The Top 20 Films of 2020: Reranked
As we do every year here at Flickchart, earlier this week we published our list of the Top 20 Films of 2021. The great thing about out lists is that they are not really OUR lists, but the aggregate result of hundreds of thousands of rankings by our users. YOU help define the best films of any given year simply by using the site, and as such, a year can often result in some pretty big changes.
There’s no greater evidence of what a strange year 2020 was for movie releases than this list, because it has changed a lot from when it was first published on January 1, 2021. These lists are often populated by big movies that everybody saw in the theater, but as 2020 had precious few of those, many critically lauded films took longer to find their audience. The way in which movies were consumed changed a lot in 2020, but that doesn’t mean that good films didn’t exist.
Without further ado, here’s the new, improved list of Flickchart’s Top 20 Films of 2020, as decided by you, the users. As always, this list is only accurate up until the time it is published.
20. Emma.
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Directed by Autumn de Wilde
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Global Rank: #5,033
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Last Year’s Rank: #13
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Last Year’s Global Rank: #7,579
Often some of these lists include films that have dropped a bit in the rankings, but Emma. was #13 at the end of last year, yet has risen almost 2,500 spots on the global chart, which should give you an idea of how different 2020’s list looks.
In 2021, Anya Taylor-Joy starred in Edgar Wright‘s Last Night in Soho, one of our current Top 20 Films of 2021. In 2022, she’s starring in The Northman, for her The Witch director, Robert Eggers. She’ll also appear opposite Margot Robbie and Christian Bale in an as-yet-mysterious project directed by David O. Russell, and lend her voice to Princess Peach in Illumination Entertainment’s upcoming animated film based on Super Mario Bros.
No word yet on how director Autumn de Wilde may follow up her feature film debut.
19. Mank
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Directed by David Fincher
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Global Rank: #4,994
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Last Year’s Rank: #12
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Last Year’s Global Rank: #6,403
In 2021, Gary Oldman starred in Crisis for director Nicholas Jarecki, and The Woman in the Window for Netflix and director Joe Wright. Next up is the Apple TV+ series Slow Horses, based on the novel of the same name by Mick Herron.
Amanda Seyfried starred in Netflix’s Things Heard & Seen, and A Mouthful of Air for first-time feature director Amy Koppelman. Next up for Seyfried is the Hulu original miniseries The Dropout.
David Fincher‘s next film, The Killer, with a screenplay from his Se7en writer, Andrew Kevin Walker, and starring Tilda Swinton and Michael Fassbender, is currently filming.
18. Wolfwalkers
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Directed by Tomm Moore & Ross Stewart
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Global Rank: #4,798
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New to the Top 20
This unique animated film from the creators of the Oscar-nominated Song of the Sea and The Secret of Kells has steadily been finding its audience as an Apple original, and it is the first of several films on this list that did not appear when it was published last year. Tomm Moore is currently producing another animated project, My Father’s Dragon, slated for a 2022 release.
17. Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
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Directed by Cathy Yan
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Global Rank: #4,674
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Last Year’s Rank: #8
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Last Year’s Global Rank: #4,940
This is one film on this list that has maintained a relatively stable position on the global chart as other movies have moved around it. Which makes sense, as it’s the only big comic book-based movie to have gotten a theatrical release before the world went into lockdown.
Margot Robbie reprised her role as Harley Quinn to acclaim in The Suicide Squad in 2021. In 2022, she’s set to appear in three projects for major directors that currently have their plots under wraps: that aforementioned David O. Russell project with Anya Taylor-Joy, Babylon for Damien Chazelle, and Asteroid City for Wes Anderson.
Cathy Yan directed an episode of the TV series Succession that aired in 2021, but there’s no word yet on her next feature project.
16. One Night in Miami…
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Directed by Regina King
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Global Rank: #4,645
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New to the Top 20
This Amazon original, imagining a fictional meeting between African American icons Sam Cooke, Jim Brown, Muhammad Ali, and Malcolm X, was part of a big year for writer Kemp Powers. He was Oscar nominated for his Miami script, and co-wrote and co-directed Pixar‘s Best Animated Film-winning Soul. Now, he’s one of the co-directors of the upcoming two-part animated event Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse.
