6. Avatar
When James Cameron finally released Avatar at the end of 2009, audiences were naturally feverishly excited, given that this was his first film in a whole 12 years, since his last film (Titanic) went on to win Best Picture at the Oscars and also become the highest-grossing film of all time. Though the narrative was widely criticised for being overly simplistic and deriving itself from the likes of Ferngully and Dances with Wolves, it was universally acclaimed for its staggering level of technical innovation. Cameron, easily one of Hollywood's most ambitious filmmakers, claimed for years to be waiting for technology to catch up to his vision, and in helping to develop state-of-the-art 3D and mo-cap technology, Cameron was finally able to bring this vision to our IMAX cinema screens in mind-blowing detail. On a budget of almost $250m, many touted Cameron's project to fail, but true to form, Cameron delivered a visually stunning masterwork that was nominated for 9 Oscars (including Best Picture and Best Director), and grossed a ridiculous $2.7bn at the box office, making it still the highest-grossing film in movie history.