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List of movies that have been considered the greatest ever

This is a partial list of films that have been regarded as the greatest ever. The objective is not to resolve the question of the greatest ever movie - the one thing that film commentators do agree on is that it is impossible to have a single answer to that question. The important criteria for inclusion in this list is that the film is the "greatest" by some specific measure - be it a critics poll, popular poll, box office receipts or awards.

Films acclaimed by critics and filmmakers

• Citizen Kane: Influential critic Roger Ebert has stated that he considers it the best film ever; selected as number one for the last 40 years in (five consecutive wins) Sight & Sound's poll of film critics. Number one in a Village Voice critics' poll. Number one in a Time Out critics poll in 1995. Listed as greatest film ever by the American Film Institute in 1998.
• La Règle du Jeu (The Rules of the Game): French masterpiece by Jean Renoir. Number two in the Village Voice poll. Along with Battleship Potemkin, one of only two films to have appeared in every one of Sight and Sound's 10-yearly polls (six occurrences).
• Броненосец Потёмкин (Battleship Potemkin) : for many years generally considered the greatest film ever; voted as such by a panel of experts at the 1958 World's Fair.
• Ladri di Biciclette (The Bicycle Thief): voted top film in a Sight & Sound magazine poll in 1952.
• The Searchers: Most often mentioned favorite film in a poll of directors by German language steadycam magazine.

Films acclaimed in audience polls

• The Godfather: has long stood atop IMDb's list of the top 250 films. Also voted number one by Entertainment Weekly readers. Number one in a Time Out Readers' poll in 1995.
• The Godfather Part II: often considered better than the original; voted best film ever by TV Guide readers in 1998.
• Casablanca: widely cited as the greatest film of all time and voted as such by readers of the Los Angeles Daily News in 1997; also regarded the "best Hollywood movie of all time" by the influential Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide.
• Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope: By readers of Empire magazine in November 2001. Also by voters in a FilmFour poll.

Films that have received the most Academy Awards

• Ben-Hur (1959 version): Held record for the most Academy Awards ever (11 Oscars) for 38 years
• Titanic: Winner of 11 Academy Awards.
• The Return of the King: The third film in the Lord of the Rings trilogy won 11 Academy Awards

Biggest box office successes

• Gone With the Wind: nine Academy Awards, National Film Registry, when adjusted for inflation is still the highest grossing film ever.
• Titanic: Currently the highest grossing film ever, 1997-current.

• • Prior highest-grossing films:
    • The Godfather: Highest-grossing film of all time, 1972-1975
    • Jaws: Highest grossing of all time, 1975-1977
    • Star Wars: Highest grossing of all time, 1977-1982
    • E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: Highest grossing of all time, 1982-1993
    • Jurassic Park: Highest grossing of all time, 1993-1997

Films that are considered among the greatest in their particular genre:

• Animation (North American)
  • Beauty and the Beast is the only animated film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, a decade prior to the Academy establishing a separate Best Animated Feature category.
  • The Lion King (1994) is the highest-grossing "traditional" (hand-drawn) animated film of all time; it was the highest-grossing animated film ever until being surpassed in 2003 by the computer animated film Finding Nemo.

• Anime (Japanese animation)
  • アキラ - Akira: 1988 Katsuhiro Otomo film, long considered the pinnacle of Japanese animation by many anime and non-anime fans alike, is one of the most well-known anime films and was chosen as the top anime ever by Anime Insider in fall 2001.
  • 千と千尋の神隠し(Spirited Away): 2001 Hayao Miyazaki film, the highest grossing movie in Japanese history, and the only movie to earn $250M before its US release. Voted best animated movie by IMDb users and the first anime film to win an Academy Award.

• Comedy
  • Some Like It Hot was listed Best Comedy by the American Film Institute in June 2000.
  • Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is listed as Best Comedy by the IMDb's list of Top Rated "Comedy" Titles.

• Computer Animation
  • Shrek (2001) was the first film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, a category introduced in 2002.
  • Shrek 2 (2004) is the highest grossing animated film of all time, computerized or not.
  • Finding Nemo (2003) was the first computer-generated motion picture to outgross The Lion King as the highest-grossing animated film of all time, until it was surpassed the next year by Shrek 2.

• Disaster
  • The Poseidon Adventure was voted best disaster movie in a consumer poll commissioned by UCI cinemas in May 2004.

• Documentary
  • Bowling for Columbine: Documentary by Michael Moore, relating gun control and the fear culture in the United States. This was the highest grossing documentary film in history, until Moore's next documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 outgrossed it in its three day opening weekend in June 2004. Bowling for Columbine heads the list of 20 all-time favorite non-fiction films selected by members of the International Documentary Association (IDA).

• Epic
  • Lawrence of Arabia Voted best epic by readers of Total Film in May 2004; also voted "best British film of all time" in August of 2004 by a London Sunday Telegraph poll of Britain's leading filmmakers.

• Horror -- Thriller
  • Psycho: Alfred Hitchcock classic is considered the most important horror film of all time. Voted the best horror film by IMDb users. Tops AFI?s list of the 100 most thrilling American films.
  • Halloween: The original slasher was voted best horror film of all time by readers of SFX magazine in June 2004.

• Religious
  • The Passion of the Christ, highest grossing film on a religious theme

• Science Fiction
  • 2001: A Space Odyssey, a popular and influential film directed by Stanley Kubrick. The highest ranked science fiction film (#11) on the Village Voice 100 Best films of the 20th century list; selected by the late Gene Siskel as his choice of the best film ever.

• War
  • Saving Private Ryan considered the best and most accurate portrayal of World War II combat ever by revered historian Stephen Ambrose, who acted as military advisor.

• Western
  • The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is listed as Best Western by the IMDb's list of Top Rated "Western" Titles.

In particular countries

• Canada
  • Toronto International Film Festival and again at the 1993 and 2004 festivals named this the greatest Canadian film of all time.
  • Genie Awards with 13.

• France
  • Les Enfants du Paradis (Children of Paradise): Voted "Best French Film of the Century" in a poll of 600 French critics and professionals in the late 1990s.
  • La Règle du Jeu (The Rules of the Game): see films acclaimed by critics and filmmakers.

• Japan:
  • 羅生門 - Rashōmon: This 1950 film by Akira Kurosawa was the first Japanese film to gain world-wide acclaim. The highest ranked Japanese film (#10) on the Village Voice list of 100 Best Films of the 20th Century.
  • 七人の侍 - Shichinin no samurai (The Seven Samurai), 1954: Also by Kurosawa, this adventure film is frequently cited as the greatest Japanese film ever; consistently the highest-rated foreign-made (outside of the United States) film on the IMDb Top 250 (ranked #5 as of August 2004).

• United Kingdom:
  • The Third Man: Voted best British film ever by members of the British Film Institute in 1999.

• United States:
  • Citizen Kane: voted the best American film ever by the American Film Institute

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See also

• List of movie-related topics
• List of movies that have been considered the worst ever

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Lists of great films

• List of films preserved in the United States National Film Registry
• AFI List of top 100 American movies