Miami was the directorial debut of actress Regina King, who will star in an upcoming biopic of America’s first black congresswoman, Shirley Chisholm, for director John Ridley. (No release date has yet been set.) As a director, she’s been tapped for an adaptation of the comic book Bitter Root.
15. Da 5 Bloods
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Directed by Spike Lee
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Global Rank: #4,453
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Last Year’s Rank: #10
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Last Year’s Global Rank: #4,951
Star Delroy Lindo appeared in Netflix’s The Harder They Fall in 2021, in addition to his ongoing role in the TV series The Good Fight. He’ll next appear in the Amazon miniseries Anansi Boys and is set to star opposite Oscar winner Mahershala Ali in Marvel‘s Blade.
Spike Lee directed the four-part documentary series NYC Epicenters 9/11-2021½, which aired on HBO Max in August. He’s currently in pre-production on a pair of… unusual projects: Prince of Cats, an 80s-themed hip-hop retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, and an as-yet-untitled musical about the “rise” of Viagra (pun absolutely intended).
14. I’m Thinking of Ending Things
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Directed by Charlie Kaufman
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Global Rank: #3,530
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Last Year’s Rank: #9
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Last Year’s Global Rank: #4,947
There’s no word yet on writer/director Charlie Kaufman‘s next effort, but his stars have been busy. Jesse Plemons appeared in a whopping four films in 2021: Judas and the Black Messiah, Disney’s Jungle Cruise, The Power of the Dog and Antlers. And he’s not slowing down, with the thriller Windfall, Martin Scorsese‘s Killers of the Flower Moon and the miniseries Love and Death, starring Elizabeth Olsen, all coming in 2022.
Jessie Buckley will be seen this year in director Sarah Polley‘s drama Women Talking, and the horror film Men, under the direction of Ex Machina and Annihilation helmer Alex Garland. Toni Collette‘s upcoming work is in TV: Look for her in The Staircase and Pieces of Her in 2022.
13. Minari
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Directed by Lee Isaac Chung
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Global Rank: #3,153
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New to the Top 20
This Best Picture Oscar nominee garnered a Best Supporting Actress win for Youn Yuh-jung, who starred in director Im Sang-soo’s Heaven: To the Land of Happiness in 2021. Director Lee Isaac Chung is a co-writer on a recently-announced live action remake of the 2016 anime film Your Name, while star Steven Yeun appeared in the ensemble drama The Humans and lent his voice to the animated Amazon series Invincible in 2021. Yeun will next appear in Nope, director Jordan Peele‘s horror follow-up to Us.
12. Onward
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Directed by Dan Scanlon
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Global Rank: #3,050
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Last Year’s Rank: #6
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Last Year’s Global Rank: #3,253
Another movie that seemed to have already found its “permanent” place on the global chart a year ago, the first Pixar film released in 2020 (and the only one of the two to get a theatrical window, shortly before the pandemic shut theaters down) was a nominee for Best Animated Feature Film at the Oscars. Director Dan Scanlon still works at Pixar, serving as an executive producer for the animation superstudio’s next offering, Turning Red, due this year.
The film’s two main voice actors are, of course, Hollywood heavy-hitters. In 2021, Tom Holland got tepid reviews for the sci-fi Choas Walking and the thriller Cherry, but ended the year reinvigorating the box office with Spider-Man: No Way Home, currently Flickchart’s #1-ranked film for last year. He’s got the lead role of Nathan Drake in this year’s upcoming adaptation of the video game series Uncharted. Chris Pratt had a big hit for Amazon with The Tomorrow War. Next, we’ll see him complete a couple of trilogies: Jurassic World: Dominion is eyeing a June release, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is currently filming.
11. Another Round
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Directed by Thomas Vinterberg
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Global Rank: #3,005
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New to the Top 20
The winner of Best International Feature Film for Denmark at the Oscars, Druk also scored a Best Director nomination for Thomas Vinterberg. Vinterberg is currently in pre-production on a Danish miniseries entitled Families Like Ours. Mads Mikkelsen‘s reunion with his The Hunt director scored him a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor. In 2021 he appeared in Doug Liman‘s Chaos Walking, and this year he replaces Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald in the next film in the Fantastic Beasts series, The Secrets of Dumbledore, due in theaters in April.
