Now that the new year of 2026 is getting under way, it’s looking like another big year for movies and TV shows. While movies like The Mandalorian and Grogu, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and TV shows like Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord and Fallout Season 2 (Episode 6 and onwards) are some of the most anticipated releases, a good number of titles are celebrating big anniversaries this year. Whether it’s for their 10th, 20th, or 30th anniversaries, here are some picks for these movies and shows hitting their anniversary milestones:
10th anniversaries
Captain America: Civil War (May 6, 2016) and Doctor Strange (October 13, 2016): The Marvel Cinematic Universe was still at its prime with these two cinematic installments. The third movie in the Captain America trilogy was the talk of the town (alongside Batman v Superman, also marking its own 10th anniversary) as the Avengers find themselves pinned against each other over the implications of the Sokovia Accords: Avengers must operate under direct government supervision or be permanently disbanded. Aside from Team Cap vs Team Iron Man, the movie also marked the MCU debut of Chadwick Boseman and Tom Holland as their respective characters the Black Panther and Spider-Man.
For the second MCU film of 2016, it was the magical/mystical debut of Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Stephen Strange. After the titular neurosurgeon suffered a major car accident, Stephen Strange finds himself thrust in a world beyond conventional science and medicine, fighting evil forces that not even the Avengers were ever called to combat. This debut in the MCU set up the character for later appearances not only in his eventual sequel, but also in Avengers: Infinity War/Endgame and Spider-Man: No Way Home. While we’re at it with Marvel, might as well add Deadpool (February 12, 2016) marking the first modern Marvel movie since the Blade Trilogy and The Punisher to be given the R rating… albeit, not owned by Disney… yet.
Zootopia (March 4, 2016) and Moana (November 23, 2016): Fun fact, did you know that Zootpia is called Zootropolis for audiences across the pond? A zoo in Denmark was celebrating its 50th birthday at the time and did so by renaming the zoo to Givskud Zoo – Zootopia. Anyways, the movie Zootopia focuses on Judy Hopps, who becomes the titular city’s first bunny cop after leaving her hometown of Bunny Burrow. After meeting con artist Nick Wilde and discovering that Zootopia is not all like she thought it would be, the duo are forced together to uncover the truth behind certain animal citizens going savage.
Moana was a major showcase of Polynesian culture. When the titular lead’s home island and her people face starvation, the daughter of Chief Tui must team up with revered demigod Maui in recovering an ancient artifact and returning it to the goddess Te Fiti. Moana was a major hit at the box office, becoming 2016’s 12th highest grossing film at $643,331,111 worldwide.
Rogue One (December 16, 2016): The first of the Star Wars anthology films under Disney’s ownership, Rogue One is both a sequel to the Prequel trilogy and a prequel to the Original trilogy. Bridging Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, Rogue One tells the story of how Jyn Erso shaped the fight against the tyrannical Galactic Empire and left her mark in the galaxy as she formed a team of rebels to uncover the plans to the Death Star. Rogue One can also be remembered for bringing back the late Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin through CGI and also recreating the young Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia with the same tech. However, 11 days after the movie’s release, Carrie Fisher would sadly pass away after being previously admitted to the hospital following cardiac arrest. On a more positive note, Rogue One would become the year’s second-highest grossing movie after Captain America: Civil War.
The Founder (December 16, 2016): Move aside, Super Size Me. In 2016, former Batman actor Michael Keaton took on the role of Raymond “Ray” Kroc, whom after being a struggling door-to-door salesman in the 1950s, built the worldwide American fast food empire known today after meeting the restaurant’s founding brothers in San Bernardino, California. If the aforementioned 2004 documentary didn’t bring you a new perspective on McDonald’s then maybe this movie touching the origins of the fast food chain will.
Bionicle: The Journey to One (March 4, 2016): Based on the 2015 reboot of Lego’s beloved toyline Bionicle, this show was the closest for longtime fans in the Lego theme having a mainstream show, as the original line from 2001-2010 never had a series. After six heroes are awakened on the mysterious island of Okoto, the Toa are pressed to come together despite their differences to discover their elemental powers and fight evil forces threatening the island. Being a Netflix exclusive, the series ended up being a short-lived one, as the Bionicle reboot was canceled by Lego after the year ended.
