The 40 most popular 2000s music movies, ranked. Click any film for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


9 Songs
2004 · 1h 10m
country: United Kingdom
Matt, a young glaciologist, soars across the vast, silent, icebound immensities of the South Pole as he recalls his love affair with Lisa. They meet at a mobbed rock concert in a vast music hall - London's Brixton Academy. They are in bed at night's end. Together, over a period of several months, they pursue a mutual sexual passion whose inevitable stages unfold in counterpoint to nine live-concert songs.


The School of Rock
2003 · 1h 50m
country: United States
Fired from his band and hard up for cash, guitarist and vocalist Dewey Finn finagles his way into a job as a fifth-grade substitute teacher at a private school, where he secretly begins teaching his straight-A students the finer points of rock 'n' roll and the power of sticking it to the man. But as the school’s stern principal closes in and the Battle of the Bands looms, Dewey must risk everything to prove that rock 'n' roll can change lives.


Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
2009 · 1h 29m
country: United States
Pop sensations Alvin, Simon and Theodore end up in the care of Dave Seville's twenty-something nephew Toby. The boys must put aside music super stardom to return to school, and are tasked with saving the school's music program by winning the $25,000 prize in a battle of the bands. But the Chipmunks unexpectedly meet their match in three singing chipmunks known as The Chipettes - Brittany, Eleanor and Jeanette. Romantic and musical sparks are ignited when the Chipmunks and Chipettes square off.


Almost Famous
2000 · 2h 4m
country: United States
In 1973, a precocious 15-year-old aspiring rock journalist lands a dream assignment from Rolling Stone to tour with a rising rock band, embarking on a coming-of-age journey as he discovers the exhilarating and heartbreaking realities behind rock stardom.


8 Mile
2002 · 1h 51m
country: Germany
For Jimmy Smith, Jr., life is a daily fight just to keep hope alive. Feeding his dreams in Detroit's vibrant music scene, Jimmy wages an extraordinary personal struggle to find his own voice - and earn a place in a world where rhymes rule, legends are born and every moment… is another chance.


Coyote Ugly
2000 · 1h 40m
country: United States
Graced with a velvet voice, 21-year-old Violet Sanford heads to New York to pursue her dream of becoming a songwriter only to find her aspirations sidelined by the accolades and notoriety she receives at her "day" job as a barmaid at Coyote Ugly. The "Coyotes" as they are affectionately called tantalize customers and the media alike with their outrageous antics, making Coyote Ugly the watering hole for guys on the prowl.


Walk the Line
2005 · 2h 16m
country: Germany
A chronicle of country music legend Johnny Cash's life, from his early days on an Arkansas cotton farm to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis, where he recorded alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.


Step Up
2006 · 1h 44m
country: United States
Delinquent Tyler Gage receives the opportunity of a lifetime after vandalizing a performing arts school, gaining him the chance to earn a scholarship and dance with up-and-coming dancer Nora.


The Chorus
2004 · 1h 37m
country: France
In 1940s France, a new teacher at a school for disruptive boys gives hope and inspiration.


August Rush
2007 · 1h 54m
country: United States
Evan, a musically gifted orphan, runs away from his orphanage and searches New York City for his birth parents. On his journey, he's taken under the wing of the Wizard, a homeless man who lives in an abandoned theater. After discovering his talent, the Wizard gives Evan the name "August Rush" and devises a plan to profit from his talent. Little does Evan know that his parents, Lyla and Louis, are searching for him too.


Ray
2004 · 2h 32m
country: United States
Born on a sharecropping plantation in Northern Florida, Ray Charles went blind at seven. Inspired by a fiercely independent mom who insisted he make his own way, He found his calling and his gift behind a piano keyboard. Touring across the Southern musical circuit, the soulful singer gained a reputation and then exploded with worldwide fame when he pioneered coupling gospel and country together.


Fantasia 2000
2000 · 1h 14m
country: United States
Blending lively music and brilliant animation, this sequel to the original 'Fantasia' restores 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' and adds seven new shorts.


Step Up 2: The Streets
2008 · 1h 38m
country: United States
When rebellious street dancer Andie West lands at the elite Maryland School of the Arts, she finds herself fighting to fit in while also trying to hold onto her old life. When she joins forces with the school's hottest dancer, Chase Collins, to form a crew of fellow outcasts to compete in Baltimore's underground dance battle The Streets.


