Paul Greengrass - All His Films Ranked

Short Biography:

Paul Greengrass CBE (born 13 August 1955) is a British film director, film producer, screenwriter and former journalist. He specialises in dramatisations of historic events and is known for his signature use of hand-held cameras. His early film Bloody Sunday (2002), about the 1972 shootings in Derry, Northern Ireland, won the Golden Bear at 52nd Berlin International Film Festival. Other films he has directed include three in the Bourne action/thriller series: The Bourne Supremacy (2004), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), and Jason Bourne (2016); United 93 (2006), for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Director and received an Academy Award for Best Director nomination; Green Zone (2010); and Captain Phillips (2013).
In 2007, Greengrass co-founded Directors UK, a professional organisation of British filmmakers, and was its first president until 2014. In 2008, The Telegraph named him among the most influential people in British culture. In 2017, Greengrass was honoured with a British Film Institute Fellowship.

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:

7.56

Total Career Box Office:

$ 1,573,790,529

Total Combined Budgets:

$ 515,000,000

Total Career Profit or [Loss]:

$ 1,058,790,529

Average Career Return on Every $1 Spent:

$ 3.67

10 – Jason Bourne (2016)

IMDb:

6.6

RT Users:

5.5

Letterboxd:

5.74

5.95

Action, Thriller

Top Billed Cast:

Matt Damon, Alicia Vikander, Tommy Lee Jones, Vincent Cassel, Julia Stiles

SYNOPSIS:

It’s been 10 years since Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) walked away from the agency that trained him to become a deadly weapon. Hoping to draw him out of the shadows, CIA director Robert Dewey assigns hacker and counterinsurgency expert Heather Lee to find him. Lee suspects that former operative Nicky Parsons is also looking for him. As she begins tracking the duo, Bourne finds himself back in action battling a sinister network that utilizes terror and technology to maintain unchecked power.

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE GROSS:

$ 415,484,914

PRODUCTION BUDGET:

$ 120,000,000

PROFIT OR (LOSS):

$ 295,484,914

RETURN ON EVERY $1 SPENT:

$ 3.46

9 – The Theory of Flight (1998)

IMDb:

6.5

RT Users:

5.7

Letterboxd:

5.94

6.05

Comedy, Drama, Romance

Top Billed Cast:

Helena Bonham Carter, Kenneth Branagh, Gemma Jones, Holly Aird, Ray Stevenson

SYNOPSIS:

A dreamer who aspires to human flight is assigned public service after one of his attempts off a public building. This leads him to meeting a young woman, who is dying of motor neuron disease. The strong-willed woman admits her wish to be de-flowered before her death. The man, struggling to maintain his relationship with his girl friend, declines but offers to help pay for a gigolo to do the deed. The following events play off the inherent comedy and drama of the circumstances.

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE GROSS:

$ 73,233

PRODUCTION BUDGET:

N/A

PROFIT OR (LOSS):

N/A

RETURN ON EVERY $1 SPENT:

N/A

8 – Green Zone (2010)

IMDb:

6.8

RT Users:

5.7

Letterboxd:

5.94

6.15

Action, Adventure, Drama, Thriller

Top Billed Cast:

Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear, Brendan Gleeson, Amy Ryan, Jason Isaacs

SYNOPSIS:

During the U.S.-led occupation of Baghdad in 2003, Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller and his team of Army inspectors are dispatched to find weapons of mass destruction believed to be stockpiled in the Iraqi desert. Rocketing from one booby-trapped and treacherous site to the next, the men search for deadly chemical agents but stumble instead upon an elaborate cover-up that threatens to invert the purpose of their mission.

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE GROSS:

$ 113,377,594

PRODUCTION BUDGET:

$ 100,000,000

PROFIT OR (LOSS):

$ 13,377,594

RETURN ON EVERY $1 SPENT:

$ 1.13

7 – 22 July (2018)

IMDb:

6.8

RT Users:

6.9

Letterboxd:

6.28

6.66

Crime, Drama

Top Billed Cast:

Anders Danielsen Lie, Jonas Strand Gravli, Jon Øigarden, Maria Bock, Thorbjørn Harr, Seda Witt

SYNOPSIS:

A dramatisation of Norway’s deadliest terrorist attack, in which a right-wing extremist murders 77 teens at a youth camp in 2011.

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE GROSS:

STREAMING

PRODUCTION BUDGET:

N/A

PROFIT OR (LOSS):

N/A

RETURN ON EVERY $1 SPENT:

N/A

6 – News of the World (2020)

IMDb:

6.8

RT Users:

8.9

Letterboxd:

6.44

7.38

Action, Adventure, Drama, Western

Top Billed Cast:

Tom Hanks, Helena Zengel, Michael Angelo Covino, Ray McKinnon, Mare Winningham

SYNOPSIS:

Five years after the end of the Civil War, Capt. Jefferson Kyle Kidd crosses paths with a 10-year-old girl taken by the Kiowa people. Forced to return to her aunt and uncle, Kidd agrees to escort the child across the harsh and unforgiving plains of Texas. However, the long journey soon turns into a fight for survival as the traveling companions encounter danger at every turn — both human and natural.

