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
Philip French 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 (United) 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 (Syriana, Good Night, and Good Luck, The New World) or very personal (Little Miss Sunshine, Little Children, The Squid and the Whale). 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:

Box office records

 * Sony Pictures grossed more than US$3 billion in annual worldwide box office revenue for the first time in its history.
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest became the third film in cinema history to gross over $1 billion and is the 35th highest-grossing film of all time.

By country/region

 * List of American films of 2006
 * List of Argentine films of 2006
 * List of Australian films of 2006
 * List of Bangladeshi films of 2006
 * List of Bengali films of 2006
 * List of Bollywood films of 2006
 * List of Brazilian films of 2006
 * List of British films of 2006
 * List of French films of 2006
 * List of Hong Kong films of 2006
 * List of Italian films of 2006
 * List of Japanese films of 2006
 * List of Kannada films of 2006
 * List of Malayalam films of 2006
 * List of Mexican films of 2006
 * List of Pakistani films of 2006
 * List of Russian films of 2006
 * List of South Korean films of 2006
 * List of Spanish films of 2006
 * List of Tamil films of 2006
 * List of Telugu films of 2006

By genre/medium

 * List of action films of 2006
 * List of animated feature films of 2006
 * List of avant-garde films of 2006
 * List of crime films of 2006
 * List of comedy films of 2006
 * List of drama films of 2006
 * List of horror films of 2006
 * List of science fiction films of 2006
 * List of thriller films of 2006

Births

 * March 1 - Julian Grey, American actor
 * April 20 - Kailia Posey, American actress and reality television show contestant (died 2022)
 * April 22 - Nathanael Saleh, English actor
 * April 28 - Kiawentiio, Canadian-American actress
 * April 29 - Xochitl Gomez, American actress
 * May 6 - Aryan Simhadri, American actor
 * May 22 - Mattea Conforti, American actress
 * June 25 – Mckenna Grace, American actress
 * June 29 - Sam Lavagnino, American voice actor and YouTuber
 * July 8 – Isabella Sermon, English actress
 * July 12 – Kevin Vechiatto, Brazilian actor
 * August 5 - Elle McKinnon, Canadian actress
 * September 7 - Ian Chen, American actor
 * September 12 - Alexander Molony, British actor
 * September 17 - Ella Jay Basco, American actress
 * October 1 - Priah Ferguson, American actress
 * October 5 – Jacob Tremblay, Canadian actor
 * December 6 - Millie Davis, Canadian actress
 * December 9 - Pixie Davies, English actress
 * December 18 - Malia Baker, Canadian actress

Film debuts

 * Dianna Agron – When a Stranger Calls
 * Moisés Arias – Nacho Libre
 * Dave Bautista – Relative Strangers
 * Leïla Bekhti – Sheitan
 * Mario Casas – Summer Rain
 * Justin Chon – Fleetwood
 * Common – Smokin' Aces
 * Ana de Armas – Virgin Rose
 * Scott Eastwood – Flags of Our Fathers
 * Verónica Echegui – My Name Is Juani
 * Greta Fernández – Fiction
 * Greta Gerwig – LOL
 * Bill Hader – Doogal
 * Rebecca Hall – Starter for 10
 * Scott Haze – Danny Roane: First Time Director
 * Kellan Lutz – Stick It
 * Deepika Padukone – Aishwarya
 * Ben Platt - Red Riding Hood
 * Imogen Poots – V for Vendetta
 * Andrea Riseborough – Venus
 * Xavier Samuel – 2:37
 * Léa Seydoux – Girlfriends
 * Olivia Thirlby – United 93
 * Tessa Thompson – When a Stranger Calls
 * Adriana Ugarte – Doghead
 * Mia Wasikowska – Suburban Mayhem