Below is a ranked list of 100 films that have had the greatest influence on film history, considering their technical innovations, narrative breakthroughs, cultural impact, and legacy in the industry. The list spans international cinema and a variety of genres (drama, sci-fi, horror, animation, comedy, documentary, etc.).
Often cited as the greatest film ever made, Orson Welles’s masterpiece revolutionized cinematic technique (e.g. deep focus, innovative camera angles) and storytelling, inspiring countless directors.
D.W. Griffith’s epic introduced groundbreaking film techniques (cross-cutting, close-ups, feature-length narrative) that became industry standards. Despite its racist content, its impact on Hollywood’s cinematic language is undeniable.
George Lucas’s space epic transformed Hollywood, establishing the modern blockbuster template with unprecedented box-office success and pioneering special effects. It reoriented the industry toward visual spectacle and expansive franchise universes.
A Technicolor fantasy landmark that dazzled audiences, setting a standard for fantasy-adventure movies. Its imaginative world, iconic songs, and characters remain deeply influential in pop culture.
Stanley Kubrick’s visionary sci-fi epic expanded what was possible in cinematic storytelling and visual effects, inspiring films from Star Wars to Blade Runner. Its ambitious, abstract narrative influenced how movies can tackle grand philosophical themes.
Sergei Eisenstein’s silent film perfected the art of montage editing to evoke emotion. The famous Odessa Steps sequence has inspired countless movie scenes, illustrating how rhythmic cutting intensifies drama.
The first feature-length talkie, it ended the silent-film era overnight. Its success revolutionized filmmaking and acting, as sound became a permanent fixture in cinema.
Fritz Lang’s German expressionist epic is considered the most influential science fiction film ever made, inspiring the look and themes of countless later sci-fi works with its towering futuristic cityscape and humanoid robot.
Francis Ford Coppola’s crime saga elevated gangster films to high art with epic storytelling and complex characters, redefining the mob genre and influencing virtually every subsequent mafia movie.
Walt Disney’s breakthrough as the first full-length cel-animated feature, it proved animated movies could be commercially successful and emotionally engaging, launching the animated feature film industry.
Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller shattered conventions with brutal twists (including the famous shower scene) and is considered the first slasher movie, revolutionizing horror by focusing on terror within ordinary individuals.
Steven Spielberg’s suspenseful shark thriller is widely seen as the first modern summer blockbuster, pioneering nationwide wide-release marketing and reorienting Hollywood toward high-concept, event-style films.
Georges Méliès’s short film is the first significant science fiction movie, famous for innovative special effects (the rocket-in-the-moon’s-eye shot) and demonstrating cinema’s potential for fantasy storytelling.
Edwin S. Porter’s 12-minute silent film is a milestone in narrative cinema, pioneering cross-cutting, dynamic action, and establishing the Western as a viable genre.
A massive Technicolor epic and the highest-grossing film for decades, it set new standards for production scale and popular appeal, showcasing the power of large-scale romantic storytelling in Hollywood.
A quintessential Hollywood classic mixing romance, drama, and wartime intrigue. Its memorable dialogue and archetypal characters have been endlessly referenced, demonstrating the enduring power of smart scripting and star power.
Akira Kurosawa’s epic about ronin defending a village established the action team-up genre and influenced countless Westerns, war films, and superhero team-ups with its structure of assembling heroes and orchestrating grand battles.
Kurosawa’s film introduced the narrative device of multiple, conflicting viewpoints of the same event (the “Rashomon effect”), challenging audiences to question subjective truth and influencing countless later films and TV shows.
Vittorio De Sica’s Italian neorealist classic focused on ordinary people’s struggles with unprecedented emotional realism, influencing generations of filmmakers worldwide to tell authentic, ground-level human stories.
A pioneering horror movie of German Expressionism, it used distorted sets and a twist ending to create an eerie atmosphere that heavily influenced film noir, horror, and stylized cinema.
A stark, realistic depiction of WWI’s trench warfare, it set the template for anti-war films and left a significant mark on how war’s brutality was portrayed in cinema.
David Lean’s expansive historical epic pushed the boundaries of location shooting and 70mm cinematography, influencing the visual ambition of countless grand-scale films that followed.
Alfred Hitchcock’s hypnotic thriller pioneered the “dolly zoom” effect and later topped Sight & Sound’s poll as the greatest film ever, influencing psychological thrillers and film noir style.
