mars. It was the anti-Revenant. It was optimistic, smart, and didn't rely on misery to tell a story about survival. It remains one of the most rewatchable movies of the decade.
💡 You might also like: Emily Piggford Movies and TV Shows: Why You Recognize That Face
And don't forget Sicario. Denis Villeneuve teamed up with Emily Blunt and Benicio del Toro to make one of the most stressful thrillers ever. That border crossing scene? Pure tension. It confirmed Villeneuve as the guy who was going to take over sci-fi (which he did with Arrival and Dune later).
Small films that punched way above their weight
Not everything was about explosions. If you look at the indie side of what movies came out in 2015, there are some genuine gems that have aged better than the blockbusters.
- Ex Machina: Alex Garland’s directorial debut. It was a three-person chamber piece about AI. Oscar Isaac dancing. Alicia Vikander being terrifyingly human. It’s more relevant now with the current AI boom than it was then.
- Room: Brie Larson won an Oscar for this. It’s devastating. The first half is a claustrophobic horror; the second half is a heartbreaking study of trauma.
- The Big Short: Adam McKay took the 2008 financial crisis and made it funny. Sorta. It used Margot Robbie in a bathtub to explain subprime mortgages. It changed the way "prestige" documentaries and biopics were shot—lots of fourth-wall breaking and fast editing.
- Spotlight: The movie that eventually won Best Picture. It’s a "procedural." No flashy camera work. Just actors in bad khakis talking in offices. It’s a love letter to journalism, and it’s perfect.
Why 2015 was secretly the best year for animation
Inside Out. Just... wow.
Pixar had a bit of a rough patch before 2015, but Pete Docter delivered a movie that made grown men sob in public. It literalized the emotional life of an 11-year-old girl. Bing Bong’s sacrifice is still one of the saddest moments in Disney history.
On the flip side, Anomalisa came out. Charlie Kaufman’s stop-motion film for adults. It’s lonely, surreal, and deeply uncomfortable. It’s the polar opposite of Pixar, proving that animation is a medium, not a genre for kids.
Then you had The Peanuts Movie. It didn't try to be edgy. It didn't try to modernize Charlie Brown with hip-hop songs or "attitude." It just stayed true to the source material. It’s one of the most underrated animated films of the last twenty years.
The horror resurgence started here
People often point to 2015 as the year horror became "cool" again for critics.
📖 Related: Elaine Cassidy Movies and TV Shows: Why This Irish Icon Is Still Everywhere
The Witch (or The VVitch if you're being pretentious) introduced the world to Robert Eggers and Anya Taylor-Joy. It was "elevated horror" before we started hating that term. It was slow, atmospheric, and used period-accurate dialogue. It was terrifying because it felt real.
We also got It Follows. A simple metaphor for STDs turned into a synth-heavy, dreamlike nightmare. It showed that you didn't need jump scares if you had a great score and a creepy concept.
Cultural shifts we didn't see coming
Looking back at what movies came out in 2015, you see the seeds of the streaming wars. Netflix released Beasts of No Nation. It was their first big "prestige" push. Theater chains were furious. They boycotted it. They didn't want the "day-and-date" release model to take hold.
Ten years later, they lost that battle.
2015 was also the year of Creed. Ryan Coogler took a dead franchise (Rocky) and breathed new life into it by shifting the perspective to Adonis Creed. It was the blueprint for how to handle old IP: respect the past, but move the story forward. Michael B. Jordan became a superstar, and Coogler proved he was ready for Black Panther.
Actionable insights for the modern cinephile
If you’re looking to revisit this specific era, don’t just stick to the top of the box office charts. The real soul of 2015 is in the fringes.
- Watch the "Survival Trilogy": Pair The Revenant, The Martian, and Mad Max: Fury Road. It’s a fascinating look at how different directors handle "man vs. environment."
- The Garland/Villeneuve Double Feature: Watch Ex Machina and Sicario. These two directors basically shaped the visual language of the 2020s.
- Dig into the Indies: Track down Tangerine (shot entirely on iPhones) or The Lobster. These were the movies pushing boundaries while the big studios were playing it safe.
The 2015 slate was the last time movies felt like "events" before the sheer volume of streaming content made everything feel a bit more disposable. It was a year of transitions. We saw the old guard (Ridley Scott, George Miller, Spielberg with Bridge of Spies) proving they still had it, while a new generation of filmmakers was kicking the door down.
If you want to understand why movies look and feel the way they do today, you have to go back to 2015. It wasn't just a year of sequels; it was the year the industry decided that nostalgia was the most valuable currency on earth.
To truly appreciate this era, your next move should be a deep dive into the 2015 Academy Award nominees. Many of the films that lost, like Carol or Brooklyn, have arguably had a more lasting impact on film grammar than the ones that took home the trophies. Start by re-watching Mad Max: Fury Road in "Black and Chrome" edition to see the pure craft behind the chaos.