Popular movies from few years ago you don't hear much about

I feel that hardly anything has a long shelf life these days. The current thing is movie of the moment, not the movie that'll hang on. Especially with the Covid-based rise of streaming in the last couple of years. The more surprising thing these days is a movie that does remain the point of conversations several years after its release. But as you yourself mention in a lot of ways it's all based on personal perceptions anyway.

Echoing thoughts from posts above, I act surprise when nowadays a movie finds relevance and a life on its own as they've become less and less meaningful to the culture, the importance faded, now is niche and varies a lot depending on the circles we navigate. The oscars are the perfect example of this, can't recall if it was in the NY/LA Times who made a survey to 5k entertainment consumers about the nominated movies, except for Dune, every other title had less than 40% of awareness, Power of the Dog 20%, Coda had 14%... a bit off topic, but that's the reason why I thought this was the worst ceremony I've ever seen, the studios and media coverage around it is overwhealming but the show itself now looks like an ancient ritual, a hollow and narcissistic spectacle, in restrospect barely anyone on the stage knew what was at play, only Kevin Costner... maybe ? to then receive a reprimand by Jane Campion and her uninspiring speech. 
 

I think actually another root cause for this isn't what people are watching in terms of films (obviously there are still big boxoffice hits), but actually the fact that shared pop-culture is so much smaller now. That is you don't get the same reinforcement from tv shows referencing movies, because people don't as frequently watch the same shows when there were a more limited amount of channels. The popculture shorthand between people just as a whole has become a whole lot less present.

Well kinda but I mean....what movies from the 2010s can you see being an all time classic? I can see maybe Inception, Fury Road, The Master, The Wolf of Wall Street but it's a shorter list than the 00s where I can name many.

Even Drive imo which is going to be a classic (at a certain level at least) but I dont think most people will say its Taxi Driver, The Godfather, Heat or the multiple Pacino/DeNiro classics. I can see an argument with The Social Network but I think the film itself sometimes feel biopic-ish and not the definitive Fincher hardcore joint like Se7en, Fight Club or Zodiac.

I think mass content is a reason but I dont think cinephiles latch onto as many cinematic juggernauts as they did in the 00s, 90s or 70s. But I think the ultimate finger you have to point to is Hollywood for not releasing the best final product because it doesn't feel like the golden age of cinema right now. The rise of Television might be a reason too, for pushing movies to the back a little. In the 00s, undoubtedly i preferred movies by a gaping distance (only a few really great shows). In the 2010s, I cant imagine anyone ever forgetting Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad for instance, and those are just a few examples.

For a movie that made 2 billion dollars and is getting four sequels, I don't think I've heard a thing about Avatar in 12 years or that it's made any sort of cultural impact.

Thought of Moonlight right when I saw this thread. All you heard about was how "important" it was when it won but I haven't thought about since that year's Oscars. Conversely I think people do remember La La Land and it's one that feels like a future classic so I don't think the Academy made a great choice there.

Avatar is another one that made all that money but it hasn't been on anybody's mind in years. Not sure what that means for the sequels. Even at the time it did not feel like as big of a "phenomenon" as The Dark Knight from the previous year despite making more money.

Guess there is a generational thing at play here because Moonlight is still exceedingly popular with Millennials and Gen Z. In my age range especially (early 20s) I constantly hear from people just discovering it for the first time and absolutely adoring it. It's also taught in film classes aaaaaaaall the time now. Ditto Get Out. 

To answer the question, though, I think we could be here all day, basically nothing outlives its initial popularity anymore and it feels especially true of 90% of the big Oscar movies of the last 10+ years. To me maybe the most interesting example is American Sniper which was the highest grossing film of its year domestic (still shocking tbh) but has absolutely no cultural relevancy anymore. Bohemian Rhapsody is another one that was a massive commercial and Oscars success that no one seems to care about anymore beyond cinephile memes/Film Twitter punching bag. But again -- maybe a generational thing -- I wouldn't be too surprised if some Gen X-ers and Boomers still cared about that stuff. 

Pretty much. And to be fair, I kind of liked Gravity when it came out too and was happy for it's success when it was released. But it's hard for me, to tell where it would rate among his (Cuaron) resume and popular movies of the early 2010's. But yeah, Children of Men might be a serious contender in the long run though for Cuaron best known movie and one I should watch again soon.

Yea JangoB pretty much nailed it. Only stuff that can really outlive its first few months of initial release is what can live on in the form of memes like Joker, Uncut Gems or the latest “Ryan Gosling as socially awkward incel” joint for example

I'm in my early 20's too, and I never hear people talking about Moonlight.

The play adaptation of the source novel may have won the Olivier, but that has nothing to do with the 2012 Ang Lee film. And who's really paying attention to the Oliviers; aside from it and Cabaret, can you name any of the other winners without looking? And will people remember that in a year's time?