2011 in film

	… 2001; 2002; 2003; 2004; 2005; 2006; 2007; ; 2008; 2009; 2010; 2011; 2012; 2013; 2014; ; 2015; 2016; 2017; 2018; 2019; 2020; 2021 …;
	In radio 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 In television 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 In music 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
	Art; Archaeology; Architecture; Literature; Music; Philosophy; Science; +...

The following is an overview of the events of 2011 in film, including the highest-grossing films, film festivals, award ceremonies and a list of films released and notable deaths. More film sequels were released in 2011 than any other year before it, with 27 sequels released.^[1]

Evaluation of the year

Richard Brody of The New Yorker observed that the best films of 2011 "exalt the metaphysical, the fantastical, the transformative, the fourth-wall-breaking, or simply the impossible, and—remarkably—do so ... These films depart from 'reality' ... not in order to forget the irrefutable but in order to face it, to think about it, to act on it more freely".^[2] Film critic and filmmaker Scout Tafoya of RogerEbert.com considers the year of 2011 as the best year for cinema, countering the notion of 1939 being film's best year overall, citing examples such as Drive, The Tree of Life, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, Keyhole, Contagion, The Adventures of Tintin, and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. He stated that "2011 housed not just some of the greatest art films of our age, but a revolution in the language of blockbuster filmmaking. One big-budget action film after another used digital cameras to show the world behind explosions in starker, stranger light, while constructing a backbone of classical ideas and images."^[3]

Highest-grossing films

The top 10 films released in 2011 by worldwide gross are as follows:^[4]

Highest-grossing films of 2011
Rank	Title	Distributor	Worldwide gross
1	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2	Warner Bros.	$1,341,511,219
2	Transformers: Dark of the Moon	Paramount	$1,123,794,079
3	Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides	Disney	$1,045,713,802
4	The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1	Summit	$712,205,856
5	Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol	Paramount	$694,713,380
6	Kung Fu Panda 2	Paramount	$665,692,281
7	Fast Five	Universal	$626,137,675
8	The Hangover Part II	Warner Bros.	$586,764,305
9	The Smurfs	Sony	$563,749,323
10	Cars 2	Disney	$559,852,396

Box office records

2011 was the first year to have three films cross the billion-dollar milestone,^[5] surpassing the previous year's record of two films^[6] and also the first time when at least 10 films grossed more than $500 million worldwide (in 11th and 12th place, Puss in Boots and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows also earned over $500 million making it twelve films to do so)

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides grossed $1,045,713,802, becoming the second film in the franchise to have grossed over $1 billion, and the 37th-highest-grossing film of all time.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 grossed $1,342,511,219, becoming the third-highest-grossing film of all time during its theatrical run, the highest-grossing film in the Harry Potter franchise, the highest grossing Warner Bros film and the highest grossing book adaptation and the highest of 2011 worldwide.
- In the US and Canada, it set single-day and opening-weekend records, with $91,071,119 and $169,189,427, respectively. In addition, the film set a worldwide opening-weekend record with $483,189,427.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon grossed $1,123,794,079 and is currently the highest-grossing in the franchise. It also held the record as the highest-grossing film worldwide ever distributed only by Paramount for 11 years until it was surpassed by Top Gun: Maverick in 2022.
Pirates of the Caribbean became the first franchise to have more than one film gross over $1 billion, with On Stranger Tides joining 2006's Dead Man's Chest.
- On Stranger Tides also became the fifth film of the decade to surpass the billion-dollar milestone, breaking the previous record of four films (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2003, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest in 2006, The Dark Knight in 2008, and Avatar in 2009) during the 2000s.
The Shrek franchise became the first animated film series to gross more than $3 billion with the release of Puss in Boots.
The Smurfs surpassed Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel as the highest-grossing live-action/animated film of all time with $563.7 million.

