***Completed***
Something I love to do personally is make ranked lists of genres, years, countries, directors, etc. It's just a hyperinterest of mine. And so, what I've decided I want to start doing is that, every year, I want to put a bit of a focus on certain genres so that by the end of the year, I can be familiar enough with that genre to make such a ranked list.
And so, for 2025: Musicals! I grew up with a lot of musicals, in particular Disney animated ones as well as classic early musicals, but I haven't reviewed nearly enough here on Letterbox. And so, I intend to watch 52 new musicals so by the end of the year,…
***Completed***
Something I love to do personally is make ranked lists of genres, years, countries, directors, etc. It's just a hyperinterest of mine. And so, what I've decided I want to start doing is that, every year, I want to put a bit of a focus on certain genres so that by the end of the year, I can be familiar enough with that genre to make such a ranked list.
And so, for 2025: Musicals! I grew up with a lot of musicals, in particular Disney animated ones as well as classic early musicals, but I haven't reviewed nearly enough here on Letterbox. And so, I intend to watch 52 new musicals so by the end of the year, I can make a Top 100 Musicals List. For fun. Anyone is free to join but this is really just for my own personal interest.
I particularly used the following two megalists for references:
I L<3E Musicals!
Ultimate List of Every Movie Musical
For those who would prefer, in previous years, I created challenge lists for the following genres instead:
Westerns
Documentaries
As for the rules:
1. Please tag the lists and reviews with either "annual genre challenge 2025" or "agc2025"
2. The films must be a musical. There is no tag for musicals on Letterbox and the term can be subjective, so it really is up to personal preference how that is decided., For my part, I'm using films that feature a soundtrack of diagetic music that plays a significant role in the plot.
3. The films can be watched in any order.
4. The films must be first time watches. Whole point of the challenge is to be better familiarized with each theme.
And the Challenges!
1. A musical from the year you were born.
2. A 1920's Musical (ULOEMM, ILM)
3. A 1930's Musical (ULOEMM, ILM)
4. A 1940's Musical (ULOEMM, ILM)
5. A 1950's Musical (ULOEMM, ILM)
6. A 1960's Musical (ULOEMM, ILM)
7. A 1970's Musical (ULOEMM, ILM)
8. A 1980's Musical (ULOEMM, ILM)
9. A 1990's Musical (ULOEMM, ILM)
10. A 2000's Musical (ULOEMM, ILM)
11. A 2010's Musical (ULOEMM, ILM)
12. A 2020's Musical (ULOEMM, ILM)
13. An Animated Musical (ULOEMM, ILM)
14. A Romance Musical (ULOEMM, ILM)
15. A Comedy Musical (ULOEMM, ILM)
16. A Horror Musical (ULOEMM, ILM)
17. A Historical Musical (ULOEMM, ILM)
18. A Western Musical (ULOEMM, ILM)
19. A Fantasy Musical (ULOEMM, ILM)
20. A Science-Fiction Musical (ULOEMM, ILM)
21. A TV Movie Musical (ULOEMM, ILM)
22. A Music Biopic (MUSIC BIOPICS, Rolling Stone's 30 Best Music Biopics, Music Biopics)
23. Starring Elvis Presley
24. Directed by Stanley Donen
25. Music by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin
26. Choreographed by Busby Berkeley
27. Starring Fred Astaire and/or Ginger Rogers
28. Directed by Vincente Minnelli
29. Music by Irving Berlin
30. Choreographed by Bob Fosse
31. Starring Maurice Chevalier
32. Directed by Jacques Demy
33. Music by Harry Warren
34. Choreographed by Saroj Khan
35. MGM Musical
36. Jukebox Musical (Put Another Dime In The Jukebox, Baby | Jukebox Musicals, shoehorn/jukebox musicals, Jukebox Musicals
37. Broadway Adaptation
38. Musical Remake of non-musical films
39. Bollywood Musical (BFI list: 10 greatest Bollywood musicals, Greatest Indian Musicals)
40. Soviet Musical (Soviet Musical Comedies, soviet musicals!)
41. Rotten Tomatoes 100 Best Musicals of All Time
42. IMDB Top 100 Musical Movies
43. Esquire's 16 Best Movie Musicals of All Time
44. IndieWire's 50 Best Movie Musicals of All Time, Ranked
45. AFI's 25 Greatest Movie Musicals of All Time
46. Oscar Nominated Musical
47. Golden Globe Nominees for Best Musical/Comedy
48. From the National Film Registry
49. From the Criterion Collection
50. Included on the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die List
51. Included on the They Shoot Pictures Don't They List
52. Any Off Watchlist
Progress: 52/52
Participants:
Nick Atkins//Mara 🦋//sulienyx//Germano Dutra Jr//devi123//SoRefined//Gemma//Carlos (Hache)//k swizzle 🎄//Charcastrology✨//Georgi_al🦋//evilchachouuu
This challenge took from January 5, 2025 to September 21, 2025. The average score I gave for this challenge was a 3.8.
The biggest surprise was Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. I will be honest and say the premise of the film, being a musical based off of the rape of the Sabine women was not something to actually enjoy, and yet it's so colorful and lively and fun that I just can't help but love it. The biggest disappointment was In the Good Old Summertime. I love Judy Garland and went out of my way to include two Garland films here, hoping I'd love them both. I did not but this one was definitely the weaker of the two.
Top Three:
1. Hellzapoppin
2. Annette
3. Man of La Mancha
Bottom Three:
1. Change of Habit
2. The Muppets' Wizard of Oz
3. Glorifying the American Girl
Other Superlatives:
Best Performances: Adam Driver in Annette/Dakota Fanning in The Runaways
Worst Performances: Van Johnson in In the Good Old Summertime/Ashanti in The Muppets' Wizard of Oz
Most Beautiful: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Most Thought-Provoking: Song to Song
Made Me Cry: Annette
Most Fun: Hellzapoppin'
Best Music: Pink Floyd - The Wall
Best Song: Sympathy for the Abyss from Annette
