The incredible resurgence of the fantasy genre, which began in the 1980s and gathered steam in the 1990s, exploded in the 00s.

Nowhere is this more obvious than in the amazing success of The Lord of the Rings movie franchise, the three movies of which were all released this decade:  The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002), and The Return of the King (2003).

By any measure, the movies were an unparalleled success. Together, they make up the most financially successful movie trilogy of all time, grossing almost  $3 billion worldwide and beating out both Star Wars trilogies (although the original Star Wars trilogy out-grosses Rings when adjusted for inflation).

The films received rave reviews, and currently hold a cumulative 94% “fresh” on the RottenTomatoes.com compilation of film reviews — an extraordinary rating for a single film, much less three.

The films were nominated for 30 Academy Awards and won 17 — the most for any trilogy and another extraordinary achievement, especially given that all three films were nominated for Best Picture. The Return of the King ties the record (with Ben-Hur) for the most awards won by a single movie (11).

Even so, plenty of movie critics were somehow able to convince themselves to ignore the obvious in their own “best of the decade” lists — probably due to a combined suspicion of both massive box office success and genre projects in general.

But early in December, Entertainment Weekly acknowledged the truth, naming the movies the Best of the Decade.

Interestingly, in other end-of-the-decade news, Harry Potter dominated the bestselling book list for the decade, holding six of the top ten spots. Fantasy (in the form of the Twilight books) holds three of the other ten slots, with a fantasy-esque book, The Da Vinci Code, holding the last spot.

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