🦈Best Shark Movies Ranked
Shark movies span from masterful suspense to B-movie thrills, shaping summer cinema and pop culture fears. Box office giants and cult favorites compete on scares, spectacle, and legacy. Vote for your top picks.
What counts: Best means iconic impact, tension, and rewatch value. Figures are approximate.
Spielberg turned a beach town into a pressure cooker with the great white's attacks building dread through unseen menace. The iconic theme and final boat showdown cemented its status as the definitive shark thriller.
Year: 1975RT Score: 9/10Budget: 9 $MGross: 470 $MRuntime: 124 min
added by Yourlist Editorialin 9 rankingsJaws
41Smart sharks engineered for research turn on their creators in a flooded facility, delivering frantic chases and shocking kills. Saffron Burrows and the lab explosions made it a 90s action staple.
Year: 1999RT Score: 5.8/10Budget: 60 $MGross: 165 $MRuntime: 105 min
added by Yourlist EditorialDeep Blue Sea
27Teens explore an underwater Mayan city and face blind cave sharks in a flooded ruin. The confined dark spaces amplified the sequel's panic.
Year: 2019RT Score: 4.5/10Budget: 12 $MGross: 58 $MRuntime: 90 min
added by Yourlist Editorial47 Meters Down: Uncaged
21Two sisters trapped in a shark cage at depth face dwindling air and circling predators in a claustrophobic nightmare. The underwater panic made it a surprise hit.
Year: 2017RT Score: 5.6/10Budget: 5 $MGross: 61 $MRuntime: 89 min
added by Yourlist Editorial47 Meters Down
20Blake Lively's surfer fights a great white from a rock while injured, turning a simple setup into a tense survival duel. The daylight attacks and resourcefulness defined its tight thrills.
Year: 2016RT Score: 7.9/10Budget: 17 $MGross: 119 $MRuntime: 86 min
added by Yourlist EditorialThe Shallows
18The Brody family faces another great white terrorizing Amity teens on boats, extending the original's coastal dread with more attacks. Roy Scheider's return anchored the sequel.
Year: 1978RT Score: 5.8/10Budget: 20 $MGross: 208 $MRuntime: 116 min
added by Yourlist EditorialJaws 2
18A great white infiltrates a Florida SeaWorld park for 3D attack sequences on tourists and staff. Dennis Quaid's engineer heroics tried to refresh the formula.
Year: 1983RT Score: 3.7/10Budget: 18 $MGross: 88 $MRuntime: 99 min
added by Yourlist EditorialJaws 3-D
14The Brody widow battles a vengeful shark that follows her to the Bahamas in the weakest entry's family curse plot. Michael Caine's presence couldn't save the silly tone.
Year: 1987RT Score: 2/10Budget: 23 $MGross: 52 $MRuntime: 89 min
added by Yourlist EditorialJaws: The Revenge
12Tornadoes filled with sharks ravage Los Angeles in absurd disaster comedy, spawning a meme empire with chainsaw heroics. Its self-aware ridiculousness turned it into cult TV gold.
Year: 2013RT Score: 3.3/10Budget: 1 $MGross: 0 $MRuntime: 86 min
added by Yourlist Editorialin 2 rankingsSharknado
10Statham returns to battle multiple megs and a new threat in deeper waters with bigger action. The expanded lore kept the franchise alive.
Year: 2023RT Score: 4.6/10Budget: 130 $MGross: 395 $MRuntime: 116 min
added by Yourlist EditorialMeg 2: The Trench
8Jason Statham battles a massive prehistoric shark in the Mariana Trench with high-seas action and rescues. Its mix of humor and scale revived the big-budget shark genre.
Year: 2018RT Score: 4.6/10Budget: 130 $MGross: 530 $MRuntime: 113 min
added by Yourlist EditorialThe Meg
7A couple abandoned at sea drifts while sharks circle in this based-on-true-events ordeal of isolation and fear. The real footage style heightened its raw dread.
Year: 2003RT Score: 5.4/10Budget: 0.5 $MGross: 55 $MRuntime: 79 min
added by Yourlist EditorialOpen Water
7Burt Reynolds hunts a sunken treasure guarded by sharks in this 60s adventure with underwater action. Its pulp roots prefigured the genre boom.
Year: 1969RT Score: 4.5/10Budget: 3 $MGross: 1 $MRuntime: 99 min
added by Yourlist Editorialin 2 rankingsShark
6A tsunami traps shoppers in a flooded supermarket with great whites in this Australian creature feature. Grocery aisle attacks gave it unique chaos.
Year: 2012RT Score: 5.2/10Budget: 15 $MGross: 33 $MRuntime: 93 min
added by Yourlist EditorialBait
3College students on a lake face tagged sharks in a remote bayou setup with 3D thrills. Its party-to-terror arc targeted teen audiences.
Year: 2011RT Score: 3.9/10Budget: 25 $MGross: 40 $MRuntime: 91 min
added by Yourlist EditorialShark Night
2Documentary follows divers filming great whites in a real expedition with raw ocean footage. Its authentic shark encounters influenced later fiction.
Year: 1971RT Score: 7.1/10Budget: 1 $MGross: 3 $MRuntime: 99 min
added by Yourlist EditorialBlue Water White Death
1A seaplane crash strands passengers on a shark-infested reef fighting for survival. Its isolated island setup echoed classic survival shark tales.
Year: 2021RT Score: 4.2/10Budget: 5 $MGross: 1 $MRuntime: 91 min
added by Yourlist EditorialGreat White
0Two men hunt a massive tiger shark in Mexican waters mixing adventure and exploitation. Its 70s grindhouse style earned cult status.
Year: 1977RT Score: 4/10Budget: 1 $MGross: 0 $MRuntime: 90 min
added by Yourlist EditorialTintorera
-4Three friends' cage dive turns deadly when sharks attack their boat in found-footage style. The Australian reef panic felt immediate.
Year: 2017RT Score: 4.1/10Budget: 1 $MGross: 0 $MRuntime: 80 min
added by Yourlist EditorialOpen Water 3: Cage Dive
-5Halle Berry's shark expert leads a dive that goes wrong with aggressive great whites. The underwater photography highlighted its diving roots.
Year: 2012RT Score: 3.4/10Budget: 25 $MGross: 1 $MRuntime: 94 min
added by Yourlist EditorialDark Tide
-9A navy crew battles a giant prehistoric shark awakened by sonar in this Syfy-style actioner. Its military vs monster formula delivered straightforward thrills.
Year: 2018RT Score: 2.8/10Budget: 1 $MGross: 0 $MRuntime: 88 min
added by Yourlist EditorialMegalodon
-13Prehistoric sharks hunt beachgoers after emerging from the sand in this low-budget creature romp. Its desert-to-sea gimmick targeted late-night viewers.
Year: 2012RT Score: 2.8/10Budget: 1 $MGross: 0 $MRuntime: 86 min
added by Yourlist EditorialSand Sharks
-14A vengeful spectral shark haunts a coastal town after being killed in this supernatural Syfy entry. Its ghostly twist added silly novelty.
Year: 2013RT Score: 3.3/10Budget: 1 $MGross: 0 $MRuntime: 84 min
added by Yourlist EditorialGhost Shark
-19A reality TV crew faces sharks during a storm on the Jersey shore in this Syfy mockumentary. Its pop culture satire gave it brief buzz.
Year: 2012RT Score: 2.9/10Budget: 1 $MGross: 0 $MRuntime: 86 min
added by Yourlist EditorialJersey Shore Shark Attack
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