Events

Awards

Category/Organization	17th Critics' Choice Awards January 12, 2012	69th Golden Globe Awards January 15, 2012		Producers, Directors, Screen Actors, and Writers Guild Awards	65th BAFTA Awards February 12, 2012	84th Academy Awards February 26, 2012
Category/Organization	17th Critics' Choice Awards January 12, 2012	Drama	Musical or Comedy		65th BAFTA Awards February 12, 2012	84th Academy Awards February 26, 2012
Best Film	The Artist	The Descendants	The Artist
Best Director	Michel Hazanavicius The Artist	Martin Scorsese Hugo		Michel Hazanavicius The Artist
Best Actor	George Clooney The Descendants		Jean Dujardin The Artist
Best Actress	Viola Davis The Help	Meryl Streep The Iron Lady	Michelle Williams My Week with Marilyn	Viola Davis The Help	Meryl Streep The Iron Lady
Best Supporting Actor	Christopher Plummer Beginners
Best Supporting Actress	Octavia Spencer The Help
Best Screenplay, Adapted	Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin Moneyball	Woody Allen Midnight in Paris		Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash The Descendants	Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy	Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash The Descendants
Best Screenplay, Original	Woody Allen Midnight in Paris	Woody Allen Midnight in Paris		Woody Allen Midnight in Paris	Michel Hazanavicius The Artist	Woody Allen Midnight in Paris
Best Animated Film	Rango	The Adventures of Tintin			Rango
Best Original Score	The Artist Ludovic Bource			—	The Artist Ludovic Bource
Best Original Song	"Life's a Happy Song" The Muppets	"Masterpiece" W.E.		—	—	"Man or Muppet" The Muppets
Best Foreign Language Film	A Separation			—	The Skin I Live In	A Separation
Best Documentary	George Harrison: Living in the Material World	—	—	Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest	Senna	Undefeated

2011 films

By country/region

By genre/medium

Births

February 5 - Luna Fulgencio, Spanish actress
April 22 - Violet McGraw, American actress
August 10 - Jeremy Maguire, American actor
November 2 - Nell Fisher, American actress