10. A Quiet Place Part II
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Directed by John Krasinski
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Global Rank: #2,921
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New to the Top 20
This highly anticipated sequel’s appearance here is the perfect example of why 2020’s list is so vastly different one year later. A Quiet Place Part II had its New York premiere on March 8, 2020, but then it became one of the first major studio films to be delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and, subsequently, one of the first to get a theatrical release after lockdown, 14 months later in May of 2021. It hit streaming 45 days later. If it was considered a 2021 release, it would’ve appeared at #6 on our recent list. Its release may have been harmed by the pandemic, but it was still a hit with audiences.
No word on A Quiet Place Part III yet. John Krasinski has been starring in the series Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan for Amazon, and will voice Superman in the animated film DC League of Super-Pets this year. His wife and leading lady, Emily Blunt, starred in Disney’s Jungle Cruise opposite Dwayne Johnson, and has been tapped to play the wife of her Quiet Place II co-star Cillian Murphy‘s title character in Christopher Nolan‘s Oppenheimer, due in 2023.
A Quiet Place‘s breakout star, Millicent Simmonds, will portray American author and activist Helen Keller in Helen & Teacher, for director Wash Westmoreland, currently in pre-production. Her onscreen brother, Noah Jupe, appeared in Steven Soderbergh‘s No Sudden Move, will lend his voice to the 2023 animated film The Magician’s Elephant, and has been cast for an upcoming remake of the 1987 vampire flick, The Lost Boys.
9. The Father
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Directed by Florian Zeller
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Global Rank: #2,760
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New to the Top 20
Another Best Picture Oscar nominee makes our list. This one won the award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and made Anthony Hopkins, at 83 years old, the oldest-ever actor to win an Oscar in a competitive acting category, surpassing the record set by Christopher Plummer in 2012, for Beginners. Florian Zeller‘s next film bears the apropos title of The Son, and will reunite him with Hopkins. The Son is due this year and also stars Hugh Jackman and Vanessa Kirby. After The Son, Hopkins will star in James Gray‘s Armageddon Time. His co-star, Olivia Coleman, can next be seen in the drama Joyride, and is currently filming Wonka, opposite Dune‘s Timothée Chalamet in the title role.
8. The Invisible Man
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Directed by Leigh Whannell
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Global Rank: #2,568
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Last Year’s Rank: #2
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Last Year’s Global Rank: #2,691
Leigh Whannell‘s updating of a horror classic – an early release that actually had a theatrical window – has had staying power on the charts, and just been surpassed by some other films. Whannell’s previous film, Upgrade, is getting a conversion to television series, and he is also in pre-production on a remake of the John Carpenter classic, Escape from New York. His leading lady, Elisabeth Moss, in addition to her continuing role in the Hulu series The Handmaid’s Tale, appeared in Wes Anderson‘s The French Dispatch last year. In 2022, she will star in the AppleTV series The Shining Girls, and the soccer drama Next Goal Wins.
7. Nomadland
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Directed by Chloé Zhao
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Global Rank: #2,566
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New to the Top 20
The Best Picture Oscar winner is one of the highest-ranking new additions to this Top 20…and yet, not the highest. Only the sixth woman to be nominated for a Best Director Oscar (and second to win), Chloé Zhao went on to direct one of Marvel Studios’ big offerings in 2021, Eternals. No word yet on her next directorial project.
After winning her third Best Actress Oscar for Nomadland, Frances McDormand appeared in Wes Anderson‘s The French Dispatch and Joel Coen‘s The Tragedy of Macbeth in 2021. Next, she will star opposite Jessie Buckley, Rooney Mara and Claire Foy in director Sarah Polley‘s Women Talking.
