Steven Spielberg arrives at the Oscar Nominee Luncheon held in the International Ballroom at the Beverly Hilton on Tuesday, February 10, 2026. Credit/Provider: Mark Von Holden / The Academy. Copyright: ©A.M.P.A.S.
If there were a Mt. Rushmore of movie directors, Steven Spielberg would undoubtedly be on it.
The legendary filmmaker essentially created the modern blockbuster with 1975’s ‘Jaws‘ and has since helmed such iconic films as ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind,’ ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark,’ ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,’ ‘Jurassic Park,’ ‘The Color Purple,’ ‘Minority Report,’ ‘Catch Me If You Can,’ ‘Lincoln,’ ‘Schindler’s List,’ and ‘Saving Private Ryan.’ The latter two earned Spielberg Academy Awards for Best Director and helped cement his status as one of the most influential filmmakers in cinema history.
Spielberg now returns to the sci-fi genre with ‘Disclosure Day,’ starring Emily Blunt and opening in theaters on June 12th.
Release Date: Jun 12, 2026
Run Time: 2 hr 25 min
Budget: $115,000,000
In honor of the new film, Moviefone is ranking every feature film Spielberg has directed, including his latest effort, from worst to best.
For this list, we’re only considering movies for which Spielberg received a directing credit, meaning producer-only projects such as ‘The Goonies‘ and the ‘Back to the Future‘ franchise are excluded.
Let’s begin!
Related Article: Movie Review: ‘Disclosure Day’
37. ‘Hook‘ (1991)
Dustin Hoffman in ‘Hook’. Photo: TriStar Pictures.
The boy who wasn’t supposed to grow up, Peter Pan (Robin Williams), does just that, becoming a soulless corporate lawyer whose workaholism could cost him his wife and kids. During his trip to see Granny Wendy (Maggie Smith) in London, the vengeful Capt. Hook (Dustin Hoffman) kidnaps Peter’s kids and forces Peter to return to Neverland.
“To live would be an awfully big adventure.”
Release Date: Dec 11, 1991
Run Time: 2 hr 22 min
Budget: $70,000,000
Alien attack menaces a small American town.
Release Date: Mar 24, 1964
Run Time: 2 hr 20 min
Budget: $400
35. ‘Duel‘ (1971)
Traveling businessman David Mann (Dennis Weaver) angers the driver of a rusty tanker while crossing the California desert. A simple trip turns deadly, as Mann struggles to stay on the road while the tanker plays cat and mouse with his life.
“The most bizarre murder weapon ever used!”
Release Date: Apr 22, 1983
Run Time: 1 hr 14 min
Budget: $450,000
On the brink of the First World War, Albert’s () beloved horse Joey is sold to the Cavalry by his father. Against the backdrop of the Great War, Joey begins an odyssey full of danger, joy, and sorrow, and he transforms everyone he meets along the way. Meanwhile, Albert (Jeremy Irvine), unable to forget his equine friend, searches the battlefields of France to find Joey and bring him home.
“Separated by war. Tested by battle. Bound by friendship.”
Release Date: Dec 25, 2011
Run Time: 2 hr 26 min
Budget: $66,000,000
An orphan little girl (Ruby Barnhill) befriends a benevolent giant (Mark Rylance) who takes her to Giant Country, where they attempt to stop the man-eating giants that are invading the human world.
“The world is more giant than you can imagine.”
Release Date: Jul 1, 2016
Run Time: 1 hr 57 min
Budget: $140,000,000
An anthology film presenting remakes of three episodes from the ‘Twilight Zone‘ TV series—”Kick the Can”, “It’s a Good Life” and “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet”—and one original story, “Time Out.” Spielberg directed “Kick the Can”.
“You’re travelling through another dimension. A dimension, not only of sight and sound, but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. Next stop, the Twilight Zone!”
Release Date: Jun 24, 1983
Run Time: 1 hr 41 min
Budget: $10,000,000
Married small-time crooks Lou-Jean (Goldie Hawn) and Clovis Poplin (William Atherton) lose their baby to the state of Texas and resolve to do whatever it takes to get him back. Lou-Jean gets Clovis out of jail, and the two steal their son from his foster home, in addition to taking a highway patrolman hostage. As a massive dragnet starts to pursue them across Texas, the couple become unlikely folk heroes and even start to bond with the captive policeman.
“A girl with a great following. Every cop in the state was after her. Everybody else was behind her.”
