History EndOfAnAge / RealLife

*** 2004: The failure of ''WesternAnimation/HomeOnTheRange'', which forced Disney to abandon 2D animation after the failure of the film, and the box office successes of ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'', which became the highest-grossing film that year, and Pixar's ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles1''. Additionally, the underperformance of ''Anime/YuGiOhThePyramidOfLight'' lead to Creator/FourKidsEntertainment no longer putting any anime films to American theaters or having a hand in producing any future films.

*** 2004: The failure of ''WesternAnimation/HomeOnTheRange'', which forced Disney to abandon 2D animation after the failure of the film, and the box office successes of ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'', which became the highest-grossing film that year, and Pixar's ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles1''.

** The close of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII in 1945 (and the freeing of various formerly "conquered" and "settled" territories) marked the end of Fascism and Imperialism. Decolonization became a watchword, and when taken together with rebellion and revolution in the Empires of Britain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Portugal the 1970s saw a world without military-political colonialism (so-called 'economic colonialism' is another matter) and geographically large empires.

*** The War also helped further the decline of European monarchies, as the Italian, Yugoslavian, Romanian, and Bulgarian thrones were abolished within the next few years, the latter three seeing Communist governments rise in their place. It also led to the Emperor of Japan becoming a symbolic figurehead.

** [[MediaNotes/SwitchToColor Color television sets]] began to outnumber black-and-white sets for the first time in the mid-1970s. Analogue color broadcasting would itself be superseded by digital in the 21st century (see below).

* The original cancellation of Creator/{{Toonami}} in 2008 is considered to be the end point of the 1990s [[MediaNotes/TheJapaneseInvasion anime boom]]. While other animation blocks with a focus on Japanese animation existed before and since, the Creator/CartoonNetwork run of ''Toonami'' is the second longest-lasting of these (only surpassed by its own revival on Creator/AdultSwim) and is credited for giving a large number of action anime mainstream exposure before the advent of streaming sites such as Website/{{Crunchyroll}}, due to being on a general family channel rather than a NicheNetwork.[[note]]Granted, "animation-only" is still a niche, but a less restricting one than, say, Creator/{{Syfy}}'s (then Sci-Fi Channel)... [[AnimationAgeGhetto in theory]], anyway.[[/note]]

** The probable final nail in the coffin of boxing as a mainstream sport is the rise of "gimmick" bouts, such as Mayweather's one-sided bout against MMA fighter Conor [=McGregor=] and his exhibition match against Website/YouTube celebrity Creator/LoganPaul (who prior to their match also fought fellow [=YouTuber=] Creator/{{KSI}} in two highly-publicized matches, one amateur match and a professional rematch). These are rapidly making the sport a laughing stock and driving away fans looking to see legitimate bouts between good fighters.

* With Series/CurbYourEnthusiasm ending in 2024 marks the end of a Creator/{Larry David} -led comedy series airing on TV, that began with Series/{Seinfeld} back in 1989.

* With Series/CurbYourEnthusiasm ending in 2024 marks the end of a Creator/Larry David -led comedy series airing on TV, that began with Series/{Seinfeld} back in 1989.

** The critical and financial failure of 1980's ''Film/HeavensGate'' killed two eras. First was the era when Creator/UnitedArtists was an independent studio, as it led to its sale to Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer a year later. The second thing it killed, along with the rise of the blockbuster, was the UsefulNotes/NewHollywood era, as its bad publicity from its TroubledProduction led studios to be more weary of giving directors the AuteurLicense.

* UsefulNotes/{{DVD}}s were invented in 1996, but by 2006, they had made the VHS format completely obsolete. The last mainstream film to be released on VHS to the public was ''Film/AHistoryOfViolence'', while the last film to hit VHS overall was ''WesternAnimation/Cars1''. And while [=DVDs=] are still in use today, DVD has strong competition from other services like Blu-Ray and streaming.
* The original cancellation of Creator/{{Toonami}} in 2008 is considered to be the end point of the 1990s [[UsefulNotes/TheJapaneseInvasion anime boom]]. While other animation blocks with a focus on Japanese animation existed before and since, the Creator/CartoonNetwork run of ''Toonami'' is the second longest-lasting of these (only surpassed by its own revival on Creator/AdultSwim) and is credited for giving a large number of action anime mainstream exposure before the advent of streaming sites such as Website/{{Crunchyroll}}, due to being on a general family channel rather than a NicheNetwork.[[note]]Granted, "animation-only" is still a niche, but a less restricting one than, say, Creator/{{Syfy}}'s (then Sci-Fi Channel)... [[AnimationAgeGhetto in theory]], anyway.[[/note]]

* In 2001, both Microsoft and Apple, the two remaining competitors in the UsefulNotes/ComputerWars, released new versions of their operating systems that abandoned the legacy OS technologies both of them had been using since the introduction of the original Platform/IBMPersonalComputer and Platform/AppleMacintosh in the early 1980s.

** In a way, the NewWaveOfBritishHeavyMetal movement of the late 70s/early 80s served as the last time that the UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom would serve as the main player in RockMusic and HeavyMetal, a position it held since UsefulNotes/TheBritishInvasion. While the UK would later go on to host the main scenes of Oi![=/=]StreetPunk, D-Beat[=/=]Crust Punk, {{Grindcore}} (at least for a little while), and {{Britpop}}, it would never again be so central to Rock as a whole as it was in TheSixties/[[TheSeventies Seventies]]. (One could make an argument that British bands have had a disproportionate influence on IndieRock, but that's sort of its own thing.)

* The launch of the Platform/Nintendo64 in 1996 marked the end of Creator/{{Nintendo}}'s 13-year dominance in the home console industry. The Platform/NintendoEntertainmentSystem was a smash hit in the US and Japan, dominating the video game industry in [[MediaNotes/The8BitEraOfConsoleVideoGames its era]], and while the Platform/TurboGrafx16 and Platform/SegaGenesis provided stiff competition in Japan and the west, respectively, during the early 90s, Nintendo's own Platform/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem ultimately outsold both, and they seemed poised to continue that streak in the second half of the decade. However, a combination of obtuse technology and old grudges caused the vast majority of Nintendo's third-party support to jump ship to the [=PlayStation=], giving the latter a much more vibrant and active library that allowed it to outsell the N64 and secure Creator/{{Sony}}'s place as the leading console maker for the next ten years.