Deaths

Month	Date	Name	Age	Country	Profession	Notable films
January	2	Anne Francis	80	US	Actress	Forbidden Planet Blackboard Jungle
	2	Pete Postlethwaite	64	UK	Actor	In the Name of the Father Dragonheart
	2	Miriam Seegar	103	US	Actress	The Valley of Ghosts What a Man
	2	Patricia Smith	80	US	Actress	The Spirit of St. Louis Mad City
	2	Margot Stevenson	98	US	Actress	Smashing the Money Ring Calling Philo Vance
	3	Jill Haworth	65	UK	Actress	Exodus In Harm's Way
	3	Yosef Shiloach	69	Iran	Actor	The Contract Rambo III
	9	Peter Yates	81	UK	Director	Bullitt Breaking Away
	11	David Nelson	74	US	Actor	The Big Circus Peyton Place
	15	Susannah York	72	UK	Actress	Tom Jones A Man for All Seasons
	16	Paul Picerni	88	US	Actor	House of Wax Beyond the Poseidon Adventure
	16	Juan Piquer Simón	75	Spain	Director	The Pod People Pieces
	20	Bruce Gordon	94	US	Actor	Love Happy Piranha
	21	Theoni V. Aldredge	82	Greece	Costume Designer	Ghostbusters The Great Gatsby
	24	Bernd Eichinger	61	Germany	Producer, Screenwriter	The NeverEnding Story Resident Evil
	26	María Mercader	92	Spain	Actress	Heart and Soul Giovannino
	26	Mario Scaccia	91	Italy	Actor	Goodnight, Ladies and Gentlemen Between Miracles
	27	Charlie Callas	83	US	Actor	Silent Movie Pete's Dragon
	30	John Barry	77	UK	Composer	Out of Africa Dances with Wolves
	31	Michael Tolan	86	US	Actor	All That Jazz The Greatest Story Ever Told
February	2	Margaret John	84	UK	Actress	Run Fatboy Run How Green Was My Valley
	3	Maria Schneider	58	France	Actress	Last Tango in Paris The Passenger
	4	Fred Hole	75	UK	Art Director	Return of the Jedi Mission: Impossible
	4	Tura Satana	72	Japan	Actress	Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! Irma la Douce
	5	Donald Peterman	79	US	Cinematographer	Men in Black Cocoon
	10	Bill Justice	97	US	Animator	Fantasia Bambi
	11	Myrna Dell	86	US	Actress	Rose of the Yukon Fighting Father Dunne
	12	Betty Garrett	91	US	Actress, Dancer, Singer	On the Town My Sister Eileen
	12	Kenneth Mars	75	US	Actor	The Producers Young Frankenstein
	13	Larry Holden	49	US	Actor	Batman Begins Memento
	13	T. P. McKenna	81	Ireland	Actor	Ulysses Straw Dogs
	14	David F. Friedman	87	US	Producer	Blood Feast Love Camp 7
	16	Alfred Burke	92	UK	Actor	Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Interpol
	16	Len Lesser	88	US	Actor	Kelly's Heroes The Outlaw Josey Wales
	17	Perry Moore	39	US	Producer, Director	The Chronicles of Narnia Lake City
	18	Walter Seltzer	96	US	Producer	Soylent Green The Omega Man
	20	Raphaël Bretton	91	France	Set Decorator	Hello, Dolly! The Towering Inferno
	26	Greg Goossen	65	US	Actor	Unforgiven The Royal Tenenbaums
	27	Gary Winick	49	US	Director, Producer	13 Going on 30 Charlotte's Web
	28	Annie Girardot	79	France	Actress	The Piano Teacher Dillinger Is Dead
	28	Nick LaTour	84	US	Actor	Jingle All the Way Deep Cover
	28	Jane Russell	89	US	Actress	The Outlaw Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
March	4	Charles Jarrott	83	UK	Director	Anne of the Thousand Days Lost Horizon
	11	Hugh Martin	96	US	Composer	Meet Me in St. Louis Athena
	17	Michael Gough	94	UK	Actor	Batman Horrors of the Black Museum
	18	Enzo Cannavale	82	Italy	Actor	Cinema Paradiso The House of Smiles
	21	Joe Wizan	76	US	Producer	Along Came a Spider Jeremiah Johnson
	22	Helen Stenborg	86	US	Actress	Enchanted The Bonfire of the Vanities
	23	Elizabeth Taylor	79	UK	Actress	Giant Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
	27	Farley Granger	85	US	Actor	Rope Strangers on a Train
April	2	Bill Varney	77	US	Sound Engineer	Raiders of the Lost Ark The Empire Strikes Back
	3	Kevin Jarre	56	US	Screenwriter	Tombstone Glory
	4	Wayne Robson	64	Canada	Actor	Affliction The Incredible Hulk
	6	Skip O'Brien	60	US	Actor	Liar Liar Prizzi's Honor
	9	Sidney Lumet	86	US	Director, Producer, Screenwriter	12 Angry Men Dog Day Afternoon
	11	Angela Scoular	65	UK	Actress	On Her Majesty's Secret Service Casino Royale
	14	Trevor Bannister	76	UK	Actor	Are You Being Served? Captain Jack
	17	Michael Sarrazin	70	Canada	Actor	They Shoot Horses, Don't They? The Gumball Rally
	23	Terence Longdon	88	UK	Actor	Ben-Hur Helen of Troy
	24	Marie-France Pisier	66	France	Actress	Love at Twenty Cousin Cousine
	28	William Campbell	87	US	Actor	The High and the Mighty Dementia 13
