2006 in film


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. Pixar celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2006 with the release of its 7th film, Cars.

Evaluation of the year

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 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 or very personal. 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:
RankTitleDistributorWorldwide gross
1Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's ChestBuena Vista$1,066,179,725
2The Da Vinci CodeSony$760,006,945
3Ice Age: The Meltdown20th Century Fox$660,998,756
4Casino RoyaleSony / MGM$606,099,584
5Night at the Museum20th Century Fox$574,480,841
6CarsBuena Vista$461,983,149
7X-Men: The Last Stand20th Century Fox$460,435,291
8Mission: Impossible IIIParamount$398,479,497
9Superman ReturnsWarner Bros.$391,081,192
10Happy FeetWarner Bros.$384,335,608

Box office records

Awards

Palme d'Or :
Golden Lion :
'''Golden Bear :'''

2006 films

By country/region

MonthDateNameAgeCountryProfessionNotable films
January2Osa Massen91DenmarkActress
January2John Woodnutt81UKActor
January5Mark Roberts84USActor
January7Jim Zulevic40USActor
January12Stu Linder74USFilm Editor
January12Norris Spencer62UKProduction Designer
January14Shelley Winters85USActress
January19Anthony Franciosa77USActor
January21Robert Knudson80USSound Engineer
January23Joseph M. Newman96USDirector
January24Fayard Nicholas91USActor, Dancer, Choreographer
January24Chris Penn40USActor
January25Moss Mabry87USCostume Designer
January27Paul Valentine86USActor
January28Henry McGee77UKActor
January31Moira Shearer80UKActress, Dancer
February1Roy Alon63UKStuntman
February3Walerian Borowczyk82PolandDirector, Screenwriter
February3Jean Byron80USActress
February3Al Lewis82USActor
February5Franklin Cover77USActor
February6Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez80USActor
February8Akira Ifukube91JapanComposer
February9Phil Brown89USActor
February13Andreas Katsulas59USActor
February14Darry Cowl80FranceActor
February18Richard Bright64USActor
February19Erna Lazarus102USScreenwriter
February21Richard Snell50USMakeup Artist
February24Don Knotts81USActor
February24Dennis Weaver81USActor
February25Darren McGavin83USActor
March1Peter Sykes66AustraliaDirector
March1Jack Wild53UKActor
March2Phyllis Huffman61USCasting Director
March7John Junkin76UKActor
March7Gordon Parks93USDirector
March8Rhoda Williams75USActress
March12Joseph Bova81USActor
March13Maureen Stapleton80USActress
March16Moira Redmond77UKActress
March17Bob Papenbrook50USVoice Actor
March18Michael Attwell63UKActor
March25Richard Fleischer89USDirector
March29Henry Farrell85USScreenwriter
March29Gretchen Rau66USSet Decorator, Art Director
March31Candice Rialson54USActress
April4Gary Gray69USActor
April9Vilgot Sjöman82SwedenDirector
April13Jacques Maumont81FranceSound Engineer
April17Henderson Forsythe88USActor
April22Alida Valli84ItalyActress
April23Susan Browning65USActress
April23Jennifer Jayne74UKActress, Screenwriter
April29Alberta Nelson68USActress
May1Jay Presson Allen84USScreenwriter
May1Betsy Jones-Moreland76USActress
May4Michael Taliferro44USActor
May7Tanis Chandler81FranceActress
May10Val Guest94UKDirector, Screenwriter
May14Paul Marco78USActor
May21Katherine Dunham96USDancer
May24Henry Bumstead91USArt Director, Production Designer
May27Barbara Cohen53USCasting Director
May27Paul Gleason67USActor
May29Katarína Kolníková85SlovakiaActress
May30Shōhei Imamura79JapanDirector, Screenwriter
May30Robert Sterling88USActor
June8Robert Donner75USActor
June10Gerald James88UKActor
June12Hugh Latimer75UKActor
June10Monty Berman92UKProducer, Director, Cinematographer
June16Arthur Franz86USActor
June18Vincent Sherman99USDirector
June18Richard Stahl74USActor
June23Aaron Spelling83USProducer, Actor
