6. Shrek
DreamworksMonopolies are generally a bad thing. That sort of concentrated power inevitably leads to abuses that only serve to make the whole worse for the benefit of a few. However, the decreased output under a monopoly might not always be a bad thing if the product has some dubious qualities, which brings us around to the animated feature film. At one time, for animated feature films, there was more or less one game in town and its name began with a capital D and ended in the image of mouse ears. Perhaps the market was underserved, but people enjoyed the movies for what they were, Disney made a lot of money, and everyone went home happy. Some others caught on to Disney's game, particularly DreamWorks, and dipped their hand into the animation ring, but not until Shrek made the cash registers light up was there proof to other companies that animation was a business that needed to be their business. After the monster success of Shrek, animation became a Hollywood gold rush, as every major studio rushed to set up their own animation houses. Many may see this as a good thing, but even the most ardent animation fanatics must agree that the abundance of animated feature films is a bit much now. The release calendar is chuck-full of kids movies, as animation has exploded onto the scene, which with finite resources at studios, means less money spent on more adult fare. Combine this with the fact that many live-action films are basically aimed towards children as well, and it's no wonder adults don't go to the movie theater anymore without their children in tow.