From Greek epics to biblical blockbusters: the 20 best mythological movies – ranked!
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- Cocteau's Orphée (1950) is named the #1 mythological movie, with the entry's closing line noting that the mythological film "can go monumental" before the text cuts off
- Ne Zha 2 (2025) is cited as both the highest-grossing animation ever worldwide and the fifth highest-grossing film overall, earning the #12 slot ahead of older Greek and Norse entries
- Ralph Fiennes is the only actor to appear twice on the list, landing at #19 as Hades in Clash of the Titans (2010) and #15 as a haunted, trauma-paralysed Odysseus in The Return (2024)
- Jason and the Argonauts (1963) earns its Top 10 placing almost entirely on Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion work, with the hydra's-teeth skeleton fight singled out, while the reviewer concedes the rest of the film is "pretty ropey"
- Indian mythological cinema is heavily represented: Baahubali (2015/2017) at #2 is called "pure Mahabharata fan fiction," while the 1957 Telugu classic Mayabazar at #5 is praised for SV Ranga Rao's demon warlord Ghatotkacha
- The ranking deliberately reaches beyond Greco-Roman sources, giving equal billing to Norse (The Northman, Die Nibelungen), Biblical (Noah), Egyptian (Gods of Egypt), and Shinto-influenced (Spirited Away) films
Why it matters: The list treats mythology as a global storytelling language rather than a Greco-Roman monopoly — more than half the titles draw on non-Western traditions, and Ne Zha 2's box-office dominance is used to argue that the genre's commercial and creative center of gravity has shifted east. For viewers, it functions as a curated watchlist with a contrarian streak (the reviewer dismisses parts of Jason and the Argonauts and calls Clash of the Titans 2010 a generic Lord of the Rings knockoff).
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