June25Kenneth Griffith84UKActor
July2Jan Murray89USActor
July3Jack Smith92USActor
July5Amzie Strickland87USActress
July6Kasey Rogers80USActress
July8June Allyson88USActress
July9Chris Drake82USActor
July11Barnard Hughes90USActor
July12Kurt Kreuger89GermanyActor
July12Loredana Nusciak64ItalyActress
July13Red Buttons87USActor
July1951FRFrench voice actor
July19Jack Warden85USActor
July20Robert Cornthwaite89USActor
July21Mako72JapanActor
July27Johnny Weissmuller Jr.65USActor
July28Patrick Allen79MalawiActor
August4John Alderson90UKActor
August7Lois January92USActress
August13Tony Jay73UKVoice Actor, Actor
August14Bruno Kirby57USActor
August16Alan Vint61USActor
August19Sig Shore87USProducer, Director
August25Ann Richards88AustraliaActress
August25Joseph Stefano84USScreenwriter
August29Bill Stewart63UKActor
August30Glenn Ford90CanadaActor
August31William Aldrich61USProducer, Actor
September4Steve Irwin44AustraliaWildlife Expert, Actor
September4Fernando Siro74ArgentinaActor, Director
September5Hilary Mason89UKActress
September7Robert Earl Jones96USActor
September8Frank Middlemass87UKActor
September9Gérard Brach79FranceDirector, Screenwriter
September9Herbert Rudley96USActor
September11Pat Corley76USActor
September14Mickey Hargitay80HungaryActor
September14Johnny Sekka72SenegalActor
September14Virginia Vale86USActress
September19Elizabeth Allen77USActress
September20Sven Nykvist83SwedenCinematographer
September22Edward Albert55USActor
September23Malcolm Arnold84UKComposer
September24Sally Gray91UKActress
September24Tetsurō Tamba84JapanActor
September26Lionel Murton91UKActor
September28Hy Pyke70USActor
October2Frances Bergen84USActress
October2Tamara Dobson59USActress
October4Tom Bell73UKActor
October9Danièle Huillet70FranceDirector
October10Jerry Belson68USScreenwriter, Producer
October12Gillo Pontecorvo86ItalyDirector, Screenwriter
October15Derek Bond86UKActor
October16Jack DeLeon81USActor
October16Tommy Johnson71USMusician
October19James Glennon64USCinematographer
October19Phyllis Kirk79USActress
October20Jane Wyatt96USActress
October21Peter Barkworth77UKActor
October21Daryl Duke77CanadaDirector
October21Milton Selzer87USActor
October22Arthur Hill84CanadaActor
October22Richard Mayes83UKActor
October29Roy Barnes70USSet Designer, Art Director
October29Nigel Kneale84UKScreenwriter
October31William Franklyn81UKActor
November1Adrienne Shelly40USActress, Director
November2Leonard Schrader62USScreenwriter
November2Milly Vitale73ItalyActress
November8Basil Poledouris61USComposer
November9Wayne Artman69USSound Engineer
November9Marian Marsh93TrinidadActress
November10Diana Coupland74UKActress
November10Jack Palance87USActor
November11Ronnie Stevens81UKActor
November14John Hallam65UKActor
November16Ernest Day79UKCinematographer, Director
November16Eustace Lycett91UKSpecial Effects Artist
November19Jeremy Slate80USActor
November20Robert Altman81USDirector, Screenwriter
November20Kevin McClory80IrelandProducer
November23Betty Comden89USScreenwriter, Lyricist
November23Philippe Noiret76FranceActor
November24Phyllis Cerf90USActress
November27Alan Freeman79AustraliaActor
November30Shirley Walker61USComposer, Orchestrator
December1Sid Raymond97USActor, Voice Actor
December4Adam Williams84USActor
December5Michael Gilden44USActor
December5Gerry Humphreys74UKSound Engineer
December5Van Smith61USCostume Designer, Makeup Artist
December8Martha Tilton91USSinger, Actress
December9Russell Wade89USActor
December12Ivor Barry87UKActor
December12Peter Boyle71USActor
December14Hallie D'Amore64USMakeup Artist
December18Joseph Barbera95USAnimator, Director, Producer
December20John Bishop77USScreenwriter
December21Lois Hall80USActress
December22Philip Pine86USActor
December23Charlie Drake81UKActor
December25James Brown73USSinger, Actor
December30Frank Campanella87USActor