In most theaters, the rooms are inevitably occupied by whatever big-budget tentpole movies are being promoted by major studios that month. Theseso-called “blockbusters"of modern cinema are specially designed to do one thing: give audiences a spectacle. For the most part, this is achieved using computer-generated imagery, or CGI.
However, as the following films will show, you don’t have to havefancy CGI in a moviefor it to be successful. The secret is it has to look good. However, we should clarify that no film today is released without some sort of CGI. It’s just impossible. We narrowed down the following list to films with almost no CGI, or at least no apparent shots where you can see CGI in the VFX shots. These are recent blockbusters gutsy enough to be produced with almost no CGI.
10Barbie (2023)
Box Office Earnings: $1.4 Billion
Read our Review
Greta Gerwig’s mammoth-like adaptation of the Mattel toy concept narrates what happens inside Barbieland. Things are pretty standard and pink in the toyland until Stereotypical Barbie begins having second thoughts about her purpose. This takes her to the human realm alongside Ken, and when they learn the reality of our world, things fall out of balance in the plastic world of Barbieland.
Needless to say,Barbieis one of the most successful films in recent history. Flocks of people invaded theaters in 2023 to get a glimpse at an exceptional adaptation that no one expected.
Of course, one of the highlights ofBarbiewas the recreation of Barbieland. After the trailers, the public was instantly hooked as Gerwig’s vision seemed real and tangible. Yes, the film has some CG, but the set pieces have a solid combination of VFX and practical effects that is mindblowing.
If the film hadn’t gone for this practical effects direction, chances are it wouldn’t have been as weirdly compelling as it was. Curiously, this trait of basic CGI isshared with Barbie’s opponentduring 2023 and the film that comes next on the list.
9Oppenheimer (2023)
Box Office Earnings: $976.2 Million
Oppenheimer
Read our ReviewChristopher Nolan’sOppenheimeris the biographical war drama that follows the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist behind the creation of the nuclear bomb during World War II.
The film narrates the scientist’s navigation through the military system in America during their quest to be superior to every other nation that participated in the conflict. But it also explores Oppenheimer’s fall from grace after he was chased for having a different line of thought that didn’t match the government’s. The film gave Nolan his first Best Director Oscar (as well as Best Picture) and was one of the most critically acclaimed films of 2023.
The film is divisive in terms of howit fits in the career of a directorwho we have always associated with science fiction, action, and thrillers. But the scale ofOppenheimeris as grand as always. The film is an ambitious journey that paid off in the end because it was highly successful compared to its massive budget. And as usual, Nolan stayed away from CGI effects, even in the sequences that could have worked with technology servicing the crew.
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8Joker (2019)
Box Office Earnings: $1 Billion
Todd Phillips’Jokerfollows Arthur Fleck, a stand-up comedian and former clown who’s trying to survive this gritty and corrupt version of Gotham City. The year is 1981, and social turmoil seems to be the rule. Fleck’s mental health is deteriorating, and eventually,his mind “switches” to create a personawho will lead a revolution in the streets. This is the birth of a monster, wonderfully portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix in an Academy Award-winning performance.
Jokeris one of two comic book films on the list. While this one features a villain arc as the main story, both are “special” examples of the subgenre because the superhero world is famously filled with CGI.
Phillips' film gets rid of all the rules of the DCEU, the genre, and even the conventional elements of a crime thriller. Instead, he explores a deteriorated mind and soul, who happens to be Batman’s eventual arch nemesis.
The film was an exception to the rule of comic book films based on a CGI backdrop that makes everything bigger, louder, and more spectacular. This one insists on being dark, claustrophobic, and almost fuzzy. It was the first R-rated movie to go over $1 billion at the box office (Oppenheimertried to top it but couldn’t).
7Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood (2019)
Box Office Earnings: $377.6 Million
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
InOnce Upon a Time…in Hollywood, a former Hollywood star sees his career slowly fade out during the late 1960s. Rick Dalton was once a highly coveted actor whose latest roles are restricted to occasional TV performances. Only his friend and stunt double remains by his side. While Dalton is forced to accept the direction of the last part of his career, something is brewing in the streets of Los Angeles amidst the glamour of movies: Charles Manson and his family are planning their hit.
Quentin Tarantino’s latest film has beenhis most sober and intimateto date. However, this doesn’t mean people didn’t go to see it. It’s Tarantino’s second most successful film at the global box office.
After severing ties with The Weinstein Company, Tarantino witnessed a bidding war that Sony Pictures ultimately won as they became distributors and partners in Tarantino’s usually bizarre business requirements. As usual, the black sheep of Hollywood did not use CGI to portray Hollywood in the past and instead went for an ambitious production design and cinematography.
61917 (2019)
Box Office Earnings: $384.6 Million
Sam Mendes'1917is a profound war film that takes viewers on a first-person ride through the trenches in World War I. Will Schofield is a British soldier who’s assigned a mission during Operation Alberich: he must deliver a message to a colonel to prevent a scheduled attack.
Such an attack would prevent more than a thousand soldiers from entering a territory where they would be massacred by the Germans. Will’s journey is ambitious, but he won’t stop until he reaches his destination.
