Top 10 Movies with the Biggest Pop Culture Influence



These films left their mark and continue to do so. For this list, we’ll be looking at the films that left the biggest impact on popular culture by pervading public consciousness even long after they came out and whose effects are wide, long-lasting, or both. Both individual films and film series will be included, because narrowing down some franchises to a single film would be impossible. Welcome to WatchMojo and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the top 10 movies with the biggest pop culture influence.

Check out our other videos!

Top 10 Movies You Didn’t Know Borrowed from Shakespeare: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dihWoH1j0nI
Top 10 Movie Directors of All Time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io5nkNXAH9o
Top 10 Most Iconic Movie Characters of All Time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTuOAsiGi_8

Disagree with our rank? Check out the voting page for this topic and have your say!
https://www.watchmojo.com/suggest/

10. “The Lord of the Rings” franchise (2001-03)
9. “The Matrix” franchise (1999-2003)
8. “Jaws” (1975)
7. “Pulp Fiction” (1994)
6. The “Harry Potter” franchise (2001-11)
5. “Psycho” (1960)
4. Marvel Cinematic Universe (2008-)
3,2,1!?!?!

Watch on WatchMojo.com

#Movies #Avengers #StarWars

Check our our other channels!
http://www.youtube.com/mojoplays
http://www.youtube.com/mojotalks
http://www.youtube.com/msmojo
http://www.youtube.com/jrmojo
http://www.youtube.com/watchmojouk

WatchMojo’s Social Media Pages
http://www.Facebook.com/WatchMojo
http://www.Twitter.com/WatchMojo
http://instagram.com/watchmojo

Get WatchMojo merchandise at shop.watchmojo.com

WatchMojo’s ten thousand videos on Top 10 lists, Origins, Biographies, Tips, How To’s, Reviews, Commentary and more on Pop Culture, Celebrity, Movies, Music, TV, Film, Video Games, Politics, News, Comics, Superheroes. Your trusted authority on ranking Pop Culture.

source

Related posts

TOP 7 BEST Absolute Masterpiece Movies in Hindi

Mahesh Babu Warns Mukesh Rishi | Srimanthudu Movie Scenes | Shruti Haasan | Koratala Siva | DSP

Top 5 Horror Movies| Tamil Dubbed Movies| Download Link Available

27 comments

@John_Kurt_Mister_Marsele March 26, 2024 - 1:58 am
WHERE IS BATTLE ROYAL?
THIS SUVIVAL ACTION MOVIE INSPIRED NOT ONLY HUNGER GAMES, BUT ONLY FORTNITE AND WARZONE!!!!!!
@YouthPotential March 26, 2024 - 1:58 am
Night of the living dead!? Without it we wouldn’t have the zombie craze we’ve had over the past several decades.
On a side note; the fact jaws actually made people afraid to go in the sea (myself as a kid included) is quite mad 😅
@tfpp1 March 26, 2024 - 1:58 am
#4 is a waste. In its place, I might put something like the Back To The Fture movies.
@sirfijoe450 March 26, 2024 - 1:58 am
King Kong 1933 and Seven Samurai blow all of these out of the water in terms of influence.
@rakshithsharma5979 March 26, 2024 - 1:58 am
John wick
@gianniskyr1312 March 26, 2024 - 1:58 am
WHERE IS 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY??????? TOP1 BY FAR
@Strongbad700 March 26, 2024 - 1:58 am
#10: The Lord of the Rings franchise (2001-2003)
#9: The Matrix franchise (1999-2003)
#8: Jaws (1975)
#7: Pulp Fiction (1994)
#6: The Harry Potter franchise (2001-2011)
#5: Psycho (1960)
#4: Marvel Cinematic Universe (2008-)
#3: The Godfather franchise (1972-1990)
#2: The Wizard of Oz (1939)
#1: The Star Wars franchise (1977-)