Jean Renoir’s ensemble drama was initially a flop but later hailed as a masterpiece; its intricate staging, overlapping dialogue, and social satire influenced multi-character ensemble films to come.
Charlie Chaplin’s silent comedy-romance is widely regarded as his finest achievement, blending slapstick with poignant emotion and showing how pure visual storytelling could touch audiences.
Pioneered stop-motion animation and big-screen spectacle with the giant ape climbing the Empire State Building. It inspired the monster-movie genre and showed the power of effects-driven fantasy.
Fritz Lang’s thriller introduced a serial-killer archetype in a stark, expressionistic style, influencing film noir and psychological crime dramas. Its use of sound motifs was innovative for the early sound era.
James Whale’s adaptation defined the classic movie monster and shaped horror cinema, with Boris Karloff’s iconic portrayal inspiring decades of mad-scientist and misunderstood-creature narratives.
John Ford’s Western elevated the genre with complex characters and skillful storytelling. Orson Welles famously studied it repeatedly, calling it a model of cinematic structure.
Considered the first feature-length documentary, it pioneered non-fiction storytelling and demonstrated that real-life subjects could be as engaging as fictional drama.
F.W. Murnau’s unauthorized Dracula adaptation is a foundation of vampire imagery in film. Its shadowy visuals and expressionistic style defined a lasting template for horror.
Dziga Vertov’s avant-garde documentary showcased groundbreaking editing techniques (montage, double exposure, slow motion) and remains hugely influential in experimental film and music video editing.
Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí’s 16-minute surrealist film shocked audiences with dreamlike, illogical imagery. It was a cornerstone of avant-garde cinema, inspiring countless surrealist and experimental works.
Billy Wilder’s definitive film noir introduced the template for the genre: hard-boiled narration, femme fatale, and shadowy cinematography, influencing every subsequent noir thriller.
Leni Riefenstahl’s Nazi propaganda film used innovative camera work and editing to glorify its subjects, demonstrating the immense power of film to shape political ideology (despite its abhorrent message).
John Ford’s complex Western with John Wayne delved into darker themes of obsession and racism, influencing directors like Martin Scorsese and shaping modern portrayals of the genre.
Satyajit Ray’s debut introduced Indian cinema on the world stage with poetic realism, inspiring countless filmmakers and opening Western eyes to the power of Indian art-house films.
Ingmar Bergman’s allegorical meditation on mortality (the knight playing chess with Death) became a symbol of existential cinema, influencing art-house approaches to philosophical storytelling.
Jean-Luc Godard’s debut ignited the French New Wave by breaking editing rules (jump cuts) and employing a casual, improvisational style, reshaping modern cinema’s approach to narrative and technique.
Federico Fellini’s self-reflexive film about a director’s creative block broke narrative norms, blending memory, fantasy, and reality. It inspired countless filmmakers to explore personal, surreal storytelling.
Stanley Kubrick’s black comedy about nuclear war proved even the gravest subject could be tackled satirically. It influenced political satire and established a template for blending suspense and absurdity.
This violent, stylistically bold crime film ushered in the New Hollywood era, smashing taboos on cinematic violence and inspiring a wave of youth-oriented, auteur-driven American filmmaking.
Gillo Pontecorvo’s political film, shot documentary-style with non-actors, powerfully re-created the Algerian War of Independence. It influenced political cinema and even military strategy discussions.
Mike Nichols’ coming-of-age comedy-drama captured the 1960s youth zeitgeist. Its use of popular music and its focus on post-college alienation shaped Hollywood’s approach to youth-targeted storytelling.
George A. Romero’s ultra-low-budget horror introduced the modern zombie. It created the zombie apocalypse template, influencing countless films, TV shows, and demonstrating indie horror’s cultural impact.
A counterculture road movie that surprised Hollywood with huge profits, it opened the door for independent-minded, youth-focused filmmaking and helped launch the New Hollywood movement of the 1970s.
Bruce Lee’s final film brought martial arts cinema to global audiences, inspiring a wave of kung fu films and introducing Western viewers to Hong Kong action’s choreography and star power.
The first horror film to earn a Best Picture Oscar nomination, it legitimized horror in prestige cinema and set a benchmark for supernatural scares and intense special effects.
Martin Scorsese’s gritty character study of an alienated cabbie shaped the portrayal of antiheroes and urban decay in cinema, influencing everything from psychological thrillers to vigilante narratives.
