4. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

One of only two genre films to win the Best Picture Oscar this century, Peter Jackson's epic conclusion to his Lord of the Rings trilogy is also the biggest commercial success of them and for good reason. While The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers were also nominated for Best Picture, they both came up short, leading to the almost expected triumph of The Return of the King. The film was everything you could hope for in a trilogy capper, as it not only provided a satisfying conclusion to the series, but upped the ante on virtually every cinematic element.