The 8 Biggest Movies of 2011, and Whether They Were Any Good

2011's top eight worldwide grosses, lined up next to their movie.guru scores. The money and the quality barely spoke to each other.

Number one is the best movie here. You'll still yell at me.

1. 8
   Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)6.2

   Fun buddy comedy, a Holmes movie light on actual deducing.

   Critics shrugged with a 48 on Metacritic. Audiences gave it an A− CinemaScore. Downey and Law bicker like roommates, and $543.8M worldwide says people wanted exactly that.
2. 7
   The Hangover Part II (2011)4.2

   Same movie, new shirt. People paid for the rerun anyway.

   Reported $80M budget, $586.8M worldwide, and 35% on Rotten Tomatoes. It's the first movie's script with the names left in. A 4.2 movie.guru score feels generous.
3. 6
   Fast Five (2011)7.6

   The best thing that ever happened to this franchise.

   A 7.6 movie.guru score, an A CinemaScore, and $644.4M worldwide. Justin Lin turned a street racing series into a heist crew, and it never looked back.
4. 5
   Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)7.9

   Best action movie on this list, and it's not close.

   94% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.9 movie.guru score. The Guru's Take goes higher, at 8.4. Brad Bird shoots action so clean you can follow every single punch.
5. 4
   The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (2011)3.2

   Worst movie here, and it outgrossed Tom Cruise.

   A 3.2 movie.guru score and a 5.0 on IMDb, yet $732M worldwide. Bill Condon stretched half a book into a whole movie of very serious staring.
6. 3
   Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)4.0

   A billion dollars for the priciest nap on this list.

   Reported budget: $410.6M. Worldwide: $1.05B. Box office isn't profit, and 32% on Rotten Tomatoes isn't fun. Ian McShane deserved a better ship.
7. 2
   Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)4.4

   Audiences gave it an A. Audiences were exhausted.

   35% on Rotten Tomatoes, a 4.4 movie.guru score, and $1.12B worldwide. Michael Bay leveled a city for what felt like a fiscal quarter, and we clapped politely.
8. 1
   Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011)9.3

   Biggest and best of 2011. Still not a 9.3.

   $1.34B worldwide, 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, a 9.3 movie.guru score. The Guru's Take is 8.8, because on its own it's a brilliant final act missing its first half.

$461.38 says somebody in the comments defends Breaking Dawn Part 1 with their whole chest.

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Current mood: ready to fight about it