Sylvester Stallone’s underdog boxing story established the sports-movie template: training montages, emotional stakes, and triumphant finales. It proved small-budget, heartfelt films could score big at the box office.
John Carpenter’s low-budget hit codified the slasher genre (masked killer, teens in suburbia, “final girl”), leading to a flood of ’80s slashers and proving the profitability of independent horror.
Ridley Scott merged sci-fi and horror in a claustrophobic, monster-in-space scenario. Its “used future” aesthetic and terrifying xenomorph set new standards for creature design and atmospheric dread.
Francis Ford Coppola’s Vietnam War epic combined harrowing war realism with surreal, mythic elements. Its troubled production and visionary final result influenced countless war films and underscored the auteur approach to grand-scale projects.
Steven Spielberg’s adventure classic revived the spirit of old serials, setting the gold standard for action set pieces, pacing, and charismatic leads. It shaped the modern action-adventure genre.
Ridley Scott’s neo-noir sci-fi was initially overlooked but became a cult classic, shaping the cyberpunk aesthetic of grimy neon cities and raising questions about artificial intelligence and humanity.
Established the blueprint for the modern action thriller with a resourceful everyman hero trapped in a contained setting. Its success led to countless “Die Hard on a ___” imitators.
Katsuhiro Otomo’s cyberpunk anime introduced Western audiences to mature, graphically rich Japanese animation, influencing everything from The Matrix to video games and cementing anime’s global popularity.
Broke new ground by seamlessly blending traditional animation with live-action. Its success rejuvenated interest in animation and pioneered techniques for mixing cartoons and real actors.
Spike Lee’s portrayal of racial tension on a hot Brooklyn day marked a turning point in American cinema’s engagement with race, sparking national conversation and inspiring future Black filmmakers.
Martin Scorsese’s kinetic gangster saga reinvented the mob film with breakneck editing, dynamic narration, and a pop soundtrack. Its style heavily influenced later crime dramas and TV shows like The Sopranos.
James Cameron’s blockbuster pushed CGI forward with the liquid-metal T-1000, proving digital effects could create realistic major characters and establishing a new standard for action sequels.
Steven Spielberg’s Holocaust drama combined stark realism with emotional storytelling, profoundly impacting how historical atrocities are depicted on screen and becoming an educational staple worldwide.
Blended groundbreaking CGI and animatronics to bring dinosaurs to life with unprecedented realism, heralding a new era of digital effects in blockbuster filmmaking.
Quentin Tarantino’s nonlinear crime anthology revitalized indie cinema, showing that unconventional structure, witty pop-culture dialogue, and stylized violence could capture mainstream audiences.
Pixar’s first fully computer-animated feature revolutionized animation, launching the industry’s shift from hand-drawn to CGI and proving that such films could be emotionally resonant and commercially huge.
Wes Craven’s meta-horror revived the slasher genre by referencing its own tropes. Its blend of sharp comedy and genuine scares led to a wave of self-aware horror films in the late ’90s.
James Cameron’s epic romance-disaster film became a global phenomenon and the highest-grossing film of its time, blending emotional storytelling with groundbreaking visual effects to influence future big-budget historical dramas.
Merged Hong Kong martial arts, cyberpunk, and philosophical sci-fi, revolutionizing action choreography and popularizing “bullet time.” Its stylish approach impacted both Hollywood blockbusters and pop culture’s view of virtual reality.
Pioneered the modern “found footage” horror style and innovative internet viral marketing. Its massive profit on a micro-budget sparked widespread interest in low-cost, high-return indie horror.
Ang Lee’s martial arts epic became a global smash, blending poetic drama with spectacular wire-fu. It opened Western audiences to subtitled foreign films and influenced fight choreography in Hollywood.
Peter Jackson’s adaptation showed that high-fantasy could be critically and commercially successful on an epic scale. Its groundbreaking effects and immersive world-building influenced the entire fantasy genre.
A Brazilian crime drama using kinetic editing and vibrant storytelling, it brought Rio’s favela life to international attention. Its stylistic flair influenced urban crime narratives worldwide.
Ang Lee’s love story about two cowboys was a major cultural step for LGBTQ+ representation, earning critical acclaim and commercial success, paving the way for more mainstream queer narratives.
Christopher Nolan’s superhero-crime hybrid elevated the genre with a dark, morally complex narrative and an Oscar-winning performance by Heath Ledger, shaping subsequent superhero films’ grounded tone.
