Films Turning 20 In 2024

Getting older opens a bag of mixed emotions: There can be excitement about it when you're young, and adding a year of wisdom is never a bad thing. At the same time, it can be distressing to look back and realize how long it's been, and nowhere is that more noticeable than when we fondly remember our favorite movies. We've seen them countless times, and we can often recall the first watch and how it made us feel like it was yesterday. But the passage of time is a funny thing, and movies we saw when we were young can make us feel ancient when we discover they're two decades old.

In 2024, we'll be celebrating the 20th anniversary of a number of iconic films. While some of them have been rebooted so many times that the original feels like it was from the 1950s, others still feel like they were in theaters not too long ago. And it's even more eye-opening to realize that there's an entire generation of adults who weren't even born when they were made. So get ready for a shock to your system, because we've collected a list of movies that turn 20 in 2024.

Nicolas Cage established himself in the late '90s as an action hero off the back of "Con Air" and "The Rock," a pair of balls-to-the-wall, R-rated action movies. In 2004, he continued his run of action blockbusters, but this time went for a more family-friendly affair in "National Treasure." A throwback to old-school adventures, the film put him in a role reminiscent of the whip-wielding relic hunter Indiana Jones — a historian and cool-headed treasure seeker named Ben Gates. 

Gates has long heard tales of an exalted treasure that has its origins in the founding of the United States, and one of the clues to its location supposedly resides on the original copy of the Declaration of Independence. But to get to it, Ben can't just ask museum curators for a look — because he's in a race against time with criminal rival Ian Howe (Sean Bean), who will stop at nothing to get the document first and find the treasure himself.

A pulp-inspired roller coaster ride, the PG-13-rated "National Treasure" was one of the highest-grossing films of the year, making more worldwide than sequels like "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason" and "The Bourne Supremacy." It got a sequel of its own a few years later, but for many the original was a formative big-screen adventure. And believe it or not, many of the kids who grew up with it are now nearly as old as Cage himself was when he first made it.

Franchises delivered a number of iconic sequels in 2004, including "Ocean's 12" and "Spider-Man 2." But one of the best was "Shrek 2," a follow-up to the 2001 classic that turned Mike Myers and Cameron Diaz into big goofy green ogres named Shrek and Fiona. In the second, which remains the finest movie in the series, the two galoots are married, but Fiona's parents are completely out of the loop: They have no idea that she'd been turned into an ogre, and when they hear of her new husband they assume she's married to the good-looking (and very human) Prince Charming (Rupert Everett).

A delightful romp that sees Shrek forced to confront just how misunderstood he really is, the movie's themes of love, friendship, and self-acceptance resonated with millions of moviegoers. En route to its nearly one billion dollar box office haul, the film established itself as a modern-day fairy tale classic that outstripped the first movie and ensured that the series would continue. 

For kids at the time — who are all now adults — "Shrek 2" was the pinnacle of cinema, and the movie is still the center of millennial memes today, many of which focus on just how long it's been since it was released. Since 2004, the series has seen a third and fourth film (with talk of a fifth in the works), as well as a pair of spin-offs centered on the feline sidekick Puss in Boots.

After breaking out as a slapstick comic star in the 1990s with films like "The Mask," "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective," and "Dumb and Dumber," Jim Carrey spent time in the early 2000s trying to be taken more seriously. He teamed up in 2004 with "Titanic" star Kate Winslet for "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," a romantic drama that wove in some sci-fi elements — and went on to become a bona fide cult classic.

Written by indie darling Charlie Kaufman and directed by Michel Gondry, the film starred Carrey as Joel Barish, a jilted lover whose girlfriend Clementine (Winslet) recently left him. After Clementine undergoes a mind-altering procedure that erases her memories of their relationship, Joel decides to do the same. But devastated and beside himself with lovesick grief, Joel records a memory log of their time together before he has his mind wiped clean of Clementine, and afterward realizes just how important the past can be — even when it's painful.

A touching story with an important message, "Eternal Sunshine" was a favorite of teens and young adults for its exploration of every romantic's worst nightmare. It won an Academy Award for best screenplay, with a script that still holds meaning 20 years later. While the project helped Jim Carrey boost his profile as a serious actor, director Michel Gondry has never done anything with this film's lasting appeal since.

Believe it or not there was a time when Jake Gyllenhaal risked becoming an also-ran actor without a genuine hit to his name. But it was after "Donnie Darko" became a cult hit on home video that Gyllenhaal found himself in demand, and in 2004 he was cast to lead Roland Emmerich's "The Day After Tomorrow," a disaster movie that confronted the very real fears of global warming.

Set in New York City, "The Day After Tomorrow" sees the world struck by calamity when a drastic and sudden shift in climate creates a new ice age. Gyllenhaal plays high school student Sam Hall, son of a prominent paleoclimatologist (Dennis Quaid) whose warnings of a coming disaster went unheeded. Now, with his girlfriend Laura (Emmy Rossum) by his side, Sam must find a way to survive as the Big Apple is struck by a global superstorm that threatens to turn the city into a giant ice cube.

