Want to know the best Christopher Nolan movies? How about the worst Christopher Nolan movies? Curious about Christopher Nolan’s box office grosses or which Christopher Nolan movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Christopher Nolan movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Christopher Nolan’s IMDb page shows 11 directing credits from 1997-2017. This page will rank 10 Christopher Nolan movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. His 1997 short Doodlebug was not including in the rankings. His latest movie, Dunkirk, has been added to the page.
Christopher Nolan Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort Christopher Nolan movies co-stars of his movies.
- Sort Christopher Nolan movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost.
- Sort Christopher Nolan movies by adjusted worldwide box office grosses using current movie ticket cost.
- Sort Christopher Nolan movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Christopher Nolan movie received.
- Sort Christopher Nolan movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
Check out Christopher Nolan‘ career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
This page was originally part of a Nolan, M.Night Shyamalan and Quentin Tarantino movie page. Part of that original page was this little skit I wrote that looked at all three of their movie careers. I figured even though I was giving each director his own page that I would still include the skit.
Christopher, Quentin and M.Night are at a bar drinking Shiner Bock beers, smoking Red Apple cigarettes and arguing about who will be the next Spielberg.
Quentin: It has to be me, I have been directing movies for over 20 years, my Pulp Fiction is a classic, people love my Kill Bill movies, Reservoir Dogs put independent movies on the map while Inglourious Basterds was a box office hit and picked up 8 Oscar® nominations. My latest movies, Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight did awesome for westerns.
M. Night: You’ve been around the longest but you have only made 9 movies in 20 years and Four Rooms, Jackie Brown and Death Proof died at the box office…that is not a good percentage.
Christopher: You got no room to talk M., between The Village and Split, your movies all tanked! And most people have hated every movie you have made since Signs….talk about some movies with horrible reviews….you had The Village, Lady in the Water, The Happening , The Last Airbender and After Earth all lined up in a row.
M. Night: Well Mr. Nolan, at least Quentin and I have an Oscar® nomination for Best Director in our resume. And I know you remember how I was considered to be the next Spielberg after the success of The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs. I think you are forgetting The Last Airbender earned over $300 million in worldwide box office and was the 21st biggest hit of the year…plus After Earth did pretty well overseas.
Quentin: I actually have two Best Director Oscar® nominations…but who is counting. Sorry to have to tell you M. Night, but I do not think anybody has compared you to Spielberg in a very longtime….and as for The Last Airbender, true it made some money but I think it was the worst reviewed movie in the last 20 years….and I think the less said about After Earth the better.
Christopher: Speaking of box office hits…do you know my last four movies have a worldwide box office over 3 billion dollars? That includes The Dark Knight that crossed a billion at the box office, Inception which earned over $800 million and The Dark Knight Rises which also crossed the one billion mark. Interstellar picked up $672 million. My latest Dunkirk is being favorable compared to Saving Private Ryan. And oh by the way……now I am considered the next Spielberg….sorry I took that title away from you M. Night.
M. Night: Maybe that ten years was a little rough for my movies, but Split was beginning of my next great run….just wait until you see Glass….I got Bruce Wi….
Quentin: Sorry to interrupt you M.Night, I agree Split was a feather in you cap….but can you capitalize on it?….we shall see. As for you Chris, I loved Memento, The Prestige, and Insomnia but I think the Batman movies are overrated and I still do not understand your dream inside a dream inside a dream movie. And don’t even get me started on the ending of Interstellar..
Christopher: Hey I am sorry if you are not smart enough to figure out Inception, but I will try and explain it for you and don’t worry I will go real slow so maybe you will finally understand.
Quentin: (Reaches into his bag and slams two Oscars® down on the table) I am smart enough to know that this proves I am the best director in this group!
Christopher: You got those Oscars® for the screenplays for Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained, not for directing it. I’ll show you an award for directing…here is my COFCA (Central Ohio Film Critics Association) award for Best Director for Inception.