Honorable Mentions:
- Rocky (1976)
- Jurassic Park (1993)
- Mad Max franchise (1979-2015)
- Forrest Gump (1994)
- The Terminator franchise (1984-)
@geert574 March 26, 2024 - 1:58 am
Evil Dead is big deal, it's literally the bridge to more creative and zany 21st century movies, everything about it is impressive and innovative
@lorenzocarnevali7656 March 26, 2024 - 1:58 am
The fact that Back to the Future is not even in the Honorable Mentions makes me sick
@mikec6678 March 26, 2024 - 1:58 am
Even tho I've never seen any of the Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter movies, seen only a few minutes of the Wizard of Oz and Godfather movies and seen only the first 3 Star Wars movies, I can see why they made the list. However, it made me regurgitate when I saw that the Matrix movies were on the list and movies like Super Troopers, Office Space and Reservoir Dogs were left off. Whoever made the list, it's your opinion and I strongly disagree with some of it.
@trix48751 March 26, 2024 - 1:58 am
What about Indiana Jones, Back to the Future or Mary Poppins?😏
@ImOnTheADLwatchlist March 26, 2024 - 1:58 am
No Kubrick btw
@harsyakiarraathallah2222 March 26, 2024 - 1:58 am
My Top 20 List
1. Star Wars the Original Trilogy
2. the Wizard of OZ
3. Marvel Cinematic Universe
4. the GodFather Trilogy
5. Harry Potter Saga
6. James Bond 007
7. Pulp Fiction
8. PSYCHO
9. Indiana Jones Franchise
10. the Matrix Franchise
11. the Lord of the Rings Trilogy
12. Jaws
13. Rocky
14. Godzilla Franchise
15. Back to the Future Trilogy
16. Toy Story Franchise
17. the Dark Knight
18. Mad Max Franchise
19. the Terminator Franchise
20. Jurassic Park
@alifuller1658 March 26, 2024 - 1:58 am
YO KARATE MOVIES BETTER ON THIS DAMN LIST I KNOW THAT 👊
@yorokon2471 March 26, 2024 - 1:58 am
Ah yes pop culture memes movie
@ChessMasterNate March 26, 2024 - 1:58 am
Terminator and Back to the Future are certainly beyond some of those chosen.
The Blues Brothers was very influential at my High School...and that was years after the movie. Fame was also enormous, Smokey and the Bandit, Ferris Bueller's day off, Caddyshack, Alien, Indiana Jones, Top Gun, The Fifth Element, Idiocracy has become absurdly accurate in scary ways, 2001, Planet of the Apes (at least the original series of movies), GATTICA is coming close to reality, The Goonies, the Truman Show, Cast Away, Little Shop Of Horrors, The Sixth Sense, Toy Story, Cars, Monsters Inc., James Bond movies, Pink Panther movies, Monty Python movies, First Blood, E.T., Dirty Harry, The Island of Dr. Moreau 1977, Men in Black, Avatar, Titanic, A Fish Called Wanda, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

The Godfather series, appeals to film students, who are told what to like and accept it, but I don't think it has influenced much of anything. Plenty of mob movies before that. Maybe it was done better than previous mob movies and slower. I guess if you are into up-close psychopathic brutality...whatever. For the same reason, I would not include Rocky, even though it was massive. There simply were boxing movies before Rocky, even if Rocky was done the best and had exceptional music. The Hunt for Red October was a great movie, but sub chase movies have been done before. Unless a movie virtually makes a new type of movie, it can't have much influence.
The Wizard of Oz? Ho Hum. The book had the influence. There are any number of Disney animated movies with as much impact, and The Sound of Music had a similar influence...but I would not include either. It's a Wonderful Life is another of these. And Mary Poppins.
I don't think it speaks much for your list, when objectively, 2 of your top 3 are likely not worthy of being on the list in any position.

Movies based on books/magazines where the books were read by millions first, means the books are what had the influence, rather than the movies. As such, I would not include: Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, The Wizard of Oz, or Marvel.

