7 Most Universally Loved Movies Ever, Ranked

2 weeks ago 15

Claire Standish, played by Molly Ringwald, looks up in 'The Breakfast Club'.

Published May 9, 2026, 9:33 PM EDT

In over three years at Collider, senior author Jake has now penned over 2500 articles covering a wide range of TV and film for the resources, lists, utilities, news, and interview teams. Alongside interviewing stars such as Selin Hizli, Rose Ayling-Ellis, Harlan Coben, and Chelsea Peretti, Jake was lucky enough to visit the set of Aardman and Netflix's Wallace and Gromit: A Vengeance Most Fowl in 2024, getting the chance to chat with four-time Academy Award winner Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham. Jake has also worked for other publications, including Agents of Fandom.

The history of film dates back to 1888, although the supposed starting point of Louis Le Prince's Roundhay Garden Scene is debated by some. Nevertheless, there is no debating how impressively extensive cinema's 137-year catalog is, with technological advancements and improvements in film-specific storytelling helping to enhance its quality.

Among this long history of cinema are a select few gems that have done the unthinkable and proved universally popular. Given the rise of social media and the ability for any viewer to share their opinion with the world, for a film to avoid negativity and find its place in the hearts of audiences, regardless of age or taste, is an achievement that shouldn't be underestimated. With that in mind, here's a look at seven of the most universally loved movies of all time, ranked.

7 'Back to the Future' (1985)

As the opening of a stage musical and the box office re-release this year prove, the universal love for Back to the Future has perhaps even increased over time. Directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, the movie follows the charismatic but insecure Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) as he and his mad scientist friend Doc Emmett L. Brown (Christopher Lloyd) travel through time via a DeLorean to save the lives of those they love.

One of the biggest box office hits of 1985, Back to the Future was an enormous hit upon arrival, turning Fox into a global star almost overnight. Packed with memorable moments, the film is crucially just as funny as it is emotionally engaging and boasts a near-perfect 95% score from audiences on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. The film won an Academy Award for Sound Effects Editing back in 1986, losing out on a screenplay trophy to Witness in one of the worst snubs of that year.

6 'Jurassic Park' (1993)

Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) looks off into the distance while lit from behind in Jurassic Park.

The summer blockbuster has lost its charm in recent years, as it was once the perfect box office slot for the biggest and best films. In 1993, that slot went to Jurassic Park, the story of paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), paleobotanist Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), and chaos theorist Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), as they are invited to visit an island theme park populated by dinosaurs ahead of its public opening. However, little do they know the danger they are about to face.

As many of the most beloved films do, Jurassic Park spawned a dino-sized franchise and six sequels to date, with the most recent, Jurassic World Rebirth, becoming one of 2025's biggest box office hits. However, none have ever matched the awe-inspiring vision of the original, with groundbreaking CGI and animatronics still dropping jaws to this day.

5 'The Breakfast Club' (1985)

Molly Ringwald and Emilio Estevez looking surprised in the library in The Breakfast Club.

The teen movie has often proven universally popular, mainly for its ability to capture a moment in time for a generation of adolescents. Of all the best this genre has to offer, none are quite as beloved as The Breakfast Club. Following five high school students as they spend a Saturday in detention together, the film details their differences and finds their unlikely similarities as their lives are changed forever in just one day.

On its 40th anniversary, this 1985 John Hughes cult classic has been receiving plenty of love, proving popular in its limited box office re-release in September. A genius coming-of-age story that is both a visual time capsule of the mid-1980s and an enduring tale of acceptance and identity, teenage lives are still being changed with one viewing of The Breakfast Club.

Collider Exclusive · Oscar Best Picture Quiz Which Oscar Best Picture
Is Your Perfect Movie? Parasite · Everything Everywhere · Oppenheimer · Birdman · No Country

Five Oscar Best Picture winners. Five completely different visions of what cinema can be — and what it can do to you. One of them is the film that was made for the way your mind works. Ten questions will figure out which one.

🪜Parasite

🌀Everything Everywhere

☢️Oppenheimer

🐦Birdman

🪙No Country for Old Men

FIND YOUR FILM →

What kind of film experience do you actually want? The best movies don't just entertain — they leave something behind.

ASomething that pulls the rug out — that makes me think I'm watching one kind of film and then reveals I'm watching another entirely. BSomething overwhelming — funny, sad, absurd, and genuinely moving, all at once. CSomething grand and weighty — a film that makes me feel the full scale of what I'm watching. DSomething formally daring — a film that pushes what cinema can even do. ESomething lean and relentless — pure tension with no wasted frame.

NEXT QUESTION →

Which idea grabs you most in a film? Great films are driven by a central obsession. What's yours?

AClass, inequality, and what people are willing to do when desperation meets opportunity. BIdentity, family, and the chaos of trying to hold your life together when everything is falling apart. CGenius, moral responsibility, and the catastrophic weight of a decision you can never take back. DEgo, legacy, and the terror of becoming irrelevant while you're still alive to watch it happen. EEvil, chance, and whether moral order actually exists or if we just tell ourselves it does.