The winner of three Academy Awards in 2020 is one of thebest war filmsmade in recent times. Mendes' audiovisual style forced viewers into a first-hand experience that’s both beautiful and terrifying. Carefully planned long takes and the sense of claustrophobia in wide open spaces made the film a groundbreaking epic that dethronedThe Rise of Skywalkerfrom the top spot at the box office.
While it won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects, the key was the balance between VFX and the cinematography by Roger Deakins (who also won the Oscar), which gave the film an eerie and nightmarish look.
5Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Top Gun: Maverick
Tom Cruise returns as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, and keeps pushing the envelope as a seasoned aviator for the Navy in this sequel to the original Top Gun film.
Top Gun: Maverick, the long-awaited sequel to the 1986 hit, takes viewers on a nostalgia-driven journey where Maverick is forced to look back at his past. Leading a group of young pilots to carry out a dangerous mission, flying jet fighters prodigiously,Maverickwill have to revisit the trauma where he lost his best friend, Goose. He will have to train Goose’s son, Rooster, an erratic but potentially genius pilot in theTop Gunprogram.
The legacy sequelwas famously known as the blockbuster that saved Hollywood in the post-pandemic era of theaters.Top Gun: Maverickmade audiences flock to theaters, seeking the Tom Cruise element that would deliver an action experience like no other.
To date, it’s Cruise’s most successful film at the box office, and the man did it with an action epic whose gimmicks are based on stunts and not only on VFX shots that put the audience in the middle of the action. The jet fighter sequences are nothing short of extraordinary.
4Tenet (2020)
Box Office Earnings: $365.9 Million
Tenet, by sci-fi visionary Christopher Nolan, is his most complex film to date. It tells the story of a CIA agent who gets recruited by Tenet, a secret organization that’s trying to retrieve objects that “go backward in time.” Eventually, he discovers a much larger conspiracy related to an attack that will take place at some point, although referring to time as linear inTenetis… questionable.
The film was divisive among fans of Nolan’s filmmaking because it was released during the pandemic, and it started Nolan’s loud conflict with Warner Bros. Yes, it was a successful film. Still, it could have made much more if COVID-19 hadn’t changed how we attended theaters in 2020.
It has some of thebest visual effects in Nolan’s catalog, and it won the Oscar in 2021 for its complicated use of editing and VFX. Nolan has said that there are fewer CGI shots in this filmthan in your average romcom.
3The Batman (2022)
Box Office Earnings: $772.2 Million
The Batman
Batman is forced to investigate the city’s hidden corruption and question his family’s involvement when The Riddler starts killing key political figures. Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz and Paul Dano star.
Read our ReviewIn Matt Reeves’The Batman, Gotham City is a city different from the one we saw in the past, as depicted by Nolan, Burton, and others. Instead, this revival of the masked vigilante puts him in a much more vulnerable spot as he’s still learning how to cope with the demons of his past and the current corrupt state of his family ties.
However, this isn’t Bruce Wayne’s only issue. A new serial killer is causing havoc in town. The Riddler usually leaves messages in the crime scenes he creates, and they’re all addressed to Batman.
Reeves' gritty adaptation of the caped superhero isone of the best neo-noir filmsin recent years. It was a big swing attempt at doing something different with the character, and the results were more than acceptable.
The box office in 2022 was shaken by the film, which turned out to be the highest-grossing serial killer film of all time. Some of the movie’s most spectacular scenes, includingthe Batmobile driving through a huge fiery explosion, were done without the aid of CGI.
2Knives Out (2019)
Box Office Earnings: $312.9 Million
Knives Out
Rian Johnson’s murder mysteryKnives Outfollows the investigation by private detective Benoit Blanc of a very suspicious death. Author Harlan Thrombey has been found dead, and though everything points to death by suicide, Blanc thinks otherwise. He starts digging deep into the dynamics of a suspicious family whose members distrust each other and discovers that not everything is as it seems.
Reminiscent of an Agatha Christie novel, this is one of the best mystery films in recent decades.
Johnson’s quest to make an ensemble cast film paid off in the end, but the film was less successful in America than in territories like China and Europe.Knives Outwas successful enough, both from the critics' and the audience’s perspective, tospawn a franchisethat’s still going. And that is something truly unique for a murder mystery-themed dark comedy.
Of course, CGI is a mere resource in this genre, and chances are Johnson didn’t exactly spend too much on VFX shots. This is a film about its characters following a very clever script (which was nominated for an Academy Award).
1Civil War (2024)
Box Office Earnings: $114.1 Million
Alex Garland’sCivil Waris a fictional war film in which the United States of America is more divided than ever. As the President tries to hold himself in a position that doesn’t exactly fit “democracy,” a group of war photographers tries their best to interview him. To achieve this, they will have to cross the entire country on roads infested by every faction of a divided and violent nation.
The film is A24’s most successful film to date. It drove audiences to theaters amidstcontroversy related to many things: it’s apolitical, it’s anti-war, and it’s revealing.Civil Warsimply shows a version of America that some don’t connect with. However, the box office results were more than great. It doesn’t feature a vulgar display of CGI, although the third act bends this rule a little bit with a harrowing invasion of the White House that looks fake, albeit terrifying.
