The following is an overview of events in 2006, including the highest-grossing films, award ceremonies and festivals, a list of films released and notable deaths.
Evaluation of the year
Philip French of The Guardian described 2006 as "an outstanding year for British cinema". He went on to emphasize, "Six of our well-established directors have made highly individual films of real distinction: Michael Winterbottom's A Cock and Bull Story, Ken Loach's Palme d'Or winner The Wind That Shakes the Barley, Christopher Nolan's The Prestige, Stephen Frears's The Queen, Paul Greengrass's United 93 and Nicholas Hytner's The History Boys. Two young directors made confident debuts, both offering a jaundiced view of contemporary Britain: Andrea Arnold's Red Road and Paul Andrew Williams's London to Brighton. In addition the gifted Mexican Alfonso Cuaron came here to make the dystopian thriller Children of Men." He also stated, "In the (United) States, M. Night Shyamalan of The Sixth Sense fame fell flat on his over-confident face with Lady in the Water, but Martin Scorsese's The Departed was his best for years, and he was with Jack Nicholson at last. Apart from that, the best American films were political (Syriana, Good Night, and Good Luck, The New World) or very personal (Little Miss Sunshine, Little Children, The Squid and the Whale). Sadly, Oliver Stone's 9/11 picture World Trade Center was neither. Asian cinema produced a string of elegant thrillers and horror flicks. The best Eastern European movie was The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, a devastating look at the Romania Ceausescu left behind him. Most of the best Western European films came from France, with Michael Haneke's Caché, proving the most widely discussed art-house puzzle picture since Last Year at Marienbad. The award of 18 certificates by the BBFC to Shortbus and Destricted has brought close the abolition of censorship, but not of classification, and Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain was a real step forward for the representation of homosexuals in mainstream cinema, though Gore Vidal claims that there's a gay subtext to every western. However, the year's most extraordinary event, or conjunction, was the almost simultaneous release of Tommy Lee Jones's directorial debut The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Who would have predicted in the Sixties, when they were roommates at Harvard and used by Erich Segal as joint models for Oliver Barrett IV in Love Story, that both Jones and Gore would end up as movie stars - if, in Gore's case, accidentally and temporarily?"
Highest-grossing films
The top 10 films released in 2006 by worldwide gross are as follows:
Box office records
Sony Pictures grossed more than $3 billion in annual worldwide box office revenue for the first time in its history. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest became the third film in cinema history to gross over $1 billion and is the 43rd highest-grossing film of all time.
Events
Awards
Palme d'Or (59th Cannes Film Festival):
The Wind That Shakes the Barley, directed by Ken Loach, United Kingdom Golden Lion (63rd Venice International Film Festival):
Still Life (三峡好人), directed by Jia Zhangke, China Golden Bear (56th Berlin International Film Festival):
Grbavica, directed by Jasmila Žbanić, Bosnia and Herzegovina
2006 films
By country/region
List of American films of 2006 List of Argentine films of 2006 List of Australian films of 2006 List of Bangladeshi films of 2006 List of Bengali films of 2006 List of Bollywood films of 2006 List of Brazilian films of 2006 List of British films of 2006 List of Canadian films of 2006 List of Chinese films of 2006 List of French films of 2006 List of Hindi films of 2006 List of Hong Kong films of 2006 List of Italian films of 2006 List of Japanese films of 2006 List of Kannada films of 2006 List of Malayalam films of 2006 List of Mexican films of 2006 List of Pakistani films of 2006 List of Russian films of 2006 List of South Korean films of 2006 List of Spanish films of 2006 List of Tamil films of 2006 List of Telugu films of 2006
By genre/medium
List of action films of 2006 List of animated feature films of 2006 List of avant-garde films of 2006 List of crime films of 2006 List of comedy films of 2006 List of drama films of 2006 List of horror films of 2006 List of science fiction films of 2006 List of thriller films of 2006 5 6 2006
Births
March 1 - Julian Grey, American actor April 20 - Kailia Posey, American actress and reality television show contestant (died 2022) April 22 - Nathanael Saleh, English actor April 28 - Kiawentiio, Canadian-American actress April 29 - Xochitl Gomez, American actress May 6 Sadie Sandler, American actress Aryan Simhadri, American actor May 22 - Mattea Conforti, American actress June 18 - Iris Barbosa, Brazilian YouTuber, singer and actress June 25 – Mckenna Grace, American actress June 28 - Laurel Griggs, American actress (died 2019) June 29 - Sam Lavagnino, American voice actor and YouTuber July 8 – Isabella Sermon, English actress July 12 – Kevin Vechiatto, Brazilian actor July 19 - Beau Gadsdon, British actress August 5 - Elle McKinnon, Canadian actress September 7 - Ian Chen, American actor September 12 Alexander Molony, British actor Zackary Arthur, American actor September 17 - Ella Jay Basco, American actress October 1 - Priah Ferguson, American actress October 5 – Jacob Tremblay, Canadian actor October 30 - Saniyya Sidney, American actress November 16 - Sophia Hammons, American actress December 6 - Millie Davis, Canadian actress December 9 - Pixie Davies, English actress December 18 - Malia Baker, Canadian actress
Deaths
Film debuts
Dianna Agron – When a Stranger Calls Moisés Arias – Nacho Libre Dave Bautista – Relative Strangers Leïla Bekhti – Sheitan Mario Casas – Summer Rain Justin Chon – Fleetwood Common – Smokin' Aces Ana de Armas – Virgin Rose Scott Eastwood – Flags of Our Fathers Verónica Echegui – My Name Is Juani Greta Fernández – Fiction Greta Gerwig – LOL Bill Hader – Doogal Rebecca Hall – Starter for 10 Scott Haze – Danny Roane: First Time Director Sandra Hüller – Requiem Kellan Lutz – Stick It Deepika Padukone – Aishwarya Imogen Poots – V for Vendetta Andrea Riseborough – Venus Evan Ross – ATL Xavier Samuel – 2:37 Léa Seydoux – Girlfriends T.I. – ATL Olivia Thirlby – United 93 Tessa Thompson – When a Stranger Calls Adriana Ugarte – Doghead Mia Wasikowska – Suburban Mayhem
Box Office Mojo film release schedule. List of 2006 films at IMDb 2006 Domestic Grosses at Box Office Mojo List of 2006 deaths at IMDb List of 2006 births at IMDb
Demo article adapted from 2006 in film on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License; additional terms may apply.