NEXT QUESTION →

How do you like your story told? Form is content. The way a story is shaped changes what it means.

AGenre-twisting — I want it to start in one lane and migrate into something completely different. BMaximalist and genre-blending — comedy, action, drama, sci-fi, all in one ride. CEpic and non-linear — cutting between timelines, building a mosaic of cause and consequence. DA single unbroken flow — I want to feel like I'm living it in real time, no cuts to safety. ESpare and precise — every scene doing exactly what it needs to do and nothing more.

NEXT QUESTION →

What makes a truly great antagonist? The opposition defines the protagonist. What kind of opposition fascinates you?

AA system — invisible, structural, and almost impossible to fight because it has no single face. BThe self — the ways we sabotage, abandon, and fail the people we love most. CHistory — the unstoppable momentum of events that no single person can stop or redirect. DThe industry — the machinery of culture that chews up talent and spits out irrelevance. EPure, implacable evil — a force so certain of itself it becomes almost philosophical.

NEXT QUESTION →

What do you want from a film's ending? The final note is the one that lingers. What do you want it to sound like?

AShock and inevitability — a conclusion that recontextualises everything that came before it. BEarned emotion — I want to cry, laugh, and feel genuinely hopeful, even if the world is a mess. CDevastation and grandeur — an ending that makes me sit in silence for a few minutes after. DAmbiguity — something that leaves enough open that I'm still thinking about it days later. EBleakness — an honest refusal to pretend the world is tidier than it actually is.

NEXT QUESTION →

Which setting pulls you in most? Where a film takes place shapes everything — mood, stakes, what's even possible.

AA gleaming modern city with a hidden underside — beauty masking rot, wealth masking desperation. BA collapsing suburban life that opens onto something infinite — the multiverse of a single ordinary person. CThe corridors of power and science at a world-historical turning point — where decisions echo for decades. DThe grimy, alive chaos of New York and Hollywood — fame as both destination and trap. EVast, indifferent landscape — desert and highway where violence arrives without warning or reason.

NEXT QUESTION →

What cinematic craft impresses you most? Every great film has a signature — a technical or artistic element that makes it unmistakable.

AProduction design and mise-en-scène — every frame composed to carry meaning beneath the surface. BEditing and tonal control — the ability to move between registers without losing the audience. CScore and sound design — music that becomes inseparable from the dread and awe of what you're watching. DCinematography as performance — the camera not recording events but participating in them. ESilence and restraint — what's left unsaid and unshown doing more work than any dialogue could.

NEXT QUESTION →

What kind of main character do you root for? The protagonist is the lens. Who you choose to follow says something about you.

ASomeone smart and resourceful who makes increasingly dangerous decisions under pressure. BSomeone overwhelmed and ordinary who turns out to be capable of something extraordinary. CA brilliant, tortured figure whose gifts and flaws are inseparable from each other. DA self-destructive artist whose ego is both their superpower and their undoing. EA quiet, principled person trying to make sense of a world that has stopped making sense.

NEXT QUESTION →

How do you feel about a film that takes its time? Pace is a choice. Some films sprint; others let tension accumulate slowly, deliberately.

AI love a slow build when I know the payoff is going to be seismic — patience for a devastating reveal. BGive me relentless momentum — I want to feel breathless and emotionally spent by the end. CEpic runtime doesn't scare me — if the material demands three hours, give me three hours. DI want it to feel propulsive even when nothing is technically happening — restless energy throughout. EDeliberate and unhurried — I want dread to accumulate in the spaces between the action.

NEXT QUESTION →

What do you want to feel walking out of the cinema? The best films leave a mark. What kind of mark do you want?

AUnsettled — like I've just seen something I can't fully explain but can't stop thinking about. BMoved and energised — like the film reminded me what actually matters and gave me something to hold onto. CHumbled — like I've been in the presence of something genuinely important and overwhelming. DExhilarated — like I've just seen cinema doing something it's never quite done before. EHaunted — like a cold, quiet dread that stays with me for days.

REVEAL MY FILM →

The Academy Has Decided Your Perfect Film Is…

Your answers have pointed to one Oscar Best Picture winner above all others. This is the film that was made for the way your mind works.

Parasite

You are drawn to films that operate on multiple levels simultaneously — that begin in one genre and quietly, brilliantly migrate into another. Bong Joon-ho's Parasite is a film about class, desire, and the architecture of inequality that manages to be darkly funny, deeply suspenseful, and genuinely shocking across a single extraordinary running time. Your instinct is for cinema that hides its true intentions until the moment it's ready to reveal them. Parasite is exactly that — a film that rewards close attention and punishes assumptions, right up to its devastating final image.

Everything Everywhere All at Once

You want it all — and this film gives you all of it. The Daniels' Everything Everywhere All at Once is one of the most maximalist films ever made: action comedy, multiverse sci-fi, family drama, existential crisis, and a genuinely earned emotional core that sneaks up on you amid the chaos. You are someone who responds to ambition, who doesn't want cinema to choose between being entertaining and being meaningful. This film refuses that choice entirely. It is overwhelming by design, and its overwhelming nature is precisely the point — because the feeling of being crushed by infinite possibility is exactly what it's about.

