The 53 Greatest Universal Pictures Films of All Time

Black-and-white monsters, Best Picture winners and summer blockbusters all carry the same spinning globe; in between hide cult oddities that flopped first and found their fans later.

1. 1
   Back to the Future

   Robert Zemeckis's 1985 time-travel comedy with Michael J. Fox and a DeLorean.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Jaws

   Steven Spielberg's 1975 shark thriller, the film that invented the summer blockbuster.
   945pts
3. 3
   Born on the Fourth of July

   Oliver Stone's 1989 biopic of Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic, played by Tom Cruise.
   750pts
4. 4
   Midnight Run

   The 1988 buddy road comedy pairing bounty hunter Robert De Niro with Charles Grodin.
   725pts
5. 5
   Harvey

   The 1950 comedy with James Stewart and his invisible six-foot rabbit friend.
   688pts
6. 6
   All Quiet on the Western Front

   Lewis Milestone's 1930 anti-war epic, Universal's first Best Picture winner.
   688pts
7. 7
   Animal House

   The 1978 National Lampoon fraternity comedy with John Belushi.
   688pts
8. 8
   Oppenheimer

   Christopher Nolan's 2023 biopic of the atomic bomb's architect, winner of seven Oscars.
   665pts
9. 9
   Apollo 13

   Ron Howard's 1995 dramatization of NASA's crippled moon mission, starring Tom Hanks.
   646pts
10. 10
    The Blues Brothers

    John Landis's 1980 musical comedy about Jake and Elwood on a mission from God.
    646pts
11. 11
    Despicable Me

    The 2010 Illumination animated hit that introduced Gru and the Minions.
    601pts
12. 12
    The Sting

    The 1973 Best Picture winner reuniting Paul Newman and Robert Redford as Depression-era con men.
    600pts
13. 13
    E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

    Spielberg's 1982 tale of a boy and a stranded alien, once the highest-grossing film ever.
    557pts
14. 14
    Wicked

    Jon M. Chu's 2024 screen adaptation of the Broadway musical about the witches of Oz.
    549pts
15. 15
    Casino

    Martin Scorsese's 1995 Las Vegas mob epic with Robert De Niro and Sharon Stone.
    549pts
16. 16
    The Breakfast Club

    John Hughes's 1985 teen drama about five students in Saturday detention.
    549pts
17. 17
    Scarface

    Brian De Palma's 1983 crime saga with Al Pacino as Miami drug lord Tony Montana.
    549pts
18. 18
    The Deer Hunter

    Michael Cimino's 1978 Vietnam War drama and Best Picture winner, starring Robert De Niro.
    491pts
19. 19
    Erin Brockovich

    Steven Soderbergh's 2000 legal drama that won Julia Roberts the Best Actress Oscar.
    491pts
20. 20
    Love Actually

    Richard Curtis's 2003 ensemble Christmas romance set across London.
    491pts
21. 21
    Get Out

    Jordan Peele's 2017 social-horror debut, winner of the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
    491pts
22. 22
    12 Monkeys

    Terry Gilliam's 1995 time-travel thriller with Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt.
    491pts
23. 23
    A Beautiful Mind

    Ron Howard's 2001 Best Picture winner about mathematician John Nash.
    491pts
24. 24
    Creature from the Black Lagoon

    The 1954 3-D monster movie about a gill-man lurking in the Amazon.
    491pts
25. 25
    Brazil

    Terry Gilliam's 1985 dystopian satire of a bureaucratic nightmare state.
    491pts
26. 26
    The Invisible Man

    James Whale's 1933 H.G. Wells adaptation with Claude Rains as the unseen madman.
    491pts
27. 27
    Imitation of Life

    Douglas Sirk's 1959 melodrama about two mothers and their daughters, a landmark on race.
    426pts
28. 28
    Children of Men

    Alfonso Cuaron's 2006 dystopia set in a world where no child has been born for 18 years.
    426pts
29. 29
    Babe

    The 1995 Australian-made family film about a pig who wants to herd sheep.
    426pts
30. 30
    Jurassic Park

    Spielberg's 1993 dinosaur adventure that set a new bar for CGI effects.
    426pts
31. 31
    Touch of Evil

    Orson Welles's 1958 border-town noir, famous for its long opening tracking shot.
    426pts
32. 32
    Coal Miner's Daughter

    The 1980 Loretta Lynn biopic that won Sissy Spacek the Best Actress Oscar.
    426pts
33. 33
    The Wolf Man

    The 1941 horror film that made Lon Chaney Jr. the tragic werewolf Larry Talbot.
    426pts
34. 34
    Charade

    Stanley Donen's 1963 Paris-set romantic thriller with Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn.
    351pts
35. 35
    Fast Times at Ridgemont High

    Amy Heckerling's 1982 high-school comedy featuring Sean Penn's stoner Spicoli.
    351pts
36. 36
    Notting Hill

    The 1999 romantic comedy about a London bookseller and a Hollywood star.
    351pts
37. 37
    American Graffiti

    George Lucas's 1973 coming-of-age cruise through one last summer night in 1962.
    351pts
38. 38
    The Bourne Identity

    The 2002 spy thriller that launched Matt Damon's amnesiac assassin franchise.
    351pts
39. 39
    1917

    Sam Mendes's 2019 First World War thriller staged to look like one continuous shot.
    351pts
40. 40
    Bride of Frankenstein

    James Whale's darkly witty 1935 sequel, often rated above the original.
    351pts
41. 41
    Out of Africa

    Sydney Pollack's 1985 Best Picture winner with Meryl Streep as Karen Blixen in Kenya.
    351pts
42. 42
    Frankenstein

    James Whale's 1931 horror classic with Boris Karloff as the Monster.
    265pts
43. 43
    To Kill a Mockingbird

    The 1962 Harper Lee adaptation with Gregory Peck's Oscar-winning Atticus Finch.
    265pts
44. 44
    Bridesmaids

    The 2011 Kristen Wiig comedy about a maid of honour whose life falls apart.
    265pts
45. 45
    Spartacus

    Stanley Kubrick's 1960 Roman epic with Kirk Douglas leading a slave revolt.
    265pts
46. 46
    The Thing

    John Carpenter's 1982 Antarctic body-horror classic, a flop on release turned cult landmark.
    265pts
47. 47
    The Birds

    Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 thriller in which flocks of birds turn on a seaside town.
    265pts
48. 48
    Dracula

    Tod Browning's 1931 vampire film starring Bela Lugosi, the start of Universal's monster cycle.
    164pts
49. 49
    Shadow of a Doubt

    Hitchcock's 1943 small-town noir, which he often called his favourite of his own films.
    164pts
50. 50
    Do the Right Thing

    Spike Lee's 1989 portrait of a scorching Brooklyn day boiling over into unrest.
    164pts
51. 51
    The Mummy (1999)

    Stephen Sommers's 1999 adventure remake with Brendan Fraser battling a cursed priest.
    164pts
52. 52
    Field of Dreams

    The 1989 baseball fantasy with Kevin Costner building a ballpark in an Iowa cornfield.
    0pts
53. 53
    Schindler's List

    Spielberg's 1993 Holocaust drama, winner of seven Academy Awards including Best Picture.
    0pts

Comments