20 Most Important Blockbusters That Changed Cinema Forever

5. The Dark Knight

To pinpoint one film that proved the turning point in blockbuster cinema's shift into the land of gritty realism is hard. Batman Begins is the earliest prominent release while Casino Royale, a much needed reboot of Bond, showed how existing franchises could be modernised without loosing their uniqueness. But if you want to film that cemented this ideology in audiences it has to be The Dark Knight.

Bolstered by a knock-out performance by Heath Ledger and total commitment to a real-world Gotham, Nolan's sequel took the world by storm. The film was an unprecedented hit, making a billion dollars which was, at the time, a very rare occurrence. And, as dependable as the Jokers love of taunting Batman, Hollywood took to the new style like a very realistic rash.

Begins often gets attributed as the film that really kicked this all off but that seems like retroactive praise. While it certainly brought a character that had once more devolved into camp back from the brink, it wasn't a smash hit, earning less than Burton's Batman had fifteen years earlier. It laid the groundwork, but it was The Dark Knight taking everything that had worked with Begins and putting it on a massive scale that really showed everyone that superheroes (and blockbusters in general) could be serious.