Fantasy Films: Top 25

image from The Wizard of Oz

Top 25 Fantasy Films These are the top 25 fantasy films of all time, as determined by aggregating multiple lists (see resources at bottom of page) and factoring in the films’ overall status in Dave’s Movie Database. In cases where more than one movie from a series ranked in the top 25 (such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy), they were consolidated into one entry. 1. The Wizard of Oz (1939) 2. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) The Two Towers (2002) The Return of the King (2003) 3. Pan’s Labyrinth (El Laberinto del Fauno) (2006) 4. The Princess Bride (1987) 5. Edward Scissorhands (1990) 6. Harry Potter: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011) 7. Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi) (2001) 8. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) 9. Mary Poppins (1964) 10. Labyrinth (1986) 11. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) Dead Man’s Chest (2006) At World’s End (2007) On Stranger Tides (2011) Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017) 12. The Never Ending Story (1984) 13. The Dark Crystal (1982) 14. Groundhog Day (1993) 15. Time Bandits (1981) 16. Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bete) (1946) 17. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) 18. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) The Desolation of Smaug (2013) The Battle of the Five Armies (2014) 19. Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983) 20. Avatar (2009) 21. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) 22. Excalibur (1981) 23. King Kong (1933) 24. The Thief of Bagdad (1940) 25. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005) Resources: Dave’s Movie Database: Genre Lists American Film Institute (2016). “Top 10 Fantasy FIlms” TheCinemaholic.com (2/5/2019). “30 Best Fantasy Movies Ever” CommonSenseMedia.org “Best Fantasy Movies” DigitalDreamDoor.com (1/24/2019). “100 Greatest Fantasy Movies” FilmsRanked.com (August 2018). “100 Greatest Fantasy Films” FlickChart.com “The Top 100 Fantasy Movies of All Time” Guinness Book of Film (1999). “The Top 100 Films by Genre Type” (includes top 5 fantasy films) HiConsumption.com (6/1/2014). “The 50 Greatest Sci-Fi/Fantasy Movies of All Time” Internet Movie Database (7/6/2012). “100 Best Fantasy Movies” Mandatory.com (12/12/2012). “The Top 25 (Other) Best Fantasy Movies Ever Made” The-Numbers.com (2019). “All Time Worldwide Box Office for Fantasy Movies” Ranker.com “The Best Fantasy Movies” RottenTomatoes.com “Best Fantasy Movies of All Time” ScreenRant.com (9/28/2018). “20 Best Fantasy Movies Ever Made, According to Rotten Tomatoes…” TasteOfCinema.com (2/12/2018). “The 25 Best Fantasy Movies of All Time” Time Out (8/22/2018). “The 50 best fantasy movies” TheTopTens.com “Greatest Fantasy Movies of All Time” TribaList.com “Best Fantasy Movies” Originally posted 9/6/2019; last updated 5/25/2023.

Musicals: Top 25

image from Singin’ in the Rain

Top 25 Musicals This is a list of the best musicals ever put on film. The list was compiled by aggregating multiple best-of lists (see resources at bottom of page) along with films’ overall status in Dave’s Movie Database. 1. Singin’ in the Rain (1952) 2. West Side Story (1961) 3. The Sound of Music (1965) 4. The Wizard of Oz (1939) 5. Grease (1978) 6. Cabaret (1972) 7. Chicago (2002) 8. Mary Poppins (1964) 9. My Fair Lady (1964) 10. Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) 11. La La Land (2016) 12. Moulin Rouge! (2001) 13. A Star Is Born (1954) 14. An American in Paris (1951) 15. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les Parapluies de Cherbourg) (1964) 16. Top Hat (1935) 17. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) 18. Guys and Dolls (1955) 19. Dreamgirls (2006) 20. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) 21. All That Jazz (1979) 22. Funny Girl (1968) 23. The Band Wagon (1953) 24. 42nd Street (1933) 25. On the Town (1949) Resources: Dave’s Movie Database: Genre Lists ABC News/People Magazine (3/22/2011). “Best in Film: The Greatest Movies of Our Time” (includes top 5 musicals) American Film Institute (2006). “25 Greatest Movie Musicals of All TIme” Ambient-Mixer.com “20 of the Best Musical Movies of All Time” Glamour magazine (7/29/2019). “Incredible movie musicals that will spark joy in your life” TheGuardian.com (12/3/2013). “Top 10 musicals” Guinness Book of Film (1999). “The Top 100 Films by Genre Type” (includes top 5 musicals) Independent.co.uk (4/6/2019). “The 20 greatest movie musicals of all time” IndieWire.com (12/15/2017). “Ranking the 20 Best Movie Musicals of All Time…” Internet Movie Database (1/25/2016). “The 57 best musical films of all time” LiveAbout.com (10/3/2017). “8 Classic Musicals You Have to See” MarieClaire.com (8/27/2019). “The 40 Best Musical Movies to Get You Singing” Newsweek (8/8/2018). “The Best Movie Musicals of All Time, According to Critics” NYTimes.com “Classic Musicals” Norman, Barry (1993). “100 Greatest Films of All Time” (includes top 10 musicals) ThePlaylist.net (1/10/2017). “The 50 Best Movie Musicals of All Time” Ranker.com “The Best Musical Movies of All Time” Reader’s Digest “The 10 Best-Ever Movie Musicals You Need to Watch Again” RottenTomatoes.com “100 Best Musical Movies of All Time” TeenVogue.com (2/15/2018). “The 30 Best Movie Musicals for Teens” TheTopTens.com “Best Musical Movies of All Time” Time Out (3/30/2016). “The 30 best musical movies of all time” Vulture.com (4/2/2018). “The 25 Best Golden-Age Movie Musicals” WhatCulture.com (7/22/2018). “10 Greatest Ever Musical Movies” Originally posted 9/2/2019; last updated 5/25/2023.

