The musical is one of cinema's oldest categories. The form's commercial peak was the 1940s-1960s American studio era; the 1970s saw a substantial commercial contraction; the form has, since the late 1990s, gone through periodic revival waves (Moulin Rouge 2001, Chicago 2002, La La Land 2016).
The classical Hollywood tradition
- Singin' in the Rain (1952) — Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly. The most-canonical Hollywood musical."
- An American in Paris (1951) — Vincente Minnelli. Best Picture."
- The Wizard of Oz (1939) — Victor Fleming. The Technicolor sequence."
- West Side Story (1961) — Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. Best Picture."
- The Sound of Music (1965) — Robert Wise. Highest-grossing film for several years."
The 1970s and 1980s",
["seventies",
"The 1970s saw a substantial musical contraction. Cabaret (1972, Bob Fosse) won eight Oscars but was, in some sense, the last commercially-successful American studio musical until the 2000s revival.",
"Cabaret (1972), All That Jazz (1979), Hair (1979), and the cult-favorite The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) represent the form's 1970s output. The 1980s produced Fame (1980), Footloose (1984), and Dirty Dancing (1987) — broader-commercial musical-adjacent films rather than pure musicals."]],
The contemporary revival",
["revival",
"The post-2000 musical revival has produced several major commercial successes.",
["movies",
[null, "Moulin Rouge! (2001)", "Baz Luhrmann."],
[null, "Chicago (2002)", "Rob Marshall. Best Picture."],
[null, "Dreamgirls (2006)", "Bill Condon. Jennifer Hudson Best Supporting Actress."],
[null, "Les Misérables (2012)", "Tom Hooper."],
["la-la-land", "La La Land (2016)", "Damien Chazelle. The biggest contemporary musical."],
[null, "The Greatest Showman (2017)", "Michael Gracey. Commercial outperformer."],
[null, "West Side Story (2021)", "Steven Spielberg's adaptation."]
]
]],
The non-traditional-musical entries
- Whiplash (2014) — Chazelle. Not a musical in the conventional sense, but structurally engaged with music."
- Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) — The Coens. Folk-music film with extensive musical performance."
- Once (2007) — John Carney. €100,000 Irish indie."
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