Looking Back at the Best Recent On-Screen Musicals
Both movies and musicals have been around since the early 19th century, expanding across the seven continents but found primarily in Europe and North America — specifically France, England, and the United States. While both genres existed as separate forms of visual art, they quickly became entwined, creating the movie musical.
The movie musical allows for a broad interpretation of what can be included in the genre, so long as it is a motion picture that features singing and dancing. The most well-known movie musicals include Hairspray (1988), Grease (1978), and The sound of Music (1965). Despite being referred to as films, Disney movies are also considered both movies and musicals, allowing it to fall into this category. Here are the top 10 movie musicals from the 2010s through now.
10. Burlesque (2010)
After losing her mother in childhood, Alice “Ali” Marilyn Rose (Christina Aguilera) dreams of becoming a professional dancer, but works as a waitress in Iowa. When her boss stiffs her paycheck, Ali steals the money she is owed and heads to LA. She attends many auditions but is unsuccessful until coming across a burlesque club owned by Tess Scali (Cher). The club’s bartender Jack Miller (Cam Gigandet) — who is also a songwriter — refers Ali to Tess for an audition, but she is denied. Noticing the shortage in wait staff, Ali begins serving trays and is given a job as a waitress at the club. When auditions are held to replace a dancer, Ali auditions with a difficult routine and beats lead performer Nikki(Kristen Bell). After being too drunk to perform, Ali takes over Nikki’s routine, and she tries to sabotage the performance by turning down the music. However, Ali impresses everyone with her singing, and Tess casts her in an upcoming show despite increasing financial concerns for the club.
With Aguilera and Cher co-starring, Burlesque is widely considered one of the most iconic on-screen musicals.
9. Footloose (2011)
After his son dies in a car accident when returning home from partying, Reverend Shaw Moore (Dennis Quaid) persuades City Council to pass laws that ban dancing in Bomont, Georgia. Three years later, teenager Ren McCormack (Kennedy Wormald) moves to Bomont to live with his aunt and uncle after his mother dies of Leukemia. At school, Ren takes a romantic interest in Ariel (Julianne Hough, the Reverend’s daughter. Despite the ban on dancing, the students want to have a Senior prom, so Ren goes to the City Council and requests they lift the ban. However, Shaw is there with enough votes to defeat the motion.
The remake of the original hit movie musical brings back the heart and soul of Footloose.
8. A Star Is Born (2018)
Country rock singer Jackson “Jack” Maine (Bradley Cooper) — who is struggling with drug and alcohol addiction — visits a bar where he sees waitress and singer-songwriter Ally (Lady Gaga) performing a tribute song. Jack approaches Ally after the show and encourages her to perform the songs she wrote before he invites her to his next show.
As Ally’s success grows, an envious Jack starts arguing with her over his own declining success. But the duo finds a way to move past their insecurities and move forward together. Nevertheless, Jack’s past demons may still be haunting him.
7. The Greatest Showman (2017)
In the 19th century, P.T. Barnum (Hugh Jackman) opens an amusement park in downtown Manhattan called Barnum’s American Museum, which hosts a variety of wax figures. Business is slow until Barnum’s wife suggests adding a live showcase, which ends up being “freak” performances from a bearded lady and a man with Dwarfism. Barnum hires playwright Phillip Carlyle (Zac Efron) to generate more publicity. Phillip takes a romantic interest in Anne Wheeler (Zendaya) — an African American trapeze artist — and invites her to go to the theater.
Barnum returns to find his circus on fire after a fight broke out between the troupe and protestors. Phillip rushes in to save Anne, unaware she had already made it to safety, and sustains serious injuries. The troupe gets together and decides to rebuild the circus using profits Phillip offered in return for full partnership.
Led by Jackman, Efron and Zendaya, The Greatest Showman is the perfect breath of fresh air for fans of the iconic trio of actors.
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6. Moana (2016)
A young Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) listens to her grandmother retell the story of how the demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson) stole the heart of Te Fiti — a pounamu stone that is the source of her power), causing the goddess of nature to disintegrate. This allowed a volcanic demon called Te Kā to emerge and attack Maui, who disappears. After the story, Moana feels drawn to the ocean, and it gives her the heart of Te Fiti before her father finds her and ushers her away from the water.
Later, Moana’s grandmother shows her a hidden cave that reveals their ancestors were voyagers before Maui stole the heart. Her grandmother gives Moana the heart and encourages her to return it before succumbing to an illness. Maui sails beyond the reef and gets swept away by a typhoon, which takes her to the island Maui is on. He reluctantly agrees to help her. As Cravalho and Johnson lead the way, Moana is still a worldwide favorite among fans.