6. The Trial of the Chicago 7
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Directed by Aaron Sorkin
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Global Rank: #2,334
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Last Year’s Rank: #7
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Last Year’s Global Rank: #3,645
As a Netflix release, Trial was a movie that was able to find a strong audience, and has continued to climb the global chart. Writer/director Aaron Sorkin‘s next film, Being the Ricardos, starring Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem as Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, the stars of I Love Lucy, debuted on Amazon Prime just before Christmas. No word on his next project yet, but his play A Few Good Men, already adapted as a film by Rob Reiner in 1992, is getting another adaptation as a TV movie.
What are some of this movie’s ensemble cast up to? Eddie Redmayne will star in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore and The Good Nurse in 2022. Sacha Baron Cohen lent his voice to Pixar’s Luca in 2021, and will next star in an adaptation of the newspaper comic strip “Mandrake the Magician” for director Etan Cohen. After his 2021 appearances in Candyman and The Matrix Resurrections, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II will next star in Michael Bay‘s Ambulance, opposite Jake Gyllenhaal, and reprise his role as Black Manta in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Mark Rylance has just appeared in Netflix’s Don’t Look Up, and will star in the crime thriller The Outfit in February. Joseph Gordon-Levitt has been starring in the television series Mr. Corman and will provide the voice of Jiminy Cricket in Disney’s upcoming live-action remake of Pinocchio, directed by Robert Zemeckis.
5. Hamilton
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Directed by Thomas Kail
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Global Rank: #2,233
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Last Year’s Rank: #3
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Last Year’s Global Rank: #2,755
Is a filming of a live Broadway musical actually a “movie”? Doesn’t matter; it’s a flick. Hamilton is rankable on Flickchart, and Flickcharters like it. Its star, Lin-Manuel Miranda, wrote and directed Tick, Tick…Boom!, starring Andrew Garfield, which debuted on Netflix in November. One of our bloggers especially liked it, and you can check out her opinion of it on our list of the Best Films of 2021, even though it didn’t make the Top 20. (At least, not yet.)
4. Promising Young Woman
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Directed by Emerald Fennell
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Global Rank: #2,190
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New to the Top 20
This is the highest-ranking film new to the list this year. As a Christmas release, this revenge thriller just didn’t find the time to make the list last year, but it’s an obvious hit with audiences. Writer/director Emerald Fennell took the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for her work here, and is next writing a film based on the DC Comics character Zatanna for Warner Bros.
Carey Mulligan starred opposite Ralph Fiennes in The Dig on Netflix, and has three movies due for 2022 release: She Said, for director Maria Schrader, Spaceman, for director Johan Renck, and Fingernails, directed by Christos Nikou.
3. Tenet
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Directed by Christopher Nolan
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Global Rank: #1,899
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Last Year’s Rank: #4
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Last Year’s Global Rank: #2,776
Tenet is the one Christopher Nolan film that could be considered a financial failure… but it was one of the first major films to attempt a major theatrical release in the wake of the pandemic. Flickcharters have responded as they do to most of Nolan’s original blockbusters: favorably. Next up for the powerhouse director is Oppenheimer, an account of the American scientist and his role in the development of the atomic bomb.
John David Washington starred in the Netflix films Malcolm & Marie and Beckett in 2021, and next has a role in the as-yet-untitled next film from director David O. Russell. Robert Pattinson is famously taking on the title role in director Matt Reeves‘ The Batman in March.
2. Palm Springs
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Directed by Max Barbakow
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Global Rank: #1,470
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Last Year’s Rank: #1
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Last Year’s Global Rank: #2,141
Hulu’s time loop comedy has inevitably been displaced from the top of this list, but it nonetheless maintains a strong showing on the global Flickchart. Next up for director Max Barbakow is the documentary Collision Bend, and he’s currently filming the comedy Brothers with Peter Dinklage, Brendan Fraser and Josh Brolin. (Plot details are so far under wraps, but sign me up!)
Andy Samberg‘s role on the long-running series Brooklyn Nine-Nine came to an end in 2021. He’ll be heard, but not seen, in 2022, having lent his voice to Hotel Transylvania: Transformania and Disney’s “live action” Chip ‘n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers. Cristin Milioti‘s output last year was in television, starring in Made for Love, episodes of ZIWE and The Simpsons, and the Netflix special Death to 2021. J.K. Simmons has just reprised his role of J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and has lent his voice to the Amazon Prime animated series Invincible. He will next appear in director Michelle Schumacher‘s thriller The Woods, and is currently portraying Commissioner Gordon in the upcoming Batgirl.