May	3	Jackie Cooper	88	US	Actor, Director	Superman Skippy
	4	Mary Murphy	80	US	Actress	The Wild One The Desperate Hours
	5	Arthur Laurents	93	US	Screenwriter	Rope The Turning Point
	5	Dana Wynter	79	Germany	Actress	Invasion of the Body Snatchers Airport
	8	Hilton Rosemarin	58	Canada	Set Decorator	Three Men and a Baby Jumper
	9	Dolores Fuller	88	US	Actress	Glen or Glenda Jail Bait
	15	Barbara Stuart	76	US	Actress	Airplane! Bachelor Party
	16	Edward Hardwicke	78	UK	Actor	Elizabeth Oliver Twist
	20	Randy Savage	58	US	Actor	Spider-Man Bolt
	21	David J. Hudson	67	US	Sound Engineer	Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home The Lion King
	21	Bill Hunter	71	Australia	Actor	Gallipoli Muriel's Wedding
	22	Joseph Brooks	73	US	Director, Screenwriter, Songwriter	If Ever I See You Again You Light Up My Life
	22	Gimel Everett	60	US	Producer, Screenwriter	The Lawnmower Man Virtuosity
	27	Jeff Conaway	60	US	Actor	Grease The Eagle Has Landed
	30	Clarice Taylor	93	US	Actress	Play Misty for Me Sommersby
June	3	James Arness	88	US	Actor	The Farmer's Daughter Big Jim McLain
	3	Pat Jackson	95	UK	Director	Shadow on the Wall Encore!
	3	Miriam Karlin	85	UK	Actress	A Clockwork Orange Children of Men
	6	John Boswall	91	UK	Actor	Nineteen Eighty-Four Three Men and a Little Lady
	7	Jorge Semprún	87	Spain	Screenwriter	Z The War Is Over
	7	Leonard B. Stern	87	US	Screenwriter, Director	Africa Screams Just You and Me, Kid
	8	John Mackenzie	83	UK	Director	The Long Good Friday Ruby
	11	Gunnar Fischer	100	Sweden	Cinematographer	Port of Call Thirst
	12	Laura Ziskin	61	US	Producer	Pretty Woman Spider-Man
	14	Badi Uzzaman	72	India	Actor	Eastern Promises Another Year
	19	Joel Simon	60	US	Producer	The Marine See No Evil
	20	Ryan Dunn	34	US	Actor	Jackass: The Movie Blonde Ambition
	22	David Rayfiel	87	US	Screenwriter	Three Days of the Condor The Firm
	23	Peter Falk	83	US	Actor	The Princess Bride Murder by Death
	25	Alice Playten	63	US	Actress	Legend Heavy Metal
	25	Margaret Tyzack	79	UK	Actress	2001: A Space Odyssey Match Point
	26	Edith Fellows	88	US	Actress	Pennies from Heaven And So They Were Married
	27	Elaine Stewart	81	US	Actress	The Bad and the Beautiful Brigadoon
July	1	Leslie Brooks	88	US	Actress	Tonight and Every Night Blonde Ice
	3	Anna Massey	73	UK	Actress	Peeping Tom The Importance of Being Earnest
	5	Gordon Tootoosis	69	Canada	Actor	Pocahontas Legends of the Fall
	8	Roberts Blossom	87	US	Actor	Home Alone Close Encounters of the Third Kind
	15	Googie Withers	94	UK	Actress	It Always Rains on Sunday Shine
	17	David Ngoombujarra	44	Australia	Actor	Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles Ned Kelly
	19	Sheila Burrell	89	UK	Actress	Paranoiac Cold Comfort Farm
	22	Tom Aldredge	83	US	Actor	Cold Mountain Intolerable Cruelty
	22	Linda Christian	87	Mexico	Actress	Tarzan and the Mermaids The V.I.P.s
	24	Tresa Hughes	81	US	Actress	Fame Don Juan DeMarco
	24	G. D. Spradlin	90	US	Actor	The Godfather Part II Apocalypse Now
	25	Michael Cacoyannis	89	Greece	Director, Producer, Screenwriter	Zorba the Greek Windfall in Athens
	26	Silvio Narizzano	84	Canada	Director	Georgy Girl Loot
	27	Polly Platt	72	US	Producer, Screenwriter, Production Designer	Pretty Baby Terms of Endearment
August	2	Richard Pearson	93	UK	Actor	Scrooge One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing
	3	Bubba Smith	66	US	Actor	Police Academy Black Moon Rising
	5	Francesco Quinn	48	Italy	Actor	Platoon Transformers: Dark of the Moon
	6	John Wood	81	UK	Actor	WarGames Sabrina
	14	Shammi Kapoor	79	India	Actor, Director	Junglee Tumsa Nahin Dekha
	19	Raúl Ruiz	70	Chile	Director	A Closed Book The Golden Boat
	19	Jimmy Sangster	83	UK	Screenwriter	The Curse of Frankenstein Dracula
	23	Sybil Jason	83	US	Actress	The Little Princess The Blue Bird
	23	Michael Showers	45	US	Actor	Traffic Mad Money
	24	Frank DiLeo	63	US	Actor	Goodfellas Wayne's World
	24	Jack Hayes	93	US	Composer, Orchestrator	The Color Purple Star Trek
	27	Eve Brent	82	US	Actress	The Green Mile Garfield
September	10	Cliff Robertson	88	US	Actor	Charly Spider-Man
	11	Andy Whitfield	39	UK	Actor	Gabriel The Clinic
	13	John Calley	81	US	Producer, Executive	Postcards from the Edge The Da Vinci Code
	13	Jack Garner	84	US	Actor	My Fellow Americans Sunset
