Christopher Nolan - All His FIlms Ranked and Rated

Short Biography:

Christopher Nolan CBE (born 30 July 1970) is a British-American film director, producer, and screenwriter. His films have grossed more than US$ 5.7 billion worldwide and have garnered 11 Academy Awards from 36 nominations. Having received many awards and honours throughout his career, in 2015, Time named him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2019, he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his services to film.
Nolan developed an interest in filmmaking from a young age. After studying English literature at University College London, he made his feature film debut with Following (1998). Nolan gained international recognition with his second film, Memento (2000), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He transitioned from independent to studio filmmaking with Insomnia (2002), and found further critical and commercial success with The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005–2012), The Prestige (2006), and Inception (2010), which received eight Oscar nominations, including for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. This was followed by Interstellar (2014), Dunkirk (2017), and Tenet (2020). For Dunkirk, he earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture and his first nomination for Best Director.

Here is a rundown of his movies, with the score based on the average from IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes (public votes only) and Letterboxd, from lowest ranked to highest:

Number of Qualifying Films:

Career Average Rating:

8.39

Total Career Box Office:

$ 5.1 Billion

Total Combined Budgets:

$ 1.3 Billion

Total Career Profit or [Loss]:

$ 3.8 Billion

Average Career Return on Every $1 Spent:

$ 4.32 (Median)

11 – Tenet (2020)

IMDb:

7.3

RT Users:

7.6

Letterboxd:

6.84

7.25

Drama, Thriller, Science Fiction

Top Billed Cast:

John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Kenneth Branagh

SYNOPSIS:

A secret agent is given a single word as his weapon and sent to prevent the onset of World War III. He must travel through time and bend the laws of nature in order to be successful in his mission.

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE GROSS:

$ 365,294,355

PRODUCTION BUDGET:

$ 205,000,000

PROFIT OR (LOSS):

$ 160,294,355

RETURN ON EVERY $1 SPENT:

$ 1.78

10 – Insomnia (2002)

IMDb:

7.2

RT Users:

7.7

Letterboxd:

6.92

7.27

Crime, Mystery, Thriller

Top Billed Cast:

Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Hilary Swank, Maura Tierney, Martin Donovan

SYNOPSIS:

From acclaimed director Chris Nolan (“Memento”) comes the story of a veteran police detective (Al Pacino) who is sent to a small Alaskan town to investigate the murder of a teenage girl. Forced into a psychological game of cat-and-mouse by the primary suspect (Robin Williams), events escalate and the detective finds his own stability dangerously threatened.

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE GROSS:

$ 113,758,770

PRODUCTION BUDGET:

$ 46,000,000

PROFIT OR (LOSS):

$ 67,758,770

RETURN ON EVERY $1 SPENT:

$ 2.47

9 – Following (1998)

IMDb:

7.5

RT Users:

8.5

Letterboxd:

6.86

7.62

Drama, Thriller

Top Billed Cast:

Jeremy Theobald, Alex Haw, Lucy Russell, John Nolan, Dick Bradsell

SYNOPSIS:

A young writer living in London follows people in the hope of using their lives in his novels, but the hobby becomes an obsession and he soon finds himself going further than intended.

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE GROSS:

$ 48,482

PRODUCTION BUDGET:

$ 6,000

PROFIT OR (LOSS):

$ 42,482

RETURN ON EVERY $1 SPENT:

$ 8.08

8 – Dunkirk (2017)

IMDb:

7.8

RT Users:

8.1

Letterboxd:

7.60

7.83

Action, Biography, Drama

Top Billed Cast:

Fionn Whitehead, Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy

SYNOPSIS:

In May 1940, Germany advanced into France, trapping Allied troops on the beaches of Dunkirk. Under air and ground cover from British and French forces, troops were slowly and methodically evacuated from the beach using every serviceable naval and civilian vessel that could be found. At the end of this heroic mission, 330,000 French, British, Belgian and Dutch soldiers were safely evacuated.

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE GROSS:

$ 527,016,307

PRODUCTION BUDGET:

$ 100,000,000

PROFIT OR (LOSS):

$ 427,016,307

RETURN ON EVERY $1 SPENT:

$ 5.27

7 – The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

IMDb:

8.4

RT Users:

9.0

Letterboxd:

7.38

8.26

Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller

Top Billed Cast:

Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt

SYNOPSIS:

Following the death of District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman assumes responsibility for Dent’s crimes to protect the late attorney’s reputation and is subsequently hunted by the Gotham City Police Department. Eight years later, Batman encounters the mysterious Selina Kyle and the villainous Bane, a new terrorist leader who overwhelms Gotham’s finest. The Dark Knight resurfaces to protect a city that has branded him an enemy.

