**--Won Academy Award for Best Picture.
*--Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.
| Rank | Title | Director(s) | Overall Rank |
| 1 | Gladiator** | Ridley Scott | 113 |
| 2 | Memento | Christopher Nolan | 136 |
| 3 | Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* | Ang Lee | 165 |
| 4 | In the Mood for Love | Kar Wai Wong | 271 |
| 5 | Requiem for a Dream | Darren Aronofsky | 434 |
| 6 | Almost Famous | Cameron Crowe | 571 |
| 7 | Erin Brockovich* | Steven Soderbergh | 649 |
| 8 | Yi yi: A One and a Two... | Edward Yang | 678 |
| 9 | High Fidelity | Stephen Frears | 687 |
| 10 | Traffic* | Steven Soderbergh | 713 |
| 11 | Chicken Run | Peter Lord and Nick Park | 747 |
| 12 | Amores perros | Alejandro González Iñárritu | 748 |
| 13 | Billy Elliot | Stephen Daldry | 749 |
| 14 | O Brother, Where Art Thou? | Joel Coen | 776 |
| 15 | Dancer in the Dark | Lars von Trier | 780 |
| 16 | Best in Show | Christopher Guest | 822 |
| 17 | X-Men | Bryan Singer | 858 |
| 18 | Sexy Beast | Jonathan Glazer | 920 |
| 19 | Meet the Parents | Jay Roach | 1066 |
| 20 | Snatch. | Guy Ritchie | 1088 |
| 21 | Battle Royale | Kinji Fukasaku | 1094 |
| 22 | Chocolat* | Lasse Hallström | 1114 |
| 23 | Cast Away | Robert Zemeckis | 1119 |
| 24 | You Can Count on Me | Ken Lonergan | 1407 |
| 25 | Werckmeister Harmonies | Béla Tarr | 1414 |
| 26 | Remember the Titans | Boaz Yakin | 1536 |
| 27 | Bring It On | Peyton Reed | 1539 |
| 28 | The Gleaners & I | Agnès Varda | 1598 |
| 29 | George Washington | David Gordon Green | 1692 |
| 30 | Together | Lukas Moodysson | 1705 |
| 31 | Wonder Boys | Curtis Hanson | 1878 |
| 32 | Divided We Fall | Jan Hrebejk | 1904 |
| 33 | Unbreakable | M. Night Shyamalan | 1920 |
| 34 | Before Night Falls | Julian Schnabel | 1928 |
| 35 | Platform | Zhang Ke Jia | 2024 |
| 36 | Chopper | Andrew Dominik | 2186 |
| 37 | Songs from the Second Floor | Roy Andersson | 2202 |
| 38 | The Patriot | Roland Emmerich | 2239 |
| 39 | American Psycho | Mary Harron | 2240 |
| 40 | Love & Basketball | Gina Prince-Bythewood | 2248 |
| 41 | Pollock | Ed Harris | 2312 |
| 42 | The Dish | Rob Sitch | 2330 |
| 43 | Pitch Black | David Twohy | 2346 |
| Rank | Title | Director(s) | Overall Rank |
| 1 | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring* | Peter Jackson | 60 |
| 2 | Spirited Away | Hayao Miyazaki | 174 |
| 3 | Amélie | Jean-Pierre Jeunet | 182 |
| 4 | Donnie Darko | Richard Kelly | 212 |
| 5 | Moulin Rouge!* | Baz Luhrmann | 219 |
| 6 | Shrek | Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson | 284 |
| 7 | Mulholland Dr. | David Lynch | 310 |
| 8 | Y tu mamá también | Alfonso Cuarón | 457 |
| 9 | The Royal Tenenbaums | Wes Anderson | 516 |
| 10 | A.I.: Artificial Intelligence | Steven Spielberg | 584 |
| 11 | Monsters, Inc. | Pete Docter | 607 |
| 12 | A Beautiful Mind** | Ron Howard | 621 |
| 13 | Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone | Chris Columbus | 692 |
| 14 | Bridget Jones's Diary | Sharon Maguire | 714 |
| 15 | Hedwig and the Angry Inch | John Cameron Mitchell | 795 |