M. Night: I did not know we were supposed to bring our directing awards tonight.
Quentin: Yeah you could have brought either one of your Razzie awards as worst director for either The Happening or The Last Airbender.
At this point M.Night swipes the Oscar® and the COFCA off the table and a huge fight breaks out among the three directors. While the fight continues an older gentlemen who had been listening to the conversation grabs his stuff, pays his bill and starts to leave the bar.
Older gentleman to bartender: (Shaking his head in dismay) I just do not understand these younger directors…they have so much more to learn.
Bartender: I agree with you 100%….have a great night Mr. Spielberg and I want to tell you I that I am really looking forward to your latest movie, Player One.
If you do a comment….please ignore the email address and website section.
LOL This is outstanding, Cogerson!
This page is definitely very creative and outstanding! Voted up and tweeted!
Thanks for the visit….KDUBarr…Glad you enjoyed this page…..and thanks for such nice words.
Bruce, loved their conversation in the pub – if it was in a movie, Quentin would have probably shot that scene at the beginning and end of the hub…..out of sequence, maybe! . I agree with you that Nolan will probably follow in Spielberg’s shoes; he is a talented director with an eye for what the viewer wants to see. M Night…Mmmmm, whatever happened to him? Sixth Sense and Signs were both amazing movies but his studios gave him too much rope!
Hey Jools99…..I figured the skit was the best way to get information out on the three directors while still trying to do something different….I think it is pretty funny…you are right Quentin T. would have shot it out of order…lol. I think Nolan is the next Spielberg….and in 20 years he will have Oscar glory as well….I do not think The Dark Knight Rises will earn him any nominations…but I think his next project ,which is unknown at this time, will earn him his first directing nomination….and two or three movies down the line…he will hold up the Oscar as best director….Hollywood likes to make people wait especially when that person has had huge financial successes like Nolan has had in the past.
This is the most awesome thing I’ve ever read. I’m a fan of all those directors. I kinda feel bad for Shyamalan though… he was very different back then and I really hope he can rise above the failures and make an awesome movie again. I love Nolan and Tarantino. This was just an awesome read!! 🙂
-Aubrey
Hey Crazed Novelist….thanks for stopping by….I am glad you enjoyed my hub….I had great fun working on this one….I have had to go back an update the skit a few times. I think M. Night will bounce back some….I do not think AirBender was as bad as people make it seem….I think After Earth and Will Smith will make him a hot commodity again….and he has another Bruce Willis movie in pre-production…possibly a sequel to Unbreakable. Thanks for the comment.
Very creative and interesting page with a hilarious skit, Cogerson! I really enjoyed reading it. Of the three I think Shyamalan is the most overrated – Sixth Sense was a classic, Unbreakable was excellent, and Signs was very intriguing, but everything since then has been awful. I think Tarantino is by far the most influential of the three – Pulp Fiction really changed the game for many filmmakers. Nolan is the most consistently good and box office friendly.
Favorite Shyamalam film – The Sixth Sense
Most Underrated Shyamalan film – Unbreakable
Favorite Tarantino film – Pulp Fiction
A Close Second Favorite Tarantino film – Inglorious Basterds
Favorite Nolan film – Inception
Most Underrated Nolan film – The Prestige –
Hey thatmovieguy71….I am glad you enjoyed my “Director Duel” skit. I believe you are correct that Night is the most overrated of the bunch. I agree with most of your selections(The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, The Prestige and Pulp Fiction)…but I rate Reservoir Dogs higher than Inglorious Basterds…..and although I am a huge Nolan fan, I am one of the few that did not enjoy Inception as much as so many other people. Luckily I think each of these three will be providing us many more movies to enjoy.
Hello Cogerson. Great page. I have nothing really to add. Those three have good resumes. Nolan may have the best movies of the three
Hey mckbirdbks….thanks for stopping by….I agree all three have some good resumes…and they should only continue to have success over the years….thanks for the visit and the comment.