20th anniversaries
Over the Hedge (May 19, 2006): This underrated Dreamworks installment is an adaption of a series of 90s comic strips by Michael Fry and T. Lewis. When the racoon RJ (voiced by John McClane himself Bruce Willis) is in need to pay back a bear that he stole food from, he takes advantage of a family of forest animals that woke up to the sight of their forest surrounded by the human world of suburbia. While Over The Hedge wasn’t necessarily a financial flop in theaters, there has never been a sequel nor spin-off, and any hope for a late sequel of sorts has likely long passed. While Gary Shandling (voice of the amphibian… erm, reptile Verne) passed away 10 years ago, Bruce Willis has sadly been diagnosed with aphasia for the past few years, further pointing to Over The Hedge as a one-and-done movie. At least it still had a tie-in video game.
Happy Feet (November 17, 2006): Two things to remember this movie for: penguins and tap dancing. Voiced by Frodo Baggins himself Elijah Wood, Mumble can only tap dance instead of singing like his family and his colony. Mumble must find a way to overcome his supposed handicap that makes him an outcast after his colony of penguins face starvation caused by humans’ overfishing.
Barnyard (August 4, 2006): Does anyone still remember this Nickelodeon movie? If not, you might remember the TV spinoff series Back at the Barnyard, which debuted the following year on Nick. Starring Kevin James, Barnyard covers the story of a party animal cow Otis and his shenanigans with his band of fellow farm animals, as as him having to take over leadership of the farm after a pack of coyotes killed his father Ben (voiced by Sam Elliot). If there’s any news updates from anyone involved in the Barnyard movie and TV show, it’s that over the past holiday season, fellow cast member Jeff Garcia (voice of Otis’s wisecracking mouse friend Pip) unexpectedly passed away at 50 years old, following hospitalization for pneumonia.
Power Rangers: Mystic Force (February 20, 2006): Released during the rein of the Harry Potter film franchise (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released the following year), Power Rangers: Mystic Force taps into a magic/sorcery angle for the Power Rangers franchise, introducing the Mystic Rangers. Mystic Force premiered on the long-gone kid’s TV block Jetix, when Disney XD was still called Toon Disney.
30th anniversaries
Beast Wars: Transformers (September 16, 1996): The mid-90s 3D animation may not hold up that well for today’s standards… but in my opinion, the 3D animation still doesn’t look too bad, unlike the early 90s 3D animation of Transformers: Generation 2. Known in Canada as Beasties, Beast Wars is the only direct sequel to the classic 1984 Transformers show. It’s both a sequel and a prequel. A few hundred years after the war between Autobot and Decepticon, the factions have been succeeded by Maximals and Predacons. A crew of Maximals lead by Optimus Primal (Gary Chalk) are found in hot pursuit after a crew of Predacons lead by Megatron (named after the Decepticon leader). After their ships were shot down and crash on an unknown planet, the Cybertronians take on new beast forms and wage their own war. Though, it wasn’t much later that both sides confirm that they’ve travelled back in time and crash landed on a prehistoric Earth.
Space Jam (November 15, 1996): Nearly 30 years before King Lebron James of the Los Angeles Lakers teamed up with Bugs Bunny and the Loony Toons, Bugs and crew already teamed up with the then returning basketball star Michael “Air” Jordan of the Chicago Bulls. Still in the middle of his retirement, MJ is tasked on building up the Toon Squad after the toons challenge a race of aliens to a basketball game, following the aliens’ boss demands for the Loony Toons as new attractions to his amusement park “Moron Mountain”. Fun fact: nearly 30 years after the movie’s release, the Space Jam website still sports its 1996 web design.
Independence Day (July 3, 1996): While this upcoming 4th of July holiday will mark 250 years of American independence, planet Earth witnessed the birth of its own planetary independence. The whole world unites after a race of aliens threatens to take over and destroy the planet. Independence Day would see a sequel 20 years later, but the sequel was nowhere near as critically received as the original. After all, Independence Day starred Will Smith, while he would be absent from the sequel movie.
Jingle All The Way (November 16, 1996): In addition to Space Jam, remember this Arnold Schwarzenegger film when next Thanksgiving/Christmas returns. While society in the past 5-6 years (and beyond) continue to witness shortages of high-in-demand products like Pokemon cards, the PlayStation 5 / Xbox Series consoles, and RAM/GPUs, the mid-90s had its own product demands as Arnold’s father character got thrust into toy fever for the new “Turbo-Man” toy. While Arnold Schwarzenegger even back then was known for action movies, Jingle All The Way gave the action star a different type of movie to work on every now and then.