| 16 | The Others | Alejandro Amenábar | 803 |
| 17 | Ghost World | Terry Zwigoff | 815 |
| 18 | Black Hawk Down | Ridley Scott | 866 |
| 19 | Gosford Park* | Robert Altman | 886 |
| 20 | Monsoon Wedding | Mira Nair | 940 |
| 21 | The Devil's Backbone | Guillermo del Toro | 952 |
| 22 | Waking Life | Richard Linklater | 954 |
| 23 | Zoolander | Ben Stiller | 1048 |
| 24 | The Fast Runner (Atanarjuat) | Zacharias Kunuk | 1215 |
| 25 | Legally Blonde | Robert Luketic | 1273 |
| 26 | Ocean's Eleven | Steven Soderbergh | 1352 |
| 27 | Dogtown and Z-Boys | Stacy Peralta | 1358 |
| 28 | Time Out | Laurent Cantet | 1481 |
| 29 | No Man's Land | Danis Tanovic | 1630 |
| 30 | Ali | Michael Mann | 1657 |
| 31 | In the Bedroom* | Todd Field | 1659 |
| 32 | Spy Kids | Robert Rodriguez | 1768 |
| 33 | Nowhere in Africa | Caroline Link | 1821 |
| 34 | The Son's Room | Nanni Moretti | 1862 |
| 35 | Lagaan: Once upon a Time in India | Ashutosh Gowariker | 1884 |
| 36 | The Piano Teacher | Michael Haneke | 1888 |
| 37 | Lantana | Ray Lawrence | 1903 |
| 38 | Band of Brothers | David Frankel, Mikael Salomon, Tom Hanks, David Leland, Richard Loncraine, David Nutter, Phil Alden Robinson, and Tony To | 1915 |
| 39 | Pearl Harbor | Michael Bay | 2029 |
| 40 | Read My Lips | Jacques Audiard | 2074 |
| 41 | Enemy at the Gates | Jean-Jacques Annaud | 2077 |
| 42 | Training Day | Antoine Fuqua | 2144 |
| 43 | Fat Girl | Catherine Breillat | 2210 |
| 44 | The Experiment | Oliver Hirschbiegel | 2233 |
| 45 | Lovely & Amazing | Nicole Holofcener | 2266 |
| 46 | Winged Migration | Jacques Perrin | 2302 |
| 47 | Vanilla Sky | Cameron Crowe | 2317 |
| 48 | Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within | Hironobu Sakaguchi | 2358 |
| 49 | 61* | Billy Crystal | 2359 |
| 50 | Frailty | Bill Paxton | 2389 |
| Rank | Title | Director(s) | Overall Rank |
| 1 | The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers* | Peter Jackson | 123 |
| 2 | City of God | Fernando Meirelles | 227 |
| 3 | The Pianist* | Roman Polanski | 470 |
| 4 | Spider-Man | Sam Raimi | 501 |
| 5 | Chicago** | Rob Marshall | 624 |
| 6 | 28 Days Later… | Danny Boyle | 648 |
| 7 | Talk to Her | Pedro Almodóvar | 668 |
| 8 | Far from Heaven | Todd Haynes | 704 |
| 9 | Minority Report | Steven Spielberg | 796 |
| 10 | Whale Rider | Niki Caro | 816 |
| 11 | Bowling for Columbine | Michael Moore | 840 |
| 12 | Bend It Like Beckham | Gurinder Chadha | 845 |
| 13 | Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones | George Lucas | 959 |
| 14 | Adaptation. | Spike Jonze | 971 |
| 15 | The Bourne Identity | Doug Liman | 1004 |
| 16 | The Hours* | Stephen Daldry | 1085 |
| 17 | Punch-Drunk Love | Paul Thomas Anderson | 1131 |
| 18 | The Rookie | John Lee Hancock | 1157 |
| 19 | Hero | Yimou Zhang | 1165 |
| 20 | Road to Perdition | Sam Mendes | 1224 |
| 21 | Rabbit-Proof Fence | Phillip Noyce | 1254 |
| 22 | 25th Hour | Spike Lee | 1259 |
| 23 | Secretary | Steven Shainberg | 1271 |
| 24 | Gangs of New York* | Martin Scorsese | 1276 |
| 25 | Infernal Affairs | Wai-keung Lau and Siu Fai Mak | 1290 |
