No director has shaped popular cinema quite like Steven Spielberg. He invented the summer blockbuster with Jaws, made the most successful film of the 1980s with E.T., changed visual effects forever with Jurassic Park and won Best Director twice, for Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan.
In June 2026 he returned with Disclosure Day, his first summer release in a decade, which opened at No. 1 in North America. That makes it a good moment to look back at the whole career. Here is every feature film Spielberg has directed, ranked from weakest to best. (We have left out his short segment of the 1983 anthology Twilight Zone: The Movie.)
The ones that didn’t land
35. Always (1989)
A remake of the 1943 wartime romance A Guy Named Joe, with Richard Dreyfuss as a firefighting pilot who returns as a ghost. Sweet but slight, it is mostly remembered today as Audrey Hepburn’s final film role.
34. 1941 (1979)
Spielberg’s big, noisy comedy about Pearl Harbor panic in Los Angeles, with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. It was his first real flop, and he has admitted it taught him a lot about restraint.
33. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
Harrison Ford’s return after 19 years has fun moments, but the aliens, the CGI and that refrigerator scene made it the most divisive film in the series.
32. Hook (1991)
A grown-up Peter Pan, played by Robin Williams, has to rediscover his childhood. Dustin Hoffman is a delight as Captain Hook, but the film is overstuffed. Millennials who grew up with it still love it.
31. The BFG (2016)
A gentle Roald Dahl adaptation with Mark Rylance as the Big Friendly Giant. Lovely to look at, but it struggled at the box office.
Good, not great
30. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
Jeff Goldblum leads a darker sequel that ends with a T. rex loose in San Diego. Some great set pieces, including the trailer over the cliff, but it lacks the wonder of the original.
29. The Terminal (2004)
Tom Hanks plays a traveller stranded inside New York’s JFK airport when his country collapses. Charming and old-fashioned.
28. Ready Player One (2018)
A dazzling ride through Ernest Cline’s virtual world, packed with pop-culture references. The Shining sequence alone is worth the ticket.
27. War Horse (2011)
A sweeping First World War story about a boy and his horse. Beautifully shot by Janusz Kamiński and nominated for six Oscars, if a little sentimental.
26. Amistad (1997)
The true story of the 1839 revolt aboard a slave ship and the court case that followed, with powerful work from Djimon Hounsou and Anthony Hopkins.
25. The Adventures of Tintin (2011)
Spielberg’s only animated feature uses motion capture to bring Hergé’s reporter to life. The one-shot chase through Bagghar is a technical marvel, and the film won the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature.
24. The Sugarland Express (1974)
His first cinema feature, starring Goldie Hawn as a mother on the run with her husband. You can already see his talent for staging chases.
23. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
The darkest Indy film. Its violence helped lead to the creation of the PG-13 rating in the US. The mine-cart chase is still a thrill.
22. Disclosure Day (2026)
Spielberg’s newest film follows a pursuit to expose secret government files on UFO encounters, with Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor and Colman Domingo. It opened at No. 1 with about $44 million in North America and around $93 million worldwide. Critics were largely positive, while audiences were more mixed. Time will tell where it settles.
21. The Post (2017)
Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks in a brisk newspaper drama about the publication of the Pentagon Papers. Made quickly, and it feels urgent.
20. War of the Worlds (2005)
Tom Cruise flees an alien invasion in a film full of post-9/11 dread. The first hour is terrifying.
19. The Color Purple (1985)
Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey star in this adaptation of Alice Walker’s novel. It earned 11 Oscar nominations and, famously, won none.
18. Duel (1971)
A made-for-TV movie about a driver chased across the desert by a truck whose driver we never see. It is lean, scary and the clearest early sign of the director to come.
The great ones
17. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
A project Stanley Kubrick developed for years before handing it to Spielberg. Haley Joel Osment plays a robot boy who wants to be real. Divisive on release, much admired now.
16. Empire of the Sun (1987)
A 13-year-old Christian Bale gives a stunning performance as a British boy separated from his parents in Japanese-occupied Shanghai.
15. Bridge of Spies (2015)
A Cold War prisoner swap drama with Tom Hanks as lawyer James Donovan. Mark Rylance won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor as Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.
14. West Side Story (2021)
A bold, vivid remake of the classic musical. Ariana DeBose won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress as Anita.
13. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
Sean Connery as Indy’s father is the best idea the series ever had. Funny, warm and exciting.
12. Lincoln (2012)
Daniel Day-Lewis won his third Best Actor Oscar as the president fighting to pass the 13th Amendment. A talky film that never drags.
11. The Fabelmans (2022)
Spielberg’s most personal film, a lightly fictionalised story of his own childhood, his parents’ marriage and his first home movies. It won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Drama.
10. Munich (2005)
A tense and morally complicated thriller about the aftermath of the 1972 Munich Olympics attack, led by Eric Bana.
9. Minority Report (2002)
Tom Cruise as a cop accused of a murder he has not yet committed, based on Philip K. Dick. Its vision of the future still looks smart.
8. Catch Me If You Can (2002)
Leonardo DiCaprio as con man Frank Abagnale Jr. and Tom Hanks as the FBI agent chasing him. Possibly Spielberg’s most purely enjoyable film.
7. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Richard Dreyfuss becomes obsessed with a UFO sighting. That five-note musical greeting is one of the most famous sounds in film. It is also the clearest ancestor of Disclosure Day.
6. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
The Omaha Beach opening changed how war was shown on screen. It earned Spielberg his second Best Director Oscar.
5. Jurassic Park (1993)
Groundbreaking computer-generated dinosaurs combined with Stan Winston’s animatronics. It overtook E.T. to become the highest-grossing film ever at the time.
4. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
A lonely boy, a lost alien and a bicycle crossing the moon. Few films have made more people cry.
3. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Harrison Ford’s first outing as Indiana Jones is close to a perfect adventure film, and won four competitive Oscars.
2. Schindler’s List (1993)
Spielberg’s black-and-white Holocaust drama won seven Oscars, including Best Picture and his first Best Director award. It is his most important film.
1. Jaws (1975)
The film that created the summer blockbuster, made the most of a mechanical shark that barely worked and gave us “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” More than 50 years on, it is still his most perfectly built movie.
Frequently asked questions
How many films has Steven Spielberg directed?
35 feature films, from Duel (1971) to Disclosure Day (2026), not counting his segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie.
What is Steven Spielberg’s newest movie?
Disclosure Day, a UFO drama starring Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor and Colman Domingo, released in June 2026.
How many Oscars has Spielberg won as a director?
Two, for Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan.
What is Spielberg’s highest-grossing film?
Jurassic Park, which became the highest-grossing film ever on its release in 1993.
Rankings are the opinion of the GeekyBar Desk.
Sources: AP via WTOP (Disclosure Day opening)