"The Day After Tomorrow" is human drama and visual spectacle at its best, but what makes it all the more jaw-dropping is that some of what it portended has already come to pass. Yet what might be most surprising is that it's already 20 years old and very little progress has been made on the issue of climate change. For Gyllenhaal, at least, it was a huge boost, and the very next year he earned an Oscar nomination for "Brokeback Mountain," altering his career forever.

British writer-director Edgar Wright cut his teeth on TV with the Simon Pegg/Nick Frost-starring sci-fi comedy "Spaced." While he made his directorial debut on the no-budget 1995 Western satire "A Fistful of Fingers," the director made an impact in the movie mainstream with 2004's "Shaun of the Dead." This one was a send-up of classic zombie movies and saw the director re-teaming with Pegg and Frost for what would eventually be the first in a spiritual trilogy.

The film puts Pegg and Frost into the roles of Shaun and Ed, a pair of loser best friends whose lives are turned upside down when a zombie apocalypse breaks out. With nobody left to save them, Shaun and Ed take it upon themselves to fight back against the horde of mindless flesh-eaters, and absolute hilarity results. It's the film that introduced the world to the quick, quirky humor of Edgar Wright and his penchant for stylish cuts and visual gags. 

The film's legacy goes beyond how good it is, because alongside "28 Days Later" and the "Dawn of the Dead" remake, "Shaun of the Dead" helped revive the zombie genre, and one could easily draw a direct line from Wright's comedy classic to modern greats like "Zombieland" and "The Walking Dead." It also remains one of the best and most popular entries in Wright's filmography, celebrated as a top-notch movie that crosses multiple genres.

The modern-day onslaught of Marvel superhero movies got its start in the early 2000s, with "Spider-Man," "X-Men" and "Hulk," among others. Yet one of the earliest Marvel franchises wasn't based on an iconic figure from the comics, but a lesser-known, supernatural crime fighter named Blade. A minor Marvel anti-hero, he landed a groundbreaking movie adaptation in 1998 starring Wesley Snipes, while 2004 saw the release of his third and final film to date, "Blade: Trinity."

This time, emerging action star Ryan Reynolds joined the party as wisecracking sidekick Hannibal King, and while the movie is more famous today for its behind-the-scenes problems, and is generally seen as the worst of the trilogy, it was still a major hit. It also capped off a series that changed the face of superheroes on film and introduced the comic book world to the snarky Reynolds, who went on to star in his own superhero series as the Merc with a Mouth, Deadpool.

Not without its fans for its schlocky charm, "Blade Trinity" doesn't feel quite as old as it is, mostly because it's one of the few Marvel movies from the era that hasn't been rebooted. But that's all to change very soon, as Mahershala Ali is scheduled to take over the role of the title vampire hunter in a reboot for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The "Alien" franchise seemingly ended in 1997 with Jean-Pierre Jeunet's "Alien Resurrection," which was seen as a major letdown among fans. For years, the franchise was all but put out to pasture, but the long-desired crossover with the "Predator" series — wildly popular in the comics — finally made its way to the screen in 2004. Though it wasn't helmed by a visionary director like Ridley Scott, James Cameron, or David Fincher, it did have Paul W. S. Anderson fresh from 2002's hit "Resident Evil."

"Alien vs. Predator" stars a mostly unknown cast as a group of human explorers who excavate a frozen, subterranean pyramid. There they discover the site of an ancient ceremony held once every 100 years when an alien hunter (the Predator) arrives to prove his prowess as a warrior against a horde of bloodthirsty xenomorphs. And guess what? It's been 100 years since the last one.

While the film wasn't well-received by longtime fans and arguably put the kibosh on the brief trend of crossover films (the failure of "Freddy vs. Jason" didn't help), it's funny to think that a movie that's now 20 years old was seen then as a legacy sequel to two franchises. Today it can even be seen as the first reinvention of both properties, which led to Ridley Scott's "Alien" prequels, while "Predator" received two more sequels and the Hulu original movie "Prey."

Plenty of movies have worked fast food into their premise, but few put such a specific spin on it like "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle." It could be mistaken at first glance for a two-hour commercial for the East Coast burger chain, but the film simply did what few others had, legally securing the rights to use an actual restaurant, rather than inventing a fictional one as in "Good Burger" or "Office Space." 

The film stars John Cho and Kal Penn as Harold and Kumar, a stodgy workaholic and a slacker stoner who go looking for White Castle burgers on a Friday night in the suburban hellscape of New Jersey. While the Garden State is home to several locations, the pair find that their first stop has been replaced by another burger chain, forcing them to go on a seemingly never-ending search for another. Along the way, the friends get caught up in several wacky misadventures involving a rabid raccoon, a life-saving surgery, and a last-minute rescue by a hideous truck driver.

