OVP: Previously, in 2003...

   2003: A Look Back

We are rolling right into the 16th Oscar Viewing Project retrospective after finishing up 2018 this past weekend... For those who are new to this series, we do two ballots a week (usually Monday/Wednesday, but I have a full-time job that sometimes gets in the way of that...but we always hit two a week), so for the next ten weeks we'll be exploring 20 Oscar races from 2003.

That is enough behind-the-scenes from me, so I want you now to sit back, relax, and transport yourself back to 2018.  A time when Christian Ronaldo was just stepping onto the world stage, when we were watching Saddam Hussein's arrest after a decade of pursuit, & the Volkswagen Beatle was taking its final curtain call.  And of course, let's remember the movies...

Box Office

This is what the Top 10 at the (Domestic) Box Office looked like:

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

2. Finding Nemo

3. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

4. The Matrix Reloaded

5. Bruce Almighty

6. X2: X-Men United

7. Elf

8. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

9. The Matrix Revolutions

10. Cheaper by the Dozen

Franchises were definitely coming into their own in 2003.  While not every film in this list was part of a franchise at the time, in retrospect only Elf would not inspire a sequel (or be one itself).  In terms of movies I've seen, this is me showing my age a bit.  I moved to a major metropolitan area where it became considerably easier to see movies late in 2003, so this was the last year where I didn't have total control over which movies I saw, which basically translates into some viewing gaps.  As a result, I've seen a little over half of these movies, missing both Matrix's (I'll fix that in the coming weeks) and Cheaper by the Dozen (weirdly Terminator 3 is the only Terminator film I've ever seen).  Other $100 million films from 2003 that I haven't seen include Bad Boys II, Bringing Down the House, and 2 Fast 2 Furious.

The Films I Missed

While I've seen all of the Oscar nominees, I haven't seen every film in 2003.  In addition to the films I just listed, there are a few films that were in contention at precursors that didn't make it to the Oscars.  Some of the bigger names I'm currently missing include School of Rock, Under the Tuscan Sun, and The Station Agent, though I will rectify all three of those before we do the My Ballot in ten weeks.  Other than that, if you have some favorite films that Oscar totally ignored, slide into those comments & share. We'll be hitting Best Makeup in the next day or so.