Oceans

For Earth Day, we celebrate our 10 favorite eco-friendly films

By Diane Vadino
Special to MSN Movies

For what may only seem like an eternity, Hollywood "green" has meant just one thing: money at the box office. Green, which is to say environmentally-themed, films have in the ... morepast largely fallen into one of two equally unappealing categories: apocalyptic Earth-revenge thrillers with an environmental message added queasily to the mix (think "Armageddon"), or dour documentaries meant to educate rather than entertain.

Lately, though, these two strains have come together, with occasionally spectacular results. James Cameron made box-office history with "Avatar," a film so persuasive in its depiction of the bucolic, planet-worshipping paradise Pandora that support groups have sprung up around the Internet for audience members distraught that Pandora is not, in fact, a real place. "The Cove," meanwhile, turned a little-known, real-life horror off the Japanese coastline into a thrilling, Oscar-winning documentary. These are the film-world analogs to a recently heightened interest in green issues throughout entertainment: "Planet Earth" and its follow-up, "Life," brought must-see eco-TV to the Discovery Channel; Jessica Biel climbed Kilimanjaro alongside Lupe Fiasco to raise awareness of climate change; and Demi Lovato and Joe Jonas have sung in support of Disney's eco-initiative, Project Green.

Now that green themes have proven to be money-makers, you can be sure Hollywood is looking for its next "Avatar." (You know, besides the real next "Avatar"; that sequel, very potentially starring series originals Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana and Sigourney Weaver, is equally tentatively scheduled to shoot in the Amazon.) The latest film to exploit -- er, explore -- this trend is Disney's "Oceans," which the studio is billing as "an unprecedented look beneath the sea" that "boldly chronicles the mysteries that lie beneath." It's not by accident that the film's release date is April 22, Earth Day.

For further proof that green is now entertainment gold, look no further than these 10 eco-friendly films, with several billion in box office, nearly a half-dozen Oscars, and one (almost two) vice presidents among them.