| 26 | 24 Hour Party People | Michael Winterbottom | 1370 |
| 27 | Spellbound | Jeffrey Blitz | 1401 |
| 28 | The Ring | Gore Verbinski | 1422 |
| 29 | The Quiet American | Phillip Noyce | 1429 |
| 30 | To Be and to Have | Nicolas Philibert | 1470 |
| 31 | 8 Mile | Curtis Hanson | 1508 |
| 32 | Russian Ark | Aleksandr Sokurov | 1566 |
| 33 | Ice Age | Chris Wedge | 1569 |
| 34 | Solaris | Steven Soderbergh | 1689 |
| 35 | My Big Fat Greek Wedding | Joel Zwick | 1740 |
| 36 | Irréversible | Gaspar Noé | 1834 |
| 37 | Signs | M. Night Shyamalan | 1858 |
| 38 | Insomnia | Christopher Nolan | 1892 |
| 39 | Bubba Ho-Tep | Don Coscarelli | 1905 |
| 40 | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | Chris Columbus | 1909 |
| 41 | About Schmidt | Alexander Payne | 1950 |
| 42 | About a Boy | Chris and Paul Weitz | 1986 |
| 43 | Ten | Abbas Kiarostami | 2018 |
| 44 | Bloody Sunday | Paul Greengrass | 2022 |
| 45 | Real Women Have Curves | Patricia Cardoso | 2153 |
| 46 | Frida | Julie Taymor | 2222 |
| 47 | Lilo & Stitch | Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders | 2231 |
| 48 | Dirty Pretty Things | Stephen Frears | 2277 |
| 49 | The Man Without a Past | Aki Kaurismäki | 2329 |
| 50 | Spider | David Cronenberg | 2366 |
| 51 | Sweet Sixteen | Ken Loach | 2391 |
| Rank | Title | Director(s) | Overall Rank |
| 1 | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King** | Peter Jackson | 96 |
| 2 | Lost in Translation* | Sofia Coppola | 254 |
| 3 | Kill Bill: Vol. 1 | Quentin Tarantino | 351 |
| 4 | Finding Nemo | Andrew Stanton | 374 |
| 5 | Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl | Gore Verbinski | 379 |
| 6 | Oldboy | Chan-wook Park | 684 |
| 7 | The Triplets of Belleville | Sylvain Chomet | 882 |
| 8 | X2 | Bryan Singer | 888 |
| 9 | Touching the Void | Kevin Macdonald | 906 |
| 10 | Love Actually | Richard Curtis | 1024 |
| 11 | Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World* | Peter Weir | 1056 |
| 12 | Dogville | Lars von Trier | 1130 |
| 13 | American Splendor | Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini | 1209 |
| 14 | The Matrix Reloaded | Andy and Larry Wachowski | 1249 |
| 15 | Capturing the Friedmans | Andrew Jarecki | 1255 |
| 16 | Big Fish | Tim Burton | 1258 |
| 17 | The Barbarian Invasions | Denys Arcand | 1274 |
| 18 | The School of Rock | Richard Linklater | 1294 |
| 19 | The Station Agent | Thomas McCarthy | 1485 |
| 20 | 21 Grams | Alejandro González Iñárritu | 1504 |
| 21 | Mystic River* | Clint Eastwood | 1511 |
| 22 | The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara | Errol Morris | 1537 |
| 23 | Old School | Todd Phillips | 1589 |
| 24 | Seabiscuit* | Gary Ross | 1610 |
| 25 | Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring | Ki-duk Kim | 1718 |
| 26 | The Best of Youth | Marco Tullio Giordana | 1747 |
| 27 | Freaky Friday | Mark Waters | 1919 |
| 28 | Pieces of April | Peter Hedges | 1952 |
| 29 | Elephant | Gus Van Sant | 2001 |
| 30 | High Tension | Alexandre Aja | 2083 |
| 31 | The Last Samurai | Edward Zwick | 2101 |