50 years ago: Mary Poppins, the “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious musical fantasy,” released

Mary Poppins Released: August 26, 1964 Studio: Disney Genre: musical/fantasy/comedy Box Office (numbers in millions): Domestic: 102.27 Worldwide: -- Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: 887.80 Worldwide: 1511.80

Directing: Robert Stevenson Screenwriting: Bill Walsh, Don DaGradi Starring: Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke Review: “This supercalifragilisticexpialidocious musical fantasy” A07 “is proof of how childhood films can be a wonderful salve as you grow into an adult.” RF “There’s charm, wit, and movie magic to spare in Walt Disney’s adaptation of P.L. Travers’s book about a ‘practically perfect’ nanny who brings profound change to the Banks family of London, circa 1910.” LM The movie “introduced Andrews to film history as the magical nanny who…arrives at the home of Jane and Michael Banks via umbrella and teaches them that a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.” A07 Dick Van Dyke “is equally good as Bert, the whimsical jack of all trades). That’s Jane Darwell, in her last screen appearance, as the bird lady.” LM Sources: A07 American Film Institute (2007). “AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies – 10th Anniversary Edition” LM Leonard Maltin “100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century” RF Refinery29.com (2/8/2023). “101 Best Movies of All Time” by Alexandra Koster

Awards/Honors/Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Lists: Box Office: Awards: Oscars: Wins: 5 – Best Actress (Andrews), Best Film Editing, Best Special Visual Effects, Best Original Song (“Chim Chim Cher-ee”), Best Substantially Original Score Nominations: 13 – including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Art/Set Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Sound, Best Scoring of Music Lists: Experts’ Picks: Genre Lists: First posted 6/11/2023.

   

Top Movies of the 1960s

This page offers lists of the top movies of the decade as determined by two different metrics. The first list is based on box office and the second is based on critics’ picks.

Box Office: Top 25 of the 1960s These are the top 25 movies of the decade as determined by worldwide box office gross adjusted for inflation. The first number indicates dollars made in millions. See sources for box office figures here.

1) The Sound of Music (1965) 2) Doctor Zhivago (1965) 3) 101 Dalmatians (1961) 4) The Jungle Book (1967) 5) Mary Poppins (1964) 6) The Graduate (1967) 7) Thunderball (1965) 8) Goldfinger (1964) 9) Cleopatra (1963) 10) How the West Was Won (1962) 11) West Side Story (1961) 12) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) 13) The Guns of Navarone (1961) 14) You Only Live Twice (1967) 15) From Russia with Love (1963) 16) My Fair Lady (1964) 17) Dr. No (1962) 18) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) 19) The Dirty Dozen (1967) 20) Lawrence of Arabia (1962) 21) It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) 22) Swiss Family Robinson (1960) 23) Tom Jones (1963) 24) Bonnie and Clyde (1967) 25) Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)

Critics’ Picks: Top 25 of the 1960s These are the top 25 movies of the decade as determined by a combination of the movies’ ratings points and awards points.

1) Lawrence of Arabia (1962) 2) West Side Story (1961) 3) The Sound of Music (1965) 4) Psycho (1960) 5) The Apartment (1960) 6) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) 7) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) 8) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) 9) The Graduate (1967) 10) To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) 11) My Fair Lady (1964) 12) Bonnie and Clyde (1967) 13) The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966) 14) Midnight Cowboy (1969) 15) A Man for All Seasons (1966) 16) Mary Poppins (1964) 17) Doctor Zhivago (1965) 18) In the Heat of the Night (1967) 19) The Hustler (1961) 20) The Wild Bunch (1969) 21) 8 ½ (Otto e Mezzo) (1963) 22) Tom Jones (1963) 23) The Sweet Life (La Dolce Vita) (1960) 24) Once Upon a Time in the West (C’era Una Volta il West) (1968) 25) Persona (aka “Masks”) (1966)

Resources: Dave’s Movie Database: Eras Dave’s Movie Database: Movies of the Year Dave’s Movie Database: Box Office Dave’s Movie Database: Awards Page Dave’s Movie Database: Ratings Page Originally posted 3/8/2025.