With a supporting cast of bizarro characters, "Harold and Kumar" also features appearances by Ryan Reynolds, Christopher Meloni, Malin Ackerman, and Neil Patrick Harris as himself. "Harold and Kumar" got two sequels, but in the intervening years, Penn all but left acting to pursue a writing career in politics, while John Cho parlayed his popularity into a starring role in J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" as the Enterprise's helmsman, Sulu.

While "Shrek 2" and "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" topped the global box office, one of the most talked-about, buzzworthy films of 2004 wasn't a sci-fi, superhero, or fantasy movie. Instead, it was the eccentric indie goofball comedy "Napoleon Dynamite," which became an instant favorite on high school and college campuses around the country, with a story any student could identify with in one way or another.

Written and directed by Jared Hess, "Napoleon Dynamite" stars Jon Heder as the titular teen, a geeky, gawky high schooler who aimlessly drifts through school with his head in the clouds. An object of ridicule and bullying, Napoleon finds camaraderie with exchange student Pedro (Efren Ramirez) and the meek and mopey Deb (Tina Majorino), both fellow outcasts. While they prepare for the school's big dance — which means finding dates – the three work together to try and get Pedro elected class president.

A film with an entirely unknown cast and a minuscule budget, "Napoleon Dynamite" was thrust into the limelight when it became the sudden darling of the indie circuit. Endlessly quirky, the film is a perennial favorite among a certain demographic, but it's still one of those movies we can't believe is now two decades old — older than most of its audience was when it debuted.

Every decade has its singular, iconic romantic drama featuring a pair of troubled lovers: For the 1980s it was "An Officer and a Gentleman," in the '90s it was "Titanic," and in the 2000s, there was no better and more beloved romance movie than "The Notebook," adapted from the acclaimed novel by Nicholas Sparks. Directed by Nick Cassavetes, the film stars a pair of young, largely unknown actors named Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams.

The film, mostly told in flashback, recounts the whirlwind romance between Noah Calhoun (Gosling) — a lumber worker at a carnival — and wealthy teen socialite Allison Hamilton (McAdams). Unfortunately, Hamilton's well-to-do family wants her to have nothing to do with the blue-collar Calhoun. It's a moving story with a classic moral that love conquers all, giving hope to millions of lovesick viewers.

A huge hit when it was released in theaters, "The Notebook" has established itself as one of the best romance movies of all time. That it launched the careers of two major stars makes it even more incredible — especially when one realizes that the film turns 20 in 2024, and Gosling is nearly the same amount of years away from being as old as the elder version of Calhoun (played by James Garner) who narrates the film.

A spiritual successor to the likes of "Heathers," the 2004 comedy "Mean Girls" took a satirical look at student rivalries at an Illinois high school. Written by "Saturday Night Live" alum Tina Fey and based on the book "Queen Bees and Wannabes" by Rosalind Wiseman, the film stars Lindsay Lohan alongside Lizzy Caplan, Lacey Chabert, Amanda Seyfried, and — in her second memorable movie that year — Rachel McAdams.

"Mean Girls" has Lohan playing the role of Cady Heron, a teenager who arrives in the suburbs after spending her childhood being raised by her parents in Africa. When she enrolls in the local high school, she discovers that the social dynamic is unlike anything she's ever dealt with. Soon her petty, vindictive fellow students make her life a living hell, and now she suddenly has to learn the rules of school popularity and rival cliques.

More than just a movie for tween girls, "Mean Girls" held its own as a dark comedy for anyone who's ever felt like a misfit and hated their school days. It may seem like just yesterday that all your friends were talking about it at their lockers, but it's been 20 years. While Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried, and Tina Fey went on to bigger and better work, it still may be the height of Lindsay Lohan's career.

The 2000s were a decade defined by its comedies, and Will Ferrell was at the center of quite a few of them, including the holiday classic "Elf" and the racing laugher "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby." But his best might still be "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy," a farcical take on the wacky world of local TV news in which Ferrell plays an outsized, dim-witted on-air newsman. The film doesn't even try to be realistic, and embraces its absurdist concept by turning Ferrell and his supporting cast into live-action cartoon characters.

"Anchorman" is set in the 1970s, when Burgundy's self-styled ladies man persona was common and respected, and newsrooms were a chauvinist's paradise. While Burgundy welcomes new reporter Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate), he's quickly displeased when it turns out that she's actually a capable and skilled journalist. When their rivalry causes real problems, the pig-headed Burgundy finds himself out of a job and forced to rehab his career.

A wild, over-the-top slapstick comedy, "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" benefits from its hilarious supporting cast, which includes Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, Vince Vaughn, and Fred Willard, along with cameos from Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Tim Robbins. "Anchorman 2" dropped nearly a decade later, but it'll still make you feel old to remember the first one came out the same year that Millie Bobby Brown was born.