Release Date: Mar 31, 1974
Run Time: 1 hr 50 min
Budget: $3,000,000
Tom Hanks in ‘The Terminal’. Photo: DreamWorks Pictures.
An Eastern European tourist (Tom Hanks) unexpectedly finds himself stranded in JFK airport, and must take up temporary residence there.
Release Date: Jun 17, 2004
Run Time: 2 hr 8 min
Budget: $60,000,000
Set during the Cold War, the Soviets—led by sword-wielding Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) are in search of a crystal skull which has supernatural powers related to a mystical Lost City of Gold. Indy (Harrison Ford) is coerced to head to Peru at the behest of a young man (Shia LaBeouf) whose friend—and Indy’s colleague—Professor Oxley (John Hurt) has been captured for his knowledge of the skull’s whereabouts.
“The adventure continues…”
Release Date: May 22, 2008
Run Time: 2 hr 2 min
Budget: $185,000,000
Two youngsters from rival New York City gangs (Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler) fall in love, but tensions between their respective friends build toward tragedy.
“A city divided. Their love will challenge everything.”
Release Date: Dec 10, 2021
Run Time: 2 hr 36 min
Budget: $100,000,000
In 1839, the slave ship Amistad set sail from Cuba to America. During the long trip, Cinque (Djimon Hounsou) leads the slaves in an unprecedented uprising. They are then held prisoner in Connecticut, and their release becomes the subject of heated debate. Freed slave Theodore Joadson (Morgan Freeman) wants Cinque and the others exonerated and recruits property lawyer Roger Baldwin (Matthew McConaughey) to help his case. Eventually, John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins) also becomes an ally.
“Freedom is not given. It is our right at birth. But there are moments when it must be taken.”
Release Date: Dec 25, 1997
Run Time: 2 hr 35 min
Budget: $36,000,000
Intrepid young reporter, Tintin (Jamie Bell), and his loyal dog, Snowy, are thrust into a world of high adventure when they discover a ship carrying an explosive secret. As Tintin is drawn into a centuries-old mystery, Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine (Daniel Craig) suspects him of stealing a priceless treasure. Tintin and Snowy, with the help of salty, cantankerous Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis) and bumbling detectives, Thompson (Simon Pegg) and Thomson (Nick Frost), travel half the world, one step ahead of their enemies, as Tintin endeavors to find the Unicorn, a sunken ship that may hold a vast fortune, but also an ancient curse.
“Discover how far adventure will take you.”
Release Date: Dec 21, 2011
Run Time: 1 hr 47 min
Budget: $130,000,000
(L to R) Tom Cruse and Dakota Fanning in ‘War of the Worlds’. Photo: Paramount Pictures.
Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) is a divorced dockworker and less-than-perfect father. Soon after his ex-wife (Miranda Otto) and her new husband (David Alan Basche) drop off his teenage son (Justin Chatwin) and young daughter (Dakota Fanning) for a rare weekend visit, a strange and powerful lightning storm touches down.
Release Date: Jun 29, 2005
Run Time: 1 hr 57 min
Budget: $132,000,000
Growing up in post-World War II era Arizona, young Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle) aspires to become a filmmaker as he reaches adolescence, but soon discovers a shattering family secret and explores how the power of films can help him see the truth.
Release Date: Nov 23, 2022
Run Time: 2 hr 31 min
Budget: $40,000,000
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union captures U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers (Mark Rylance) after shooting down his U-2 spy plane. Sentenced to 10 years in prison, Powers’ only hope is New York lawyer James Donovan (Tom Hanks), recruited by a CIA operative to negotiate his release. Donovan boards a plane to Berlin, hoping to win the young man’s freedom through a prisoner exchange. If all goes well, the Russians would get Rudolf Abel, the convicted spy who Donovan defended in court.
“In the shadow of war, one man showed the world what we stood for.”
Release Date: Oct 16, 2015
Run Time: 2 hr 21 min
Budget: $40,000,000
Four years after Jurassic Park’s genetically bred dinosaurs ran amok, multimillionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) shocks chaos theorist Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) by revealing that he has been breeding more beasties at a secret location. Malcolm, his paleontologist ladylove (Julianne Moore) and a wildlife videographer (Vince Vaughn) join an expedition to document the lethal lizards’ natural behavior in this action-packed thriller.
“Something has survived.”
Release Date: May 23, 1997
Run Time: 2 hr 9 min
Budget: $73,000,000
21. ‘1941‘ (1979)
In the days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, panic grips California, where a military officer leads a mob chasing a Japanese sub.
