This is a list of my 100 favorite epic films of all time. This is an ever changing list, but this is the list as of February 2026.
Defining an epic film is difficult. There is no objective criteria to properly establish what is an epic and what is not. So this is a very subjective list of my favorite films that I personally consider an epic based off the scope of the film. By that I mean, these are films I feel are large scale in their settings and in how the main characters view and interact with the world around them. Length helps but there are a few shorter films on here that I would argue should still…
This is a list of my 100 favorite epic films of all time. This is an ever changing list, but this is the list as of February 2026.
Defining an epic film is difficult. There is no objective criteria to properly establish what is an epic and what is not. So this is a very subjective list of my favorite films that I personally consider an epic based off the scope of the film. By that I mean, these are films I feel are large scale in their settings and in how the main characters view and interact with the world around them. Length helps but there are a few shorter films on here that I would argue should still be considered epics. Still, half the list is over two hours long, and a good portion is over two and a half.
This list was first made in the winter of 2022. For this revision of the list, a total of 14 films dropped out from the original. The highest ranking film to drop was Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith from 57. Of the films that joined in, the highest ranking one is Godzilla vs Destoroyah (21). 13 of the 14 films to join were first time watches since February 2025.
The newest film on this list is Chainsaw Man: The Movie - Reze Arc (53). The oldest film on this list is Cabiria (68)
11 films have kept their placement with the highest being The Godfather: Part II (1) and the lowest being Birds of Passage (98). The films that moved down the most spots were Forrest Gump (71) and Dune: Part Two (74) which both moved down 32 spots. The films that moved up the most spots was A Brighter Summer Day (56) which moved up 11 spots.
Every decade starting from the 1910's is represented on this list:
1910's: 1
1920's: 4
1930's: 3
1940's: 2
1950's: 5
1960's: 10
1970's: 9
1980's: 15
1990's: 10
2000's: 13
2010's: 13
2020's: 15
Along with this, 1985, 2016, and 2025 are the most represented years with 4 films each.
25 countries are represented on this list:
United States: 62
United Kingdom: 16
Japan: 16
Germany: 8
Italy: 8
Mexico: 5
France: 4
Taiwan: 3
New Zealand: 2
South Korea: 2
Australia: 2
Soviet Union: 2
Sweden: 2
Hungary: 1
Brazil: 1
Czech Republic: 1
India: 1
Canada: 1
Guatemala: 1
Colombia: 1
Denmark: 1
Austria: 1
West Germany: 1
China: 1
Chile: 1
81 directors are represented on this list. The following are directors with multiple films on the list:
Zack Snyder: 5 (Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Watchmen, Rebel Moon: Part Two - Curse of Forgiveness, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Man of Steel)
Martin Scorsese: 4 (Silence, The Aviator, Killers of the Flower Moon, The Irishman)
Francis Ford Coppola: 4 (The Godfather Part II, Megalopolis, Apocalypse Now, The Godfather)
Hayao Miyazaki: 3 (Spirited Away, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Princess Mononoke)
Stanley Kubrick: 3 (2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining, Barry Lyndon)
Fritz Lang: 3 (Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge, Metropolis, Die Nibelungen: Siegfried)
Akira Kurosawa: 3 (Seven Samurai, Ran, Kagemusha)
Masaki Kobayashi: 3 (Harakiri, Samurai Rebellion, The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer)
Cecil B DeMille: 3 (Madame Satan, The Ten Commandments, The Sign of the Cross)
Peter Jackson: 2 (The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers)
Terrence Malick: 2 (The Tree of Life, The New World)
Christopher Nolan: 2 (The Dark Knight, Interstellar)
Edward Yang: 2 (Yi Yi, A Brighter Summer Day)
Denis Villeneuve: 2 (Arrival, Dune: Part Two)
These films earned a total of 262 Oscar nominations and won 62 of them. These nominations include 17 for Best Picture. 4 of them won. Those two are The Godfather: Part II (1), The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (5), The Godfather (61), and Forrest Gump (71).
The average length of the list is 146.37 minutes with the longest film being Shoah (83) at 566 minutes and the shortest being Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (19) at 87 minutes.
The average letterbox score of the list is 3.94 with the highest rated film being Harakiri (48) with a 4.7 and the lowest rated film being Rebel Moon: Part Two - Curse of Forgiveness (33) with a 1.9. I personally gave the top 28 of these films 5 stars and the rest 4.5.