5. Pitch Perfect (2012)
Beca Mitchell (Anna Kendrick) — an aspiring producer — enrolls at Barden University, where she befriends fellow Freshman Jesse Swanson (Skylar Astin) and joins a women’s-only acapella group, the Barden Bellas. The Barden Bellas, led by co-leaders Aubrey Posen (Anna Camp) and Chloe Beale (Brittany Snow), perform in the International Championship of Collegiate Acapella (ICCA) Finals and score second place below their rivals — an all-male acapella group called the Barden Treblemakers, which Jesse joined.
As the two groups advance to the Semi-Finals, Beca tries to encourage the Bellas to be more daring with their performances, but Aubrey wants to play it safe. Beca decides to do an improvised rendition of “Bulletproof” in the middle of their performance, which Aubrey berates her for and then threatens to kick her out of the group for her blossoming relationship with Jesse. The stress causes Beca to quit the group, who didn’t make it to the Semi-Finals. As the Barden Bellas navigate their way through competition — and college in general — new lessons through music guide them forward.
4. Coco (2017)
A 12-year-old boy named Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) loves music, but it’s banned in his family after his great-great-uncle seemingly abandoned his wife Imelda (Alanna Ubach) and daughter — Miguel’s great-grandmother, Coco (Ana Ofelia Murguía) — for his music career. Miguel wants to enter a talent show for Día de los Muertos, especially after knocking a photo off the family ofrenda and seeing a picture of Imelda and Coco with a man holding famed singer Ernesto de la Cruz’s guitar and assumes he is his great-great-grandfather. Miguel tells the family his discovery, and his grandmother breaks his guitar, resulting in him breaking into Ernesto’s mausoleum to steal his guitar.
After taking the guitar, Miguel is able to see the dead and unable to communicate with the living — a curse for stealing from the dead.
3. Mean Girls (2024)
Cady Heron (Angourie Rice) moves back to the U.S. from Africa to attend high school after being homeschooled. Students Janis (Auli’i Cravalho) and Damian (Jaquel Spivey) take Cady under their wing and explain the school’s cliques. Regina George (Reneé Rapp), leader of the “Plastics” takes an interest in Cady and invites her to join their clique, which Janis uses to get revenge on Regina for past transgressions. Cady also becomes romantically interested in Aaron Samuels (Christopher Briney) who turns out to be Regina’s ex. While with the Plastics, Cady learns about a “burn book,” which contains cruel and obscene insults for the school’s students and staff.
Regina gets back with Aaron after finding out Cady likes him, so Janis, Damian, and Cady use various plans to ruin Regina’s reputation. Cady takes Regina’s place as “Queen Bee” and starts acting like the mean girl Regina is. Now that Cady is in new territory, she must decide whether the culture shock of high school can change her for better or worse.
2. Encanto (2021)
After the death of her husband, a magic candle gives Alma Madrigal’s (María Cecelia Botero) family “gifts,” like healing and shape-shifting, to her family on their fifth birthday. However, Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz) didn’t receive a gift when she turned five, making her the black sheep of the family alongside her estranged uncle, Bruno (John Leguizamo), who saw visions. On her youngest cousin Antonio’s (Ravi Cabot-Conyers) fifth birthday, Mirabel notices their sentient house, Casita, has cracks in its foundation, and the candle’s flame flickers.
As the magic’s strength weakens, the family’s powers go out of control, causing the family and townspeople to panic. Mirabel finds Bruno still living in the house, and he has a vision of her saving Casita and the magic by making amends with her sister, Isabela (Diane Guerrero). The two sisters find common ground, which upsets Alma, who blames Mirabel. Angry after years of being the scapegoat, Mirabel tells Alma it’s her fault for treating her and Bruno poorly.
1. Annie (2014)
Ten-year-old Annie Bennett (Quvenzhané Wallis) lives in a foster home in Harlem, Manhattan, New York with four other girls. Despite receiving poor treatment from Miss Hannigan (Cameron DIaz), Annie is cheerful and optimistic, even to the point where she waits outside a restaurant (in vain) for her parents to come get her. One day, while trying to save a Shiba Inu, Annie is almost hit by cellphone mogul and mayoral candidate Will Stacks’ (Jamie Foxx) car. The incident is caught on camera and boosts Stacks’ popularity, which encourages him to keep Annie around to keep his ratings up.
As one of the most highly regarded musicals, the 2014 film adaptation is still an iconic and memorable on-screen experience.
Official Paramount Pictures Mean Girls (2024) Trailer
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Author
Hi, I'm Haley! I recently graduated from the University of Maine at Farmington with a B.F.A. in creative writing and a B.A. in psychology. I love writing and have been doing it since I was little, with my niche being the dark and macabre in short stories and poems.