“Paranoia meets pandemonium.”
Release Date: Dec 14, 1979
Run Time: 1 hr 58 min
Budget: $35,000,000
Haley Joel Osment in ‘A.I. Artificial Intelligence’. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures.
David (Haley Joel Osment), a robotic boy—the first of his kind programmed to love—is adopted as a test case by a Cybertronics employee (Sam Robards) and his wife (Frances O’Connor). Though he gradually becomes their child, a series of unexpected circumstances make this life impossible for David.
“David is 11 years old. He weighs 60 pounds. He is 4 feet, 6 inches tall. He has brown hair. His love is real. But he is not.”
Release Date: Jun 29, 2001
Run Time: 2 hr 26 min
Budget: $100,000,000
After arriving in India, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is asked by a desperate village to find a mystical stone. He agrees – and stumbles upon a secret cult plotting a terrible plan in the catacombs of an ancient palace.
“If adventure has a name… it must be Indiana Jones.”
Release Date: May 23, 1984
Run Time: 1 hr 58 min
Budget: $28,000,000
18. ‘Munich‘ (2006)
During the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, eleven Israeli athletes are taken hostage and murdered by a Palestinian terrorist group known as Black September. In retaliation, the Israeli government recruits a group of Mossad agents to track down and execute those responsible for the attack.
“The world was watching in 1972 as 11 Israeli athletes were murdered at the Munich Olympics. This is the story of what happened next.”
Release Date: Jan 6, 2006
Run Time: 2 hr 44 min
Budget: $70,000,000
Jamie Graham (Christian Bale), a privileged English boy, is living in Shanghai when the Japanese invade and force all foreigners into prison camps. Jamie is captured with an American sailor, who looks out for him while they are in the camp together. Even though he is separated from his parents and in a hostile environment, Jamie maintains his dignity and youthful spirit, providing a beacon of hope for the others held captive with him.
“To survive in a world at war, he must find a strength greater than all the events that surround him.”
Release Date: Dec 25, 1987
Run Time: 2 hr 33 min
Budget: $35,000,000
16. ‘Always‘ (1989)
The spirit of a recently deceased expert pilot (Richard Dreyfuss) mentors a newer pilot (Brad Johnson) while watching him fall in love with the girlfriend (Holly Hunter) that he left behind.
“They couldn’t hear him. They couldn’t see him. But he was there when they needed him… Even after he was gone.”
Release Date: Dec 22, 1989
Run Time: 2 hr 2 min
Budget: $31,000,000
Emily Blunt in ‘Disclosure Day’, directed by Steven Spielberg. Photo: Universal Pictures.
A cybersecurity expert (Josh O’Connor) becomes a whistleblower to reveal secrets about aliens, putting him on the run from a corporation while a meteorologist (Emily Blunt) experiences strange phenomena and joins forces with him to prove there’s life beyond our knowledge.
Release Date: Jun 12, 2026
Run Time: 2 hr 25 min
Budget: $115,000,000
A true story about Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio) who, before his 19th birthday, successfully conned millions of dollars worth of checks as a Pan Am pilot, doctor, and legal prosecutor. An FBI agent (Tom Hanks) makes it his mission to put him behind bars. But Frank not only eludes capture, he revels in the pursuit.
“The true story of a real fake.”
Release Date: Dec 25, 2002
Run Time: 2 hr 21 min
Budget: $52,000,000
When the creator (Mark Rylance) of a popular video game system dies, a virtual contest is created to compete for his fortune.
“A better reality awaits.”
Release Date: Mar 29, 2018
Run Time: 2 hr 20 min
Budget: $175,000,000
An epic tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie (Whoopi Goldberg), an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry. After Celie’s abusive father marries her off to the equally debasing ‘Mister’ Albert Johnson (Danny Glover), things go from bad to worse, leaving Celie to find companionship anywhere she can. She perseveres, holding on to her dream of one day being reunited with her sister (Oprah Winfrey) in Africa.
“It’s about life. It’s about love. It’s about us.”
Release Date: Jan 16, 1987
Run Time: 2 hr 34 min
Budget: $15,000,000
A cover-up that spanned four U.S. Presidents pushed the country’s first female newspaper publisher (Meryl Streep) and a hard-driving editor (Hanks) to join an unprecedented battle between journalist and government. Inspired by true events.