1. Soul
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Directed by Pete Docter & Kemp Powers
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Global Rank: #1,359
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Last Year’s Rank: #5
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Last Year’s Global Rank: #2,894
Not a single film from 2020 has cracked the Flickchart Top 1000, but Soul comes closest. It was inevitable that this second of two outings from Pixar Animation Studios — winner of the Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score Oscars — would top the list. After a few festival appearances in October, it dropped on Disney+ on Christmas Day and climbed to #5 on last year’s list within a week.
OG Pixar maestro Pete Docter is serving as an executive producer on the studio’s next two offerings, Turning Red and Lightyear. Jamie Foxx has just reprised his role as Electro in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and has at least five movies in post-production, including the sci-fi mystery They Cloned Tyrone, the Will Ferrell comedy Strays, and the vampire film Day Shift. Tina Fey starred in the Hulu series Only Murders in the Building opposite Steve Martin and Martin Short, will next appear opposite Jon Hamm in Maggie Moore(s), directed by John Slattery, and is developing her hit 2004 screenplay for Mean Girls into a musical.
The Fallen
Well, we had to clear a lot of real estate for new entries to the Top 20 on this list. These are the movies that got kicked out. Every one of them has risen at least a little in the global rankings, but they have been surpassed by films rising faster due to the rankings of our users.
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
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Directed by Jason Woliner
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Was: #11
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Now: #22
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Global Rank: #5,660
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Last Year’s Global Rank: #6,168
The King of Staten Island
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Directed by Judd Apatow
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Was: #17
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Now: #24
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Global Rank: #6,110
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Last Year’s Global Rank: #10,223
Bill & Ted Face the Music
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Directed by Dean Parisot
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Was: #14
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Now: #26
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Global Rank: #6,629
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Last Year’s Global Rank: #7,841
The Hunt
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Directed by Craig Zobel
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Was: #20
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Now: #30
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Global Rank: #7,161
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Last Year’s Global Rank: #11,084
Extraction
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Directed by Sam Hargrave
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Was: #15
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Now: #32
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Global Rank: #7,704
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Last Year’s Global Rank: #8,673
Enola Holmes
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Directed by Harry Bradbeer
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Was: #16
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Now: #34
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Global Rank: #8,675
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Last Year’s Global Rank: #9,853
The Old Guard
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Directed by Gina Prince-Blythewood
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Was: #19
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Now: #37
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Global Rank: #9,367
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Last Year’s Global Rank: #10,927
Bad Boys for Life
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Directed by Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah
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Was: #18
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Now: #38
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Global Rank: #9,681
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Last Year’s Global Rank: #10,320
The Best of the Rest
Chadwick Boseman in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Just to round out the list, here are the rest of the current Top 40 films for 2020.
21. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Directed by George C. Wolfe)
22. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (Directed by Jason Woliner)
23. Love and Monsters (Directed by Michael Matthews)
24. The King of Staten Island (Directed by Judd Apatow)
25. The Queen’s Gambit (miniseries directed by Scott Frank)
26. Bill & Ted Face the Music (Directed by Dean Parisot)
27. The Last Dance (Directed by Jason Hehir)
28. Possessor (Directed by Brandon Cronenberg)
29. Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Directed by Eliza Hittman)
30. The Hunt (Directed by Craig Zobel)
31. Freaky (Directed by Christopher Landon)
32. Extraction (Directed by Sam Hargrave)
33. News of the World (Directed by Paul Greengrass)
34. Enola Holmes (Directed by Harry Bradbeer)
35. The Devil All the Time (Directed by Antonio Campos)
36. Sonic the Hedgehog (Directed by Jeff Fowler)
37. The Old Guard (Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood)
38. Bad Boys for Life (Directed by Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah)
39. The Way Back (Directed by Gavin O’Connor)
40. Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (Directed by David Dobkin)