James Cameron’s 3D sci-fi spectacle advanced motion-capture and stereoscopic technology, immersing audiences in a fully realized alien world and triggering a surge in 3D film production.
Proved the viability of a shared cinematic universe by uniting separate superhero franchises into one crossover event, reshaping Hollywood’s approach to franchising and serialized storytelling.
Jordan Peele’s horror-satire combined racial commentary with genre thrills, winning an Oscar and marking a turning point for socially conscious horror films, encouraging more underrepresented voices.
The first predominantly Black-led superhero blockbuster, it shattered box-office records and became a cultural milestone, showcasing demand for diverse representation and influencing future casting and storytelling.
Bong Joon-ho’s dark social satire made history as the first non-English film to win Best Picture at the Oscars, proving international films can resonate globally and sparking renewed interest in world cinema.
Widely considered the greatest Hollywood musical, it blended story, song, and dance seamlessly while satirizing early Hollywood’s transition to sound, setting the gold standard for movie musicals.
Buster Keaton’s silent comedy classic showcased extraordinary physical stunts and comedic timing amid large-scale action sequences, inspiring future generations of action and stunt choreography.
D.W. Griffith’s ambitious epic intercut four historical storylines, pioneering large-scale parallel editing. Although not a hit at the time, it heavily influenced future epic filmmaking.
Sam Peckinpah’s revisionist Western pushed cinematic violence to new levels with slow-motion shootouts and moral ambiguity, influencing later action directors and fueling debates on screen violence.
Melvin Van Peebles’s fiercely independent film about a Black man on the run launched modern Black cinema, proving that Black-led, racially charged stories could find dedicated audiences.
Michael Moore’s documentary critiquing the Bush administration became the highest-grossing documentary ever, proving that non-fiction films could achieve blockbuster status and influence public discourse.
George Miller’s return to the Mad Max saga set a new standard for action cinema with practical stunts, visionary design, and a kinetic pace, showing that action can also be artful and thematically resonant.
Barry Jenkins’ tender portrait of a gay Black man growing up in Miami won Best Picture, representing a breakthrough for small, personal stories and underrepresented voices in mainstream awards circles.
Alfonso Cuarón’s autobiographical film blended art-house aesthetics with a Netflix release strategy, bridging the gap between streaming and theatrical prestige. Its immersive long takes and personal storytelling set a high bar for auteur cinema.
Hayao Miyazaki’s animated fantasy became the first non-English, hand-drawn film to win the Best Animated Feature Oscar, raising global awareness of Japanese anime’s artistic depth and storytelling power.
Launched the massive Harry Potter film saga, proving that faithful adaptations of beloved fantasy book series could dominate at the box office and shaping the multi-film franchise model.
DreamWorks’ irreverent fairy-tale parody won the inaugural Best Animated Feature Oscar. Its snarky humor and pop-culture references influenced animated films to be more self-aware and appeal to wider audiences.
Ishirō Honda’s allegory for nuclear destruction introduced the iconic kaiju genre, paving the way for decades of giant-monster movies worldwide and becoming a cultural symbol of the Atomic Age.
Steven Spielberg’s family sci-fi classic about a boy and his alien friend was once the highest-grossing film, blending wonder and sentiment and shaping the family-oriented blockbuster template.
This time-travel comedy-adventure became a definitive ’80s movie, setting a standard for sci-fi comedy and influencing how popular culture views paradoxes and the mechanics of time travel.
Richard Donner’s film made audiences “believe a man can fly,” establishing the modern superhero movie blueprint with an earnest origin story, grand spectacle, and iconic musical score.
A Rodgers & Hammerstein musical that became the highest-grossing film of its time, showcasing the popularity of big-budget musicals shot on lavish locations and cementing sing-alongs in pop culture.
One of the few films to win the ‘Big Five’ Oscars, it elevated the serial killer thriller to high art with its portrayal of Hannibal Lecter and strong female protagonist Clarice Starling.
A landmark of Indian cinema, this blockbuster “Curry Western” blended action, drama, comedy, and music, setting a template for Bollywood’s masala films and creating iconic characters and catchphrases.
This rapid-fire spoof comedy pioneered the modern parody-film formula with deadpan delivery of absurd humor and endless gags, influencing countless comedy and satire films thereafter.
Billy Wilder’s classic cross-dressing comedy pushed against the Production Code’s limits, influencing later gender-bending comedies. Its rapid-fire dialogue and irreverent humor remain hugely influential.