Moulin Rouge!
2001 · 2h 8m
country: Australia
A celebration of love and creative inspiration takes place in the infamous, gaudy and glamorous Parisian nightclub, at the cusp of the 20th century. A young poet, who is plunged into the heady world of Moulin Rouge, begins a passionate affair with the club's most notorious and beautiful star.


Music and Lyrics
2007 · 1h 44m
country: United States
A washed-up '80s pop star gets a chance at a comeback when reigning pop diva Cora Corman invites him to write & record a duet with her, but there's a problem--Alex hasn't written a song in years; he's never written lyrics and he has to come up with a hit in a matter of days.


Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny
2006 · 1h 33m
country: United States
In Venice Beach, naive Midwesterner JB bonds with local slacker KG and they form the rock band Tenacious D. Setting out to become the world's greatest band is no easy feat, so they set out to steal what could be the answer to their prayers... a magical guitar pick housed in a rock-and-roll museum some 300 miles away.


Drumline
2002 · 1h 58m
country: United States
A talented street drummer from Harlem enrolls in a Southern university, expecting to lead its marching band's drumline to victory. He initially flounders in his new world, before realizing that it takes more than talent to reach the top.


High School Musical
2006 · 1h 38m
country: United States
A popular high school athlete and an academically gifted girl get roles in the school musical and develop a friendship that threatens East High's social order.


Hannah Montana: The Movie
2009 · 1h 42m
country: United States
When Miley Stewart (aka pop-star Hannah Montana) gets too caught up in the superstar celebrity lifestyle, her dad decides it's time for a total change of scenery. But sweet niblets! Miley must trade in all the glitz and glamour of Hollywood for some ol' blue jeans on the family farm in Tennessee, and question if she can be both Miley Stewart and Hannah Montana.


Dreamgirls
2006 · 2h 10m
country: United States
A trio of female soul singers cross over to the pop charts in the early 1960s, facing their own personal struggles along the way.


The Soloist
2009 · 1h 57m
country: France
A Los Angeles journalist befriends a homeless Juilliard-trained musician, while looking for a new article for the paper.


Camp Rock
2008 · 1h 34m
country: United States
When Mitchie gets a chance to attend Camp Rock, her life takes an unpredictable twist, and she learns just how important it is to be true to yourself.


Honey
2003 · 1h 34m
country: United States
Honey Daniels dreams of making a name for herself as a hip-hop choreographer. When she's not busy hitting downtown clubs with her friends, she teaches dance classes at a nearby community center in Harlem, N.Y., as a way to keep kids off the streets. Honey thinks she's hit the jackpot when she meets a hotshot director casts her in one of his music videos. But, when he starts demanding sexual favors from her, Honey makes a decision that will change her life.


This Is It
2009 · 1h 51m
country: United States
A compilation of interviews, rehearsals and backstage footage of Michael Jackson as he prepared for his series of sold-out shows in London.


High Fidelity
2000 · 1h 53m
country: United Kingdom
After his long-time girlfriend dumps him, a thirty-year-old record store owner seeks to understand why he is unlucky in love while recounting his "top five breakups of all time".


Billy Elliot
2000 · 1h 51m
country: France
County Durham, England, 1984. The miners' strike has started and the police have started coming up from Bethnal Green, starting a class war with the lower classes suffering. Caught in the middle of the conflict is 11-year old Billy Elliot, who, after leaving his boxing club for the day, stumbles upon a ballet class and finds out that he's naturally talented. He practices with his teacher Mrs. Wilkinson for an upcoming audition in Newcastle-upon Tyne for the royal Ballet school in London.


Get Rich or Die Tryin'
2005 · 1h 56m
country: United States
A tale of an inner city drug dealer who turns away from crime to pursue his passion, rap music.


Stomp the Yard
2007 · 1h 54m
country: United States
After the death of his younger brother, a troubled 19-year-old street dancer from Los Angeles is able to bypass juvenile hall by enrolling in the historically black, Truth University in Atlanta, Georgia. But his efforts to get an education and woo the girl he likes are sidelined when he is courted by the top two campus fraternities, both of which want and need his fierce street-style dance moves to win the highly coveted national step show competition.


