The other thread got me thinking, what are the movies from our generation that will be considered classics for decades to come? (Let's say post-2000.)

The main ones for me would be LOTR, Gladiator, and The Dark Knight.

But I feel like LOTR is kind of the sole "S Tier" classic of the past 20 years and everything else is fighting it out in the next tier.

Hell or High Water
Guardians of the Galaxy vol 1
Ex Machina
Infernal Affairs

Basterds and Django are both up there too. Forgot about those.

Good list.

Sticking to American/co-American productions, I'll go with Mulholland Drive, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Gran Torino, and A History of Violence. I think people will come to realize the second on the list is Q.T.'s best within a few years of his retirement, unless he's saved his best for last.

Forgot to include A.I. Artificial Intelligence

Interstellar
Dunkirk
Gladiator
The Lord of the Rings trilogy
Avengers Infinity War / Endgame
Captain America The Winter Soldier
Iron Man
Guardians of the Galaxy
Lincoln
Oppenheimer
Batman Begins
The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight Rises
Rogue One
Dune Part 1 (probably Dune Part 2 as well but remains to be seen)
Arrival
The Darkest Hour
Gran Torino
American Sniper
Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol
Mission Impossible Rogue Nation
Mission Impossible Fallout

There are bound to be several titles I'm not thinking of right now that should be included.

I'm not swayed by critic's opinions, nor Oscar bullcrap - many Best Picture winners are movies that I find to be unworthy of even being watched, or when I do, utterly boring or uninteresting. For me, I look at how a movie entertained me, and whether it is worth multiple viewings. So for me I would also add movies like Revenge of the Sith, The Mummy, Prometheus, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and similar that would never make any such list, likely even here on TA.

DallasTeleAg said:

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You had American Sniper, but not Lone Survivor? I think Lone Survivor is the superior movie.

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I barely remember Lone Survivor, so I guess I should go re-watch that one.

Blood Diamond is one of my favorites

Almost Famous

Stive said:

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Idiocracy

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EOT

A Few Good Men

I love this question. It is a very interesting thought experiment.

TL;DR Everything Everywhere All At Once and Moneyball

Here is what I think will hurt a lot of movies from entering the limited ranks of "classics."

Classics tend to win awards or nominated for awards. That really narrows the pool of movies. I am not saying this is right or wrong, good or bad, but classics tend to be award winners since taste makers like to repeat how right they were to award movies.

Most blockbusters will be hurt by Star Wars/Jaws/T2. If you are going to watch a blockbuster 50 years from now and you were going to show one. I think it will still be one of the early blockbusters. The other big one that hurts is a lot of the modern blockbusters are sequels. I think Iron Man would have a great chance of being a classic than say End Game. Even though I like Endgame better. I think Lord of The Rings is hurt by there being three of them.

Another thing that hurts a lot of movies from 2000-2023 is they will not be a director or actor/actress "defining" movie. I think this will hurt movies like Training Day/Gladiator/Inglorious Basterds/There Will Be Blood/Top Gun 2.

Some other miscellaneous factors, classics tend to be timeless, not ultra violent, and not too topical. Also, they need stars.

One other thing that helps a movie become a "classic" is it marks a new era, has a lot of interesting facts, is highly representative of a group of movies, or allows people to be pretentious in discussing.

Will all this rambling out of the way, here is my dark horse pick:

Everything Everywhere All at Once (non-studio movie, heavy award winner, aged actresses, novelness, short round, tons to debate, and director duo.) In 50 years, I think this will be seen as the rock in the river that reignited new and unique movies and in an age of AI art (not saying good or bad) this may seem like the movie that was the precursor.

The movie that will show endlessly in 2050 Classic Movie Channel:

Moneyball (It will be talked about being an example of fictionalize documentary, baseball movie, and general sports movie. Has megastar Brad Pitt, currently becoming megastar Chris Pratt. Very family friend and very watchable, and nominated for a lot of awards.)

I think a lot of the movies from 2000-2023 are going to very rewatchable, are very good, and there isn't any wrong answers.

I also think a Christopher Nolan movie will become a "classic". I am just not sure he has made it yet. In other words, I think his defining movie will be one of his next movies.

The best movies of the past 25 years as voted on RT.

https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/guide/rt25-fans-top-movies-of-the-last-25-years/

Nolan with the top three is impressive.