	15	Frances Bay	92	Canada	Actress	Happy Gilmore Blue Velvet
	16	Norma Eberhardt	82	US	Actress	Live Fast, Die Young The Return of Dracula
	19	John Dunning	84	Canada	Producer	My Bloody Valentine Meatballs
	21	Paulette Dubost	100	France	Actress	The Rules of the Game Adrien
	22	Peter E. Berger	67	US	Film Editor	Fatal Attraction Alvin and the Chipmunks
	22	Jonathan Cecil	72	UK	Actor	Barry Lyndon History of the World, Part I
	26	David Zelag Goodman	81	US	Screenwriter	Straw Dogs Logan's Run
	26	Jerry Haynes	84	US	Actor	RoboCop Boys Don't Cry
	27	Fritz Manes	79	US	Producer	Tightrope Any Which Way You Can
October	2	Peter Przygodda	69	Germany	Film Editor	Paris, Texas Wings of Desire
	4	Doris Belack	85	US	Actress	Tootsie What About Bob?
	5	Steve Jobs	56	US	Studio Executive
	5	Charles Napier	75	US	Actor	The Silence of the Lambs Rambo: First Blood Part II
	6	Diane Cilento	78	Australia	Actress	The Wicker Man Hombre
	7	George Baker	80	UK	Actor	Goodbye, Mr. Chips On Her Majesty's Secret Service
	8	David Hess	75	US	Actor	The Last House on the Left Swamp Thing
	10	Ray Aghayan	83	US	Costume Designer	Lady Sings the Blues Funny Lady
	10	Alan Fudge	67	US	Actor	Edward Scissorhands The Natural
	13	Sheila Allen	78	UK	Actress	Love Actually Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
	13	Barbara Kent	103	Canada	Actress	Flesh and the Devil Oliver Twist
	18	Norman Corwin	101	US	Screenwriter	Lust for Life The Blue Veil
	20	Sue Lloyd	72	UK	Actress	The Ipcress File Revenge of the Pink Panther
	31	Gilbert Cates	77	US	Director, Producer	Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams I Never Sang for My Father
November	2	Sid Melton	94	US	Actor	Knock on Any Door Lost Continent
	2	Leonard Stone	87	US	Actor	Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory Soylent Green
	3	Rosángela Balbó	70	Italy	Actress	The Incredible Invasion The Hypocrites
	3	Bruno Rubeo	65	Italy	Production Designer	Driving Miss Daisy The Thomas Crown Affair
	4	Theadora Van Runkle	83	US	Costume Designer	Bonnie and Clyde The Godfather Part II
	6	Margaret Field	89	US	Actress	The Man from Planet X Captive Women
	6	Hal Kanter	92	US	Screenwriter, Director	Artists and Models Blue Hawaii
	8	Gene Cantamessa	80	US	Sound Engineer	E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Space Jam
	8	Heavy D	44	US	Rapper, Actor	The Cider House Rules Step Up
	15	Dulcie Gray	95	UK	Actress	The Glass Mountain Wanted for Murder
	15	Karl Slover	93	US	Actor	The Wizard of Oz The Terror of Tiny Town
	16	Maureen Swanson	78	UK	Actress	Knights of the Round Table Up in the World
	19	Russell Garcia	95	US	Composer	The Time Machine Atlantis, the Lost Continent
	19	John Neville	86	UK	Actor	The Adventures of Baron Munchausen The X-Files
	20	Dorothy Morris	89	US	Actress	Cry "Havoc" The Human Comedy
	21	Syd Cain	93	UK	Production Designer	Live and Let Die Fahrenheit 451
	27	Ken Russell	84	UK	Director, Screenwriter	Tommy Women in Love
	28	Vittorio De Seta	88	Italy	Director, Screenwriter	Bandits of Orgosolo Half a Man
	28	Patrice O'Neal	41	US	Comedian, Actor	25th Hour Furry Vengeance
December	1	Bill McKinney	80	US	Actor	Deliverance First Blood
	3	Dev Anand	88	India	Actor, Director, Producer	Guide Hare Rama Hare Krishna
	4	Marion Dougherty	88	US	Casting Director	Lethal Weapon Batman
	6	Giancarlo Badessi	83	Italy	Actor	Salon Kitty Squadra antitruffa
	7	Harry Morgan	96	US	Actor	Inherit the Wind Dragnet
	8	Đơn Dương	54	Vietnam	Actor	We Were Soldiers Green Dragon
	11	Harold Hopkins	67	Australia	Actor	Don's Party Gallipoli
	12	Bert Schneider	78	US	Producer	Easy Rider The Last Picture Show
	14	Don Sharp	67	Australia	Director	The Thirty Nine Steps Psychomania
	16	Robert Easton	81	US	Actor, Dialogue Coach	Working Girl Gods and Generals
	16	Nicol Williamson	73	UK	Actor	The Wilby Conspiracy The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
	18	Doe Avedon	86	US	Actress	The High and the Mighty The Boss
	20	Yoshimitsu Morita	61	Japan	Director	The Family Game Sorekara
	22	William Duell	88	US	Actor	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest In & Out
	23	Denise Darcel	87	US	Actress	Vera Cruz Westward the Women
	26	Pedro Armendáriz, Jr.	71	Mexico	Actor	Licence to Kill Amistad
	27	Betty Jane Rhodes	90	US	Actress, Singer	Sweater Girl The Fleet's In