Another Cinderella Story
2008 · 1h 32m
country: Canada
A guy who danced with what could be the girl of his dreams at a costume ball only has one hint at her identity: the Zune she left behind as she rushed home in order to make her curfew. And with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in front of him, he sets out to find his masked beauty.


La Vie en Rose
2007 · 2h 20m
country: Czech Republic
From the mean streets of the Belleville district of Paris to the dazzling limelight of New York's most famous concert halls, Edith Piaf's life was a constant battle to sing and survive, to live and love. Raised in her grandmother's brothel, Piaf was discovered in 1935 by nightclub owner Louis Leplee, who persuaded her to sing despite her extreme nervousness. Piaf became one of France's immortal icons, her voice one of the indelible signatures of the 20th century.


Save the Last Dance
2001 · 1h 53m
country: United States
After the death of her mother, Sara moves to the South Side of Chicago to live with her father and gets transferred to a majority-black school. Her life takes a turn for the better when befriends Chenille and her brother Derek, who helps her with her dancing skills.


I'm Not There
2007 · 2h 15m
country: Germany
Six actors portray six personas of music legend Bob Dylan in scenes depicting various stages of his life, chronicling his rise from unknown folksinger to international icon and revealing how Dylan constantly reinvented himself.


Take the Lead
2006 · 1h 58m
country: United States
A former professional dancer volunteers to teach dance in the New York public school system and, while his background first clashes with his students' tastes, together they create a completely new style of dance. Based on the story of ballroom dancer, Pierre Dulane.


Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
2008 · 1h 29m
country: United States
Nick cannot stop obsessing over his ex-girlfriend, Tris, until Tris' friend Norah suddenly shows interest in him at a club. Thus begins an odd night filled with ups and downs as the two keep running into Tris and her new boyfriend while searching for Norah's drunken friend, Caroline, with help from Nick's band mates. As the night winds down, the two have to figure out what they want from each other.


Taking Woodstock
2009 · 2h
country: Taiwan
The story of Elliot Tiber and his family, who inadvertently played a pivotal role in making the famed Woodstock Music and Arts Festival into the happening that it was. When Elliot hears that a neighboring town has pulled the permit on a hippie music festival, he calls the producers thinking he could drum up some much-needed business for his parents' run-down motel. Three weeks later, half a million people are on their way to his neighbor’s farm in White Lake, New York, and Elliot finds himself swept up in a generation-defining experience that would change his life–and American culture–forever.


Cadillac Records
2008 · 1h 49m
country: United States
The story of sex, violence, race and rock and roll in 1950s Chicago, and the exciting but turbulent lives of some of America's musical legends, including Muddy Waters, Leonard Chess, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James and Chuck Berry.


Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
2007 · 1h 36m
country: United States
Following a childhood tragedy, Dewey Cox follows a long and winding road to music stardom. Dewey perseveres through changing musical styles, an addiction to nearly every drug known and bouts of uncontrollable rage.


Rock Star
2001 · 1h 45m
country: United States
A wannabe rock star who fronts a Pennsylvania-based tribute band is devastated when his bandmates kick him out of the group he founded. Things begin to look up for Izzy when he is asked to join Steel Dragon, the heavy metal rockers he had been imitating for so long. This film is loosely based on the true story of the band Judas Priest.


Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King
2008 · 1h 15m
country: United States
Scooby-Doo and Shaggy must go into the underworld ruled by The Goblin King in order to stop a mortal named The Amazing Krudsky who wants power and is a threat to their pals: Fred, Velma, and Daphne.


Crazy Heart
2009 · 1h 52m
country: United States
When reporter Jean Craddock interviews Bad Blake—an alcoholic, seen-better-days country music legend—they connect, and the hard-living crooner sees a possible saving grace in a life with Jean and her young son.
The 2000s ran on digital transition: DV cameras democratized production while CGI reached the point of photorealism. It's also when the fantasy epic and the modern superhero film established their commercial dominance.
Music films cover concert documentaries, biopics, and musicals — anything where performance drives the picture. The genre lives or dies on whether the filmmaking can match the energy of the sound.