Films in History (Part 8)

2002-05-16 "Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones" directed by George Lucas, starring Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman, opens in cinemas

2002-06-02 Crime drama "The Wire" created by David Simon and starring Idris Elba and Dominic West debuts on HBO

2002-06-06 "The Bourne Identity" directed by Doug Liman and starring Matt Damon premieres in Los Angeles, California

2002-07-12 Hindi film "Devdas" premieres directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and starring Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit (Best Film Filmfare Awards)

2002-10-24 Wuxia film "Hero" directed by Zhang Yimou, starring Jet Li released in China (US release 2004)

2002-11-20 "Die Another Day", 20th James Bond film released, directed by Lee Tamahori, starring Pierce Brosnan and Halle Berry: Brosnan's last turn in the role

2002-12-05 "The Two Towers" 2nd Lord of the Rings film directed by Peter Jackson and starring Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen premieres in New York

2002-12-06 "Adaptation" directed by Spike Jonze, starring Nicolas Cage and Meryl Streep premieres

2002-12-09 "Star Trek: Nemesis" film directed by Stuart Baird, and starring Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes premieres

2002-12-18 "The Hours" premieres in the US, based on the novel by Michael Cunningham and starring Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman

2002-12-18 "The Two Towers", 2nd of the Lord of the Rings films is released. Makes US$62 opening weekend and $926 million total worldwide.

2002-12-20 "Gangs of New York", starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Cameron Diaz, is released

2002-12-27 "Chicago" (Best Picture 2003), film based on John Kander and Fred Ebb's musical, directed by Rob Marshall, starring Renée Zellweger, Richard Gere, and Catherine Zeta-Jones released.

2003-05-30 Animated fish tale "Finding Nemo", directed by Andrew Stanton, and starring Albert Brooks and Ellen DeGeneres premieres in US and Canada

2003-06-10 Musical "Wicked", starring Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, officially opens at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco

2003-06-28 "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl", directed by Gore Verbinski, starring Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom, premieres at Disneyland

2004-04-30 "Mean Girls", teen comedy film released starring Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams and written by Tina Fey

2004-05-20 Cult romantic film "The Notebook" premieres at the Seattle Film Festival, starring Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling and directed by Nick Cassavetes

2004-06-30 "Spider-Man 2" directed by Sam Raimi and starring Toby Maguire and Kirsten Dunst is released

2004-07-30 "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle", starring Kal Penn and John Cho, is released

2004-09-10 "Crash" directed by Paul Haggis and starring Don Cheadle and Sandra Bullock premieres at the Toronto Film Festival (Best Picture 2006)

2004-09-22 "Lost" created by J.J. Abrams and starring Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly debuts on ABC in the US

2004-12-15 "Million Dollar Baby", directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman is released (Best Picture 2005)

2005-01-23 "Numb3rs", starring Rob Morrow and David Krumholtz, debuts on CBS

2005-03-18 "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody" premieres on the Disney Channel, starring Dylan and Cole Sprouse

2005-03-24 US version of "The Office" created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, developed by Greg Daniels, starring Steve Carell and John Krasinski premieres on NBC

2005-05-15 "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith", directed by George Lucas, starring Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman, premieres at the Cannes Film Festival

2005-06-15 "Batman Begins", directed by Christopher Nolan, starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine and Katie Holmes goes on wide release

2005-07-08 Marvel superhero film "The Fantastic Four" starring Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis premieres

2005-07-15 "Wedding Crashers", starring Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, premieres

2005-09-04 James Mangold's biographic drama "Walk the Line", starring Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash and Reese Witherspoon as June Carter debuts at the Telluride Film Festival in Telluride, Colorado

2005-09-11 "Pride & Prejudice", the film adaptation of Jane Austen's novel of the same name, starring Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet, is released

2005-09-13 "Supernatural" debuts on The WB starring Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki - longest-running North American fantasy series

2005-11-06 "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", the 4th film based on the books by J. K. Rowling, premieres in London. Goes on to become most successful film of the year, earning almost US$ 900 million.