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE GROSS:

$ 1,081,153,097

PRODUCTION BUDGET:

$ 250,000,000

PROFIT OR (LOSS):

$ 831,153,097

RETURN ON EVERY $1 SPENT:

$ 4.32

6 – Batman Begins (2005)

IMDb:

8.2

RT Users:

9.4

Letterboxd:

7.56

8.39

Action, Crime, Drama

Top Billed Cast:

Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman

SYNOPSIS:

A young Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) travels to the Far East, where he’s trained in the martial arts by Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson), a member of the mysterious League of Shadows. When Ducard reveals the League’s true purpose — the complete destruction of Gotham City — Wayne returns to Gotham intent on cleaning up the city without resorting to murder. With the help of Alfred (Michael Caine), his loyal butler, and Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), a tech expert at Wayne Enterprises, Batman is born.

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE GROSS:

$ 373,672,993

PRODUCTION BUDGET:

$ 150,000,000

PROFIT OR (LOSS):

$ 223,672,993

RETURN ON EVERY $1 SPENT:

$ 2.49

5 – The Prestige (2006)

IMDb:

8.5

RT Users:

9.2

Letterboxd:

7.50

8.40

Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Top Billed Cast:

Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall

SYNOPSIS:

Period thriller set in Edwardian London where two rival magicians, partners until the tragic death of an assistant during a show, feud bitterly after one of them performs the ultimate magic trick – teleportation. His rival tries desperately to uncover the secret of his routine, experimenting with dangerous new science as his quest takes him to the brink of insanity and jeopardises the lives of everyone around the pair.

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE GROSS:

$ 109,676,311

PRODUCTION BUDGET:

$ 40,000,000

PROFIT OR (LOSS):

$ 69,676,311

RETURN ON EVERY $1 SPENT:

$ 2.74

4 – Interstellar (2014)

IMDb:

8.6

RT Users:

8.6

Letterboxd:

8.42

8.54

Adventure, Drama, Science Fiction

Top Billed Cast:

Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, John Lithgow, Casey Affleck

SYNOPSIS:

In Earth’s future, a global crop blight and second Dust Bowl are slowly rendering the planet uninhabitable. Professor Brand (Michael Caine), a brilliant NASA physicist, is working on plans to save mankind by transporting Earth’s population to a new home via a wormhole. But first, Brand must send former NASA pilot Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) and a team of researchers through the wormhole and across the galaxy to find out which of three planets could be mankind’s new home.

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE GROSS:

$ 701,729,206

PRODUCTION BUDGET:

$ 165,000,000

PROFIT OR (LOSS):

$ 536,729,206

RETURN ON EVERY $1 SPENT:

$ 4.25

3 – Memento (2000)

IMDb:

8.4

RT Users:

9.4

Letterboxd:

8.24

8.68

Mystery, Thriller

Top Billed Cast:

Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, Mark Boone Junior, Russ Fega

SYNOPSIS:

Leonard (Guy Pearce) is tracking down the man who raped and murdered his wife. The difficulty, however, of locating his wife’s killer is compounded by the fact that he suffers from a rare, untreatable form of memory loss. Although he can recall details of life before his accident, Leonard cannot remember what happened fifteen minutes ago, where he’s going, or why.

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE GROSS:

$ 40,047,078

PRODUCTION BUDGET:

$ 9,000,000

PROFIT OR (LOSS):

$ 31,047,078

RETURN ON EVERY $1 SPENT:

$ 4.45

2 – Inception (2010)

IMDb:

8.8

RT Users:

9.1

Letterboxd:

8.36

8.75

Action, Adventure, Science Fiction

Top Billed Cast:

Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy, Elliot Page

SYNOPSIS:

Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a thief with the rare ability to enter people’s dreams and steal their secrets from their subconscious. His skill has made him a hot commodity in the world of corporate espionage but has also cost him everything he loves. Cobb gets a chance at redemption when he is offered a seemingly impossible task: Plant an idea in someone’s mind. If he succeeds, it will be the perfect crime, but a dangerous enemy anticipates Cobb’s every move.

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE GROSS:

$ 836,848,102

PRODUCTION BUDGET:

$ 160,000,000

PROFIT OR (LOSS):

$ 676,848,102

RETURN ON EVERY $1 SPENT:

$ 5.23

1 – The Dark Knight (2008)

IMDb:

9.0

RT Users:

9.4

Letterboxd:

8.88

9.09

Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller

Top Billed Cast:

Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal

SYNOPSIS:

With the help of allies Lt. Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) and DA Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), Batman (Christian Bale) has been able to keep a tight lid on crime in Gotham City. But when a vile young criminal calling himself the Joker (Heath Ledger) suddenly throws the town into chaos, the caped Crusader begins to tread a fine line between heroism and vigilantism.

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE GROSS:

$ 1,006,102,277

PRODUCTION BUDGET:

$ 185,000,000

PROFIT OR (LOSS):

$ 821,102,277

RETURN ON EVERY $1 SPENT:

$ 5.44