Oppenheimer

You are drawn to cinema on a grand scale — films that understand history not as a backdrop but as a force, and that place their characters inside that force and watch what happens. Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer is a film about the terrifying gap between what we can do and what we should do, told with the full weight of one of the most consequential moments in human history behind it. You want your films to feel important without feeling self-important — to earn their ambition through sheer craft and the gravity of their subject. Oppenheimer does exactly that. It is enormous, complicated, and refuses easy comfort.

Birdman

You are drawn to films that foreground their own construction — that make the how of the filmmaking part of the what it's about. Alejandro González Iñárritu's Birdman, shot to appear as a single continuous take, is cinema examining itself through the cracked mirror of a fading actor's ego. You respond to formal daring, to the feeling that a film is doing something that probably shouldn't be possible. Michael Keaton's performance and Emmanuel Lubezki's restless camera create something genuinely unlike anything else — a film that is simultaneously about creativity, relevance, self-destruction, and the impossibility of ever truly knowing if your work means anything at all.

No Country for Old Men

You are drawn to cinema that trusts silence, that refuses to explain itself, and that treats dread as a form of meaning. The Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men is a film about the arrival of a new kind of evil — implacable, arbitrary, and utterly indifferent to the moral frameworks we use to make sense of the world. It is one of the most formally controlled films ever made, and its controlled restraint is what makes it so terrifying. You want your films to haunt you, not comfort you. You are not interested in resolution if resolution would be dishonest. No Country for Old Men is honest in a way that most cinema never dares to be.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

4 'Alien' (1979)

Sigourney Weaver as Lieut. Ellen Ripley aboard a spacecraft in the science-fiction–horror film Alien.

To define a genre, like the previously mentioned The Breakfast Club, is impressive enough. Ridley Scott’s Alien managed to define two, becoming one of the flagship horror and sci-fi movies of not just the 1970s but of all time. The film follows the crew of the commercial space towing vessel Nostromo, who, after attending to what they thought was a distress call, soon find themselves under siege from a terrifying monster.

Everything from the movie's central monster to its iconic tagline ("In space, no one can hear you scream") has been cemented into popular culture ever since Alien debuted. Key to the movie's universal popularity is Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), a defining female character who paved the way for many more badasses that followed. For many, this is the greatest horror or sci-fi film ever made, and for all, it's certainly in the conversation.

3 'The Shawshank Redemption' (1994)

When it comes to movies that are beloved by both audiences and critics, few have managed to have the same impact as The Shawshank Redemption. The movie follows Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), a man sent to prison for the murder of his wife and her lover, despite being innocent. Having to navigate the harsh reality of life behind bars, the last thing Andy expects is to find hope and a best friend in the form of longtime inmate Red (Morgan Freeman).

From career-best performances to a pitch-perfect ending, The Shawshank Redemption was rightfully heralded as a masterpiece by critics and nominated for an impressive seven Academy Awards. However, it is the film's life-affirming message, proving to be one of the best entries into the hopecore sub-genre, that likely helps it stay universally beloved after over three decades. Widely cited as one of the best movies of all time, Frank Darabont’s masterpiece is one everyone should watch at least once.

2 'The Lion King' (1994)

Rafiki holds baby Simba in the air from Pride Rock in The Lion King

It seems that animated movies don't quite face much of the same scrutiny as live-action tales. To some extent, this is because of the ability to make animated creations perfectly infallible and universally endearing, with only the coldest of hearts unable to melt at the sight of a cute cartoon character. With that in mind, it should be no wonder that a film like The Lion King is on this list.

But rarely has an animated movie been quite so successful with both critics and audiences. Winning two Oscars from four nominations, The Lion King was also an enormous success at the box office, earning just shy of $1 billion worldwide on a budget of only $45 million. From an iconic soundtrack that inspired a stage musical to stunning animation and a story so timeless that it is loosely based on a Shakespeare play, few animated movies have ever quite had the impact of The Lion King.

1 'Goodfellas' (1990)

Martin Scorsese's filmography is bursting at the seams with masterpieces. From Taxi Driver to Killers of the Flower Moon, few directors can match the consistency, quality, and longevity of the Academy Award winner. Although some of his best remain divisive in smaller circles, there is perhaps none from his catalog to be quite as universally beloved as Goodfellas.

From the immortal opening line: "As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster," right through to the film's captivating closing sequence, not a moment of Goodfellas isn't touched by the artistry of a genius at the peak of his powers. Featuring the trio of Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, and Joe Pesci, each at their very best, the film weaves between the hilarious, the emotionally poignant, and the shockingly violent, portraying the perfect picture of the highs, lows, and in-betweens in the life of Henry Hill (Liotta). As far as gangster flicks go, there isn't one more universally loved than Goodfellas.