And just having a patented musical note or phrase when something appears or attacks repeatedly does not make something "influence culture" in a meaningful way: Psycho, Jaws, Close encounters... A song when a particular activity is repeated? I am more lenient: The Never Ending Story, Top Gun, Star Wars, Rocky, Beverly Hills Cop, Fetch, Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, James Bond, The Pink Panther...everyone knows the songs.


My list would be:
1. Star Wars (space epic unlike anything before)
2. The Matrix (virtual worlds had been done before: Tron and Lawnmower Man, and the concept that we could be in an illusion was broadly explored as an idea, but no movie really combined the messianic with an illusionary world like that)
3. The Terminator (The idea of robots taking over the World was not an uncommon idea, but it really hadn't been explored in film or combined with time travel)
4. Indiana Jones (There really was no obvious precedent for this. There are elements from various Tarzan movies/shows, and the whole colonialism romanticism, but mostly it is new)
5. Back to the Future (time travel has been done, and the grandfather paradox was well known, but no one really bothered to use it in a movie. In fact, most attempts to show the future were quite lazy, showing a lot of repeated elements, rather than attempting to show a progression of ordinary life)
6. James Bond (secret agents had been done, but suave agents with toys, and womanizing was new, I think)
7. Planet of the Apes (Time travel but a heck of a spin)
8. Monty Python (unique humor)
9. Alien (Yes, a monster movie, but with lots of new elements)
10. First blood (as far as I know, this is the first movie that shows a person just flip after being pressed, and not able to turn it off. Maybe some martial arts movies do this somewhat)
11. Bruce Lee (no one in the West had really seen martial arts like this)
12. Pink Panther (very creative humor)
13. Mad Max (the combination of post nuclear apocalypse with fast moving cars with people climbing on them was definitely new)
14. Smokey and the Bandit (ok, maybe not the first trucker movie, but they started at roughly the same time and this one was huge. The first was 1940 but was done differently. Smokey and the Bandit was the real breakout, and it was a comedy rather than the more serious predecessors. The comedy angle was rapidly copied. I would even put the Blues Brothers in the same category even though semis are not used much, and it had other unique elements like emphasis on the Blues rather than Country.
15. Jurassic Park (there are time travel movies with encounters with dinosaurs, but being placed in our time using genetic engineering with the possibility of escape was a great addition)
16. Blade Runner (very creative, and I think it was the first to depict a future steered by East Asian corporations and culture)
17. Gladiator (There were some movies about power and war in antiquity, but hadn't been done for decades, this one had many unique aspects especially incorporating philosophy, and was marvelously done).
@aladeplays7884 March 26, 2024 - 1:58 am
Scarface
James Bond 007
Titanic
Fast & Furious
@igneous7976 March 26, 2024 - 1:58 am
Superman 78 should be here and the dark knight the dark knight set a dark vibe to future films
Superman started comics and first hero to appear on the big screen
@aquariuskudo March 26, 2024 - 1:58 am
The fact that Wizard of Oz was referenced in the Matrix makes this list awesome.
@Miranda-nx2wc March 26, 2024 - 1:58 am
Bruh James Bond should definitely be in the top 3
@cristiancastaneda2808 March 26, 2024 - 1:58 am
BACK TO THE FUTURE
@sanskardutta630 March 26, 2024 - 1:58 am
where the hell is nolan's batman trilogy it literally redefined the superhero sub-genre
@wendyolmstead8459 March 26, 2024 - 1:58 am
What about The Fast and Furious franchise? 😳😱😢
@aashutosh593 March 26, 2024 - 1:58 am
Finally l found out who is behind this amazing voice
@milescory8928 March 26, 2024 - 1:58 am
So no 2001: A Space Odyssey???
@yvesus7 March 26, 2024 - 1:58 am
what about carrie? a lot of movies reference the pig’s blood dump and the hand popping scene at the end.
@snaketooth0943 March 26, 2024 - 1:58 am
Everyone's asking where back to the future is, I'm wondering where You Story (1995) is, it was the first CGI animated movie!

Comments are closed.

Add Comment