Release Date: Jan 12, 2018
Run Time: 1 hr 56 min
Budget: $50,000,000
(L to R) Harrison Ford and Sean Connery in ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’. Photo: Paramount Pictures.
In 1938, an art collector appeals to eminent archaeologist Dr. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) to embark on a search for the Holy Grail. Indy learns that a medieval historian has vanished while searching for it, and the missing man is his own father, Dr. Henry Jones Sr. (Sean Connery). He sets out to rescue his father by following clues in the old man’s notebook, which his father had mailed to him before he went missing. Indy arrives in Venice, where he enlists the help of a beautiful academic, Dr. Elsa Schneider (Alison Doody), along with Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliot) and Sallah (John Rhys-Davies). Together they must stop the Nazis from recovering the power of eternal life and taking over the world!
“Have the adventure of your life keeping up with the Joneses.”
Release Date: May 24, 1989
Run Time: 2 hr 7 min
Budget: $48,000,000
After an encounter with UFOs, an electricity linesman (Richard Dreyfuss) feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is about to happen.
Release Date: Dec 14, 1977
Run Time: 2 hr 17 min
Budget: $20,000,000
John Anderton (Tom Cruise) is a top ‘Precrime’ cop in the late-21st century, when technology can predict crimes before they’re committed. But Anderton becomes the quarry when another investigator (Colin Farrell) targets him for a murder charge.
“What would you do if were framed for a murder… you had not committed yet?”
Release Date: Jun 21, 2002
Run Time: 2 hr 25 min
Budget: $102,000,000
The revealing story of the 16th US President’s tumultuous final months in office. In a nation divided by war and the strong winds of change, Lincoln (Daniel Day Lewis) pursues a course of action designed to end the war, unite the country and abolish slavery. With the moral courage and fierce determination to succeed, his choices during this critical moment will change the fate of generations to come.
“The hours that changed history.”
Release Date: Nov 16, 2012
Run Time: 2 hr 30 min
Budget: $65,000,000
A wealthy entrepreneur (Richard Attenborough) secretly creates a theme park featuring living dinosaurs drawn from prehistoric DNA. Before opening day, he invites a team of experts and his two eager grandchildren to experience the park and help calm anxious investors. However, the park is anything but amusing as the security systems go off-line and the dinosaurs escape.
“An adventure 65 million years in the making.”
Release Date: Jun 11, 1993
Run Time: 2 hr 7 min
Budget: $63,000,000
1982’s ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial’. Photo: Universal Pictures.
An alien is left behind on Earth and saved by the 10-year-old Elliott (Henry Thomas) who decides to keep him hidden in his home. While a task force hunts for the extra-terrestrial, Elliott, his brother (Robert MacNaughton), and his little sister Gertie (Drew Barrymore) form an emotional bond with their new friend, and try to help him find his way home.
“He is afraid. He is totally alone. He is 3,000,000 light years from home.”
Release Date: Jun 11, 1982
Run Time: 1 hr 55 min
Budget: $10,500,000
When Dr. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) – the tweed-suited professor who just happens to be a celebrated archaeologist – is hired by the government to locate the legendary Ark of the Covenant, he finds himself up against the entire Nazi regime.
“The return of the great adventure.”
Release Date: Jun 12, 1981
Run Time: 1 hr 55 min
Budget: $18,000,000
The true story of how businessman Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) saved over a thousand Jewish lives from the Nazis while they worked as slaves in his factory during World War II.
“Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire.”
Release Date: Feb 4, 1994
Run Time: 3 hr 15 min
Budget: $22,000,000
2. ‘Jaws‘ (1975)
When the seaside community of Amity finds itself under attack by a dangerous great white shark, the town’s chief of police (Roy Scheider), a young marine biologist (Richard Dreyfuss), and a grizzled shark hunter (Robert Shaw) embark on a desperate quest to kill the beast before it strikes again.
“The terrifying motion picture from the terrifying No. 1 best seller.”
Release Date: Jun 20, 1975
Run Time: 2 hr 4 min
Budget: $7,000,000
Matt Damon in ‘Saving Private Ryan’. Photo: DreamWorks Pictures.
As U.S. troops storm the beaches of Normandy, three brothers lie dead on the battlefield, with a fourth trapped behind enemy lines. Ranger captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) and seven men are tasked with penetrating German-held territory and bringing the boy home (Matt Damon).
Release Date: Jul 24, 1998
Run Time: 2 hr 49 min
Budget: $70,000,000
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