2005-11-18 20th Century Fox releases "Walk the Line", starring Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash and Reese Witherspoon as June Carter, and directed by James Mangold; Witherspoon wins an Academy Award

2005-12-09 "Brokeback Mountain" film released, directed by Ang Lee, starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, based on story by Annie Proulx

2006-06-24 "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest", directed by Gore Verbinski, starring Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom, premieres at Disneyland - becomes fastest film to gross over 1 billion

2006-09-26 Martin Scorsese's "The Departed", starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, and Mark Wahlberg, premieres in New York City (Best Picture 2007)

2006-11-14 "Casino Royale", 21st James Bond film premieres in London, starring Daniel Craig for the 1st time and Eva Green, premieres in London

2007-03-23 After some initial hesitation, Emma Watson signs on to appear as Hermione in the final three Harry Potter films

2007-05-19 Coen brothers film "No Country for Old Men", based on the Cormac McCarthy novel, starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin premieres at the Cannes Film Festival (Best Picture 2008)

2007-06-12 "Transformers", directed by Michael Bay and starring Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox premieres in Sydney

2007-07-19 TV drama "Mad Men" starring Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, January Jones, and Vincent Kartheiser, debuts on cable network AMC

2007-09-21 "Into the Wild" starring Emile Hirsch is released

2007-09-24 "The Big Bang Theory" created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady and starring Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons and Kaley Cuoco premieres on CBS

2007-10-05 "Michael Clayton", starring George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, and Tilda Swinton, is released

2008-01-20 "Breaking Bad", created by Vince Gilligan and starring Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul premieres on AMC

2008-05-02 First film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe released: "Iron Man" directed by Jon Favreau, starring Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark

2008-06-30 "Mamma Mia!, The Movie!" starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth, premieres at Leicester Square, London

2008-08-30 "Slumdog Millionaire" based on the novel "Q & A" by Vikas Swarup, directed by Danny Boyle and starring Dev Patel premieres at the Telluride Film Festival (Best Picture 2009)

2008-09-04 "The Hurt Locker" directed by Kathryn Bigelow and starring Jeremy Renner premieres at the Venice Film Festival (Best Picture 2010)

2008-09-25 Supernatural-fantasy film "Painted Skin" directed by Gordon Chan, starring Donnie Yen, Chen Kun and Zhou Xun is released

2008-11-17 "Twilight", based on the book by Stephenie Meyer, directed by Catherine Hardwicke, starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, premieres in Los Angeles

2009-04-09 Mockumentary "Parks and Recreation" starring Amy Poehler, Nick Offerman and Aziz Ansari debuts on NBC in the US

2009-06-19 "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" directed by Michael Bay and starring Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox is released

2009-09-22 Crime drama "NCIS LA" starring Chris O'Donnell, LL Cool J, and Daniela Ruah premieres on CBS

2009-09-23 TV comedy "Modern Family" premieres on ABC, starring Ed 'Neill and Sofia Vergara

2009-11-09 TV comedy "Miranda" written by and starring Miranda Hart and Tom Ellis premieres on BBC Two in the UK

2009-11-16 "The Twilight Saga: New Moon", based on the book by Stephenie Meyer, directed by Chris Weitz, starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, premieres in Los Angeles

2009-12-06 Final Broadway performance of "A Steady Rain", starring Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig

2009-12-18 James Cameron's "Avatar" starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana and Sigourney Weaver, released in the US, becomes highest-grossing film of all time

2010-06-12 "Toy Story 3", directed by Lee Unkrich, starring Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, premieres at the Taormina Film Fest in Italy - 1st animated film to earn 1 billion

2010-06-16 "Hot In Cleveland", cable channel TV Land's first original sitcom premieres; starring Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, Wendie Malick, and Betty White

2010-07-08 "Inception", directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, premieres in London

2010-07-25 British TV series "Sherlock" debuts starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss

2010-09-06 "The King's Speech" directed by Tom Hooper starring Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush premieres at the Telluride Film Festival (Best Picture 2011)

2010-09-24 "The Social Network" directed by David Fincher and starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake premieres at the New York Film Festival

2011-02-05 Ed Sabol, co-founder of NFL Films, elected for enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame

2011-05-07 "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides", directed by Rob Marshall, starring Johnny Depp and Penélope Cruz, premieres in - opening weekend makes $350.6m

2011-05-15 "The Artist" directed by Michel Hazanavicius and starring Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo premieres at the Cannes Film festival (Best Picture 2012)

2011-07-19 "Captain America: The First Avenger", directed by Joe Johnston, starring Chris Evans and Hayley Atwell, premieres in Los Angeles

2011-09-16 The critically acclaimed "Drive", starring Ryan Gosling, is released

2011-09-20 "New Girl", starring Zooey Deschanel, debuts on Fox