Rank the movie musicals of the past decade...

With Nine coming out, I thought it would be interesting to rank the major theatrical movie musicals since 2000. Here they are in chronological order: Moulin Rouge, Chicago, The Phantom of the Opera, Rent, The Producers, Dreamgirls, Hairspray, Across the Universe, Sweeney Todd, and Mamma Mia.

Wow, what a decade.

Rottentomatoes ranks them this way:

Hairspray
Chicago
Sweeney Todd
Dreamgirls
Moulin Rounge
Across the Universe
Mamma Mia
The Producers
Rent
The Phantom of the Opera

How about you? If you want, throw in Once, Enchanted, Reefer Madness, Hedwig, and whatever else.

Updated On: 12/17/09 at 08:41 PM

Hairspray
Dreamgirls
Sweeney Todd
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Moulin Rouge
Chicago
Enchanted
High School Musical 3
Rent
The Producers
Mamma Mia!
The Phantom of the Opera

The only change I'd make to the Rottentomatoes list is to put Hairspray between Sweeney Todd and Dreamgirls. The rest of the list is good.

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Chicago
Dreamgirls
Hairspray
Sweeney Todd
Across The Universe
Moulin Rouge
The Producers
Rent
The Phantom of the Opera
Mamma Mia

BEST

CHICAGO
DREAMGIRLS
HAIRSPRAY
HEDWIG
MOULIN ROUGE
MAMMA MIA
ACROSS THE UNIVERSE

WORST

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
THE PRODUCERS
RENT
SWEENEY TODD
NINE

Chicago
Moulin Rouge
Hairspray
Sweeney Todd
Dreamgirls
Mamma Mia
Across the Universe
Rent
The Phantom of the Opera
The Producers

Chicago gets the top spot because, IMO it really brought movie musicals back. Moulin Rouge gets #2 for it's originality.

Dreamgirls is probably the last one on the list to be a good movie, IMO. Though Mamma Mia is fun, it should look to something like Hairspray, which found the simple fun, but was also a great movie.

The Producers is simply horrible (I do enjoy Thurman's Ulla though), while Rent and Phantom have their moments. Across the Universe was just OK.

From other's reviews, I'm guessing Nine will be either right above, or below Dreamgirls.

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Updated On: 12/17/09 at 10:52 PM

Sweeney Todd
Moulin Rouge!
Chicago
Hairspray
Dreamgirls
Rent
Reefer Madness
Mamma Mia!
Enchanted
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Across the Universe
The Producers
The Phantom of the Opera

You forgot many, many movie musicals in the past decade... (and this doesn't even include made-for-TV musicals)

FROM JUSTIN TO KELLY
HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH
MOULIN ROUGE!
CHICAGO
CAMP
DE-LOVELY
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
OPEN HOUSE
ROMANCE AND CIGARETTES
THE PRODUCERS
RENT
COLMA - THE MUSICAL
ONCE
ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
HAIRSPRAY
ENCHANTED
SWEENEY TODD
REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA
DREAMGIRLS
MAMMA MIA!
HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3: SENIOR YEAR
WERE THE WORLD MINE
THE PRINCESS & THE FROG
NINE

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Updated On: 12/18/09 at 11:10 PM

In strictly movies:
1.) Hedwig & The Angry Inch
2.) Chicago
3.) Sweeney Todd
4.) Hairspray
5.) Enchanted
6.) Dreamgirls

Then Major Drop.......

7.) Phantom of The Opera
8.) Moulin Rouge
9.) Mamma Mia!
10.) Across The Universe

Bottomless Pit......

11.) Rent
12.) The Producers

I'm not going to rank these as I haven't seen enough of them to properly judge but of those I have seen, I felt Chicago was the strongest as a piece of film...it was a good adaptation but it also stands on its own as a movie which a lot of recent movie musicals don't seem to do. I will also say that I thought the Sweeney Todd movie, while beautifully shot, was dismal. I thought Alan Rickman and the actor who played Tobias did really well and I also actually enjoyed Sacha Baron Cohen, but other than that I really really hated it.

FROM JUSTIN TO KELLY, CAMP , DE-LOVELY, ONCE, ENCHANTED, REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA, and HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3: SENIOR YEAR all are live-action films that received a wide release... [[[ ]]]

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I see what you're saying, but I disagree. I'd rather see a good non-musical film than a crappy movie musical. Speaking of the film genre of entertainment in general, more than half of the movies released every year are SH*TTY. We've been fortunate that most movie musicals have been made well (only compared to films in general, as you did earlier). However when looked at individually, a lot of musical films have their flaws (but what film doesn't?).

I root for the home team (the movie musical) any time when I hear about a project in development (even if the title of such a film is GREASE 3), but when the product is released, I will certainly have an opinion and share it.

Pre-CHICAGO, studios were not doing musicals. Post-CHICAGO, every musical made famous on stage was getting green-lit. Unfortunately, the first to come out of development happened to be clunkers. If we are going to continue to demand that good movie musicals get made, then we must not let the wrong people make them. HOPEFULLY studios will have learned their lesson after the directing and casting decisions of RENT and THE PRODUCERS...

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Dreamgirls
Chicago
Across the Universe
Sweeney Todd
Moulin Rouge
Hairspray
Hedwig
Phantom of the Opera
Rent