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE GROSS:

$ 12,668,325 (Limited Release)

PRODUCTION BUDGET:

$ 38,000,000

PROFIT OR (LOSS):

$ (-25,331,675)

RETURN ON EVERY $1 SPENT:

$ 0.33

5 – United 93 (2006)

IMDb:

7.6

RT Users:

8.3

Letterboxd:

7.32

7.74

Biography, Crime, Drama, Thriller

Top Billed Cast:

Trieste Kelly Dunn, Starla Benford, Kate Jennings Grant, David Alan Basche, Richard Bekins

SYNOPSIS:

On Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists seize control of United Airlines Flight 93 and three other planes. As realization of the imminent horror dawns on passengers, crew and loved ones on the ground, the courageous acts by those held hostage in the air count down in actual time.

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE GROSS:

$ 76,700,659

PRODUCTION BUDGET:

$ 15,000,000

PROFIT OR (LOSS):

$ 61,700,659

RETURN ON EVERY $1 SPENT:

$ 5.11

4 – The Bourne Supremacy (2004)

IMDb:

7.7

RT Users:

9.0

Letterboxd:

7.06

7.92

Action, Drama, Thriller

Top Billed Cast:

Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, Franka Potente, Brian Cox, Karl Urban

SYNOPSIS:

When a CIA operation to purchase classified Russian documents is blown by a rival agent, who then shows up in the sleepy seaside village where Bourne and Marie have been living. The pair run for their lives and Bourne, who promised retaliation should anyone from his former life attempt contact, is forced to once again take up his life as a trained assassin to survive.

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE GROSS:

$ 290,835,269

PRODUCTION BUDGET:

$ 75,000,000

PROFIT OR (LOSS):

$ 215,835,269

RETURN ON EVERY $1 SPENT:

$ 3.88

3 – Captain Phillips (2013)

IMDb:

7.8

RT Users:

8.9

Letterboxd:

7.34

8.01

Action, Drama, Thriller

Top Billed Cast:

Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi, Barkhad Abdirahman, Michael Chernus, David Warshofsky

SYNOPSIS:

In April 2009, the U.S. containership Maersk Alabama sails toward its destination on a day that seems like any other. Suddenly, Somali pirates race toward the vessel, climb aboard and take everyone hostage. The captain of the ship, Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks), looks to protect his crew from the hostile invaders, and their leader, Muse (Barkhad Abdi). The pirates are after millions of dollars, and Phillips must use his wits to make sure everyone survives and returns home safely.

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE GROSS:

$ 218,791,811

PRODUCTION BUDGET:

$ 55,000,000

PROFIT OR (LOSS):

$ 163,791,811

RETURN ON EVERY $1 SPENT:

$ 3.98

2 – Bloody Sunday (2002)

IMDb:

7.6

RT Users:

9.1

Letterboxd:

7.54

8.08

Drama

Top Billed Cast:

James Nesbitt, Allan Gildea, Gerard Crossan, Mary Moulds, Tim Pigott-Smith

SYNOPSIS:

On January 30, 1972, in the Northern Irish town of Derry, a peaceful protest march led by civil rights activist Ivan Cooper (James Nesbitt) turned into a slaughter. British soldiers suddenly opened fire on the defenseless crowd, killing 13 people and wounding 14 more. Shot as if a documentary, this film follows Ivan throughout the day as it chronicles the events leading up to the horrific incident and the bloodied, confused aftermath that followed.

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE GROSS:

$ 1,758,689

PRODUCTION BUDGET:

$ 2,000,000

PROFIT OR (LOSS):

$ [-241,311]

RETURN ON EVERY $1 SPENT:

$ 0.88

1 – The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

IMDb:

8.0

RT Users:

9.1

Letterboxd:

7.26

8.12

Action, Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Top Billed Cast:

Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, David Strathairn, Scott Glenn, Paddy Considine

SYNOPSIS:

Bourne is brought out of hiding once again by reporter Simon Ross who is trying to unveil Operation Blackbriar, an upgrade to Project Treadstone, in a series of newspaper columns. Information from the reporter stirs a new set of memories, and Bourne must finally uncover his dark past while dodging The Company’s best efforts to eradicate him.

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE GROSS:

$ 444,100,035

PRODUCTION BUDGET:

$ 110,000,000

PROFIT OR (LOSS):

$ 334,100,035

RETURN ON EVERY $1 SPENT:

$ 4.04