| 32 | The Matrix Revolutions | Andy and Larry Wachowski | 2104 |
| 33 | Good Bye Lenin! | Wolfgang Becker | 2106 |
| 34 | House of Sand and Fog | Vadim Perelman | 2134 |
| 35 | Osama | Siddiq Barmak | 2218 |
| 36 | Monster | Patty Jenkins | 2221 |
| 37 | The Return | Andrei Zvyagintsev | 2234 |
| 38 | In America | Jim Sheridan | 2341 |
| Rank | Title | Director(s) | Overall Rank |
| 1 | Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind | Michel Gondry | 176 |
| 2 | The Incredibles | Brad Bird | 385 |
| 3 | Shaun of the Dead | Edgar Wright | 394 |
| 4 | Before Sunset | Richard Linklater | 508 |
| 5 | Million Dollar Baby** | Clint Eastwood | 536 |
| 6 | Downfall | Oliver Hirschbiegel | 600 |
| 7 | Sideways* | Alexander Payne | 680 |
| 8 | Kill Bill: Vol. 2 | Quentin Tarantino | 701 |
| 9 | Spider-Man 2 | Sam Raimi | 765 |
| 10 | Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy | Adam McKay | 982 |
| 11 | Ray* | Taylor Hackford | 1007 |
| 12 | Napoleon Dynamite | Jared Hess | 1015 |
| 13 | The Bourne Supremacy | Paul Greengrass | 1018 |
| 14 | Garden State | Zach Braff | 1039 |
| 15 | Hotel Rwanda | Terry George | 1060 |
| 16 | Crash** | Paul Haggis | 1078 |
| 17 | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | Alfonso Cuarón | 1123 |
| 18 | Finding Neverland* | Marc Forster | 1219 |
| 19 | Team America: World Police | Trey Parker | 1236 |
| 20 | The Notebook | Nick Cassavetes | 1285 |
| 21 | The Passion of the Christ | Mel Gibson | 1365 |
| 22 | Shrek 2 | Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury, and Conrad Vernon | 1380 |
| 23 | Primer | Shane Carruth | 1395 |
| 24 | The Sea Inside | Alejandro Amenábar | 1431 |
| 25 | Howl's Moving Castle | Hayao Miyazaki | 1479 |
| 26 | Miracle | Gavin O'Connor | 1483 |
| 27 | The Aviator* | Martin Scorsese | 1495 |
| 28 | Dead Man's Shoes | Shane Meadows | 1496 |
| 29 | The Motorcycle Diaries | Walter Salles | 1531 |
| 30 | Saw | James Wan | 1534 |
| 31 | Dawn of the Dead | Zack Snyder | 1587 |
| 32 | Friday Night Lights | Peter Berg and Josh Pate | 1593 |
| 33 | Fahrenheit 9/11 | Michael Moore | 1673 |
| 34 | Mean Girls | Mark Waters | 1681 |
| 35 | House of Flying Daggers | Yimou Zhang | 1683 |
| 36 | The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou | Wes Anderson | 1913 |
| 37 | Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story | Rawson Marshall Thurber | 1948 |
| 38 | Collateral | Michael Mann | 2054 |
| 39 | 2046 | Kar Wai Wong | 2244 |
| 40 | The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie | Stephen Hillenburg | 2269 |
| 41 | The Butterfly Effect | Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber | 2270 |
| 42 | Metallica: Some Kind of Monster | Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky | 2313 |
| 43 | Troy | Wolfgang Petersen | 2333 |
| 44 | Super Size Me | Morgan Spurlock | 2337 |
| 45 | Vera Drake | Mike Leigh | 2356 |
| 46 | DiG! | Ondi Timoner | 2357 |
| 47 | Bad Education | Pedro Almodóvar | 2390 |
**--Won Academy Award for Best Picture.
*--Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.
