Ridley Scottmight not have as good of press as other directors, but he’s responsible for some of the most surprising, inventive, and relevant films over the last 50 years. FromAlientoBlade Runner, andGladiator, the director loves a spectacle and shooting action scenes, but he’s also been a visionary, updating movie techniques and being an artisan, moving Hollywood forward and creating a couple of franchises in the process. He’s also one of the highest box office-earning directors ever.
Although he’s 86-years-old, Scott is still directing and going strong. In 2021, he shot two movies that couldn’t be more different;The Last DuelandHouse of Gucci,and he has six different projects in development for 2024, including a sequel to hisGladiatorwith Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, and Denzel Washington. Before all that, on November 24th, 2023, we’ll be able to see his newest movie,Napoleon, with Joaquin Phoenix as the lead character, which promises to be another box office success for the director. While we wait, here are Ridley Scott’s 10 highest-grossing movies ever, according to the worldwide numbers ofBox Office Mojo.
10Black Hawk Down (2001) - $173 Million
Black Hawk Down
Black Hawk Downtells the real-life story of how an American helicopter got stuck in enemy territory during the Somalian War, and the rescue mission to get those men back to safety. The film is told almost in first-person perspective, as the director transports audiences to what it would have been like to be there, in full war mode, while trying to survive against all odds.
What Makes It Great
This might be Scott’s most adrenaline-fueled film ever, as there’s no stopping the action and the bullets flying all over the place. With a great leading man performance by Josh Hartnett, and an incredible cast of would-become-famous actors like Orlando Bloom, Tom Hardy, and Hugh Dancy in blink-and-you’ll-miss-them performances, this is a film that transports you inside a real war, with real consequences, where there’s never a moment of rest. When the movie ends, you’ll be able to finally exhale, as the tension and violence will finally be over.
Rent on Apple TV
9Kingdom of Heaven (2005) - $218 Million
Kingdom of Heaven
Scott has always loved historical films, with epic sword fights, so it makes perfect sense he would do a film likeKingdom of Heaven, which happens during the Crusades and centers on blacksmith Bailan de Ibelin (Orlando Bloom), who wants to make peace between Muslims and Christians.
The original movie that was released in the cinemas wasn’t as goodas the director’s cut, showing that in the new version, 50 more minutes made all the difference, and was one of the few times that more was better (Almost Famousbeing another example). Scott always directs amazing action scenes, and the performances by Eva Green, Edward Norton, Jeremy Irons, and Brendan Gleeson are all great, making for an excellent watch.
Watch on Starz
8Alien: Covenant (2017) - $241 Million
alien covenant
Alien: Covenantis a sequel toPrometheus,and, at the same time, a prequel to the originalAlienfilm, and it has all the ingredients of the franchise; a tough woman as the Ripley-like figure, a crew who keeps getting killed by Xenomorphs, and some gory, disgusting, frightening scenes of how that happens.
This film is, for the moment, the last time Scott has played in hisAliensandbox, and he brought it back to its most horrific origins, where every scene can make audiences scream in terror. The director is having fun, while making what might be the most nihilistic film in the whole franchise, and with an incredible Michael Fassbender performance at its center, where he plays two different androids, David and Walter, who are just as villainous as the Xenomorphs themselves.
7American Gangster (2007) - $270 Million
American Gangster
American Gangsteris inspired by the real-life story of Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), a smooth heroin smuggler, who also knows how to get tough and deadly when needed. He’s filling the New York streets full of heroin, and there’s only one man who can stop him, Essex County Detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe).
This isone of the best Black gangster movies ever made, and has Washington at the top of his game, creating a charismatic and frightening character in Lucas. Although this could’ve been a Scorsese ripoff, Scott sees and shoots things very differently, making for a tense, violent movie where anyone can get shot at any moment, and that has a fun cat-and-mouse game between Lucas and Roberts. The Jay-Z album inspired by the film is also astounding.
Stream on Max
6Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014) - $268 Million
Exodus: Gods and Kingstells the biblical story of Moses (Christian Bale) and his fight with his brother, Ramses (Joel Edgerton), in the most action-heavy, epic, dramatic way, while also trying to realistically explain some of the unique events happening, like the parting of the Red Sea.
Although the film might be one of the worst made by Scott, he’s having the time of his life directing all the action, and using every technological advancement Hollywood could give him at the time, be it CGI, green screens, hundreds of extras, or camera movements he could’ve only had dreamed of years before. The cast is also great, with small, but important roles for actors like Sigourney Weaver, John Turturro, Indira Varma, and Aaron Paul
5Robin Hood (2010) - $322 Million
There have been manyRobin Hoodadaptations. This time, Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott decided the archer was much more of a hardened ex-soldier who might have PTSD after all he saw in the Crusades, looking for a more realistic approach to the material, and transforming Robin into a fugitive who wants to liberate his people against an awful tyrant.
As with any Scott film set before the 20th century, there are incredible battle scenes, where fights with arrows, swords, and horses, are spectacular, while also helping to show who the characters are by how they react to everything that is happening around them, and Crowe still plays a great action hero who believes in a cause bigger than himself.
On why he keeps working with Crowe, including in Robin Hood,Scott told The Guardian: “What I like about Russell is that he and I like to keep people honest. We’re always challenging things, which can easily be misread as being grumpy. But I’m not grumpy and neither is Russell. He’s got a great sense of humour – he’s fun. But as I say, you’d better be on your toes!"”
4Hannibal (2001) - $352 Million
Hannibalis a sequel toSilence of the Lambs, showing what the cannibal has been up to since he escaped, living in Florence, and having some problems of his own, while an old victim, Mason Verger (Gary Oldman), is trying to get his revenge on him.
After the incredible success ofSilence of the Lambs,any sequel was going to have a hard time getting to the same heights, and Scott’s film, recasting Clarice with Julianne Moore, almost gets there in the goriest, most scary scenes in both Florence and Venice. Hopkins’ performance as Lecter is still top-notch, showing some more layers now that he’s the absolute lead of the film, and Scott’s direction gives the movie a different style and movement than the first one, giving it more of a thriller vibe. The fact that they were able to shoot on location also gives the director the ingredients to shoot some of his most beautiful images ever.
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3Prometheus (2012) - $403 Million
Prometheus
Prometheusis a prequel to the wholeAlienfranchise, and tells the story of the Prometheus ship and all the explorers in it, who discover some divine figures they’ve found in ancient cave paintings. Unfortunately, those divine figures are the species audiences know as Xenomorphs.
For some, this sequelwas more successful thanAlien: Covenant, even if it has a lot more mythology about the creatures, and spends a big part of the movie thinking about themes of exploration and what it means to be human, while trying to tell the origin of the alien species. The film looks incredible, and has a great cast, including Noomi Rapace, Idris Elba, Charlize Theron, and, especially, a very creepy Michael Fassbender, proving Scott’s love for theAlienfranchise, and how he still knows how to scare and disgust his audience.
Ridley Scott’s Best Movies, Ranked by Rotten Tomatoes
The legendary filmmaker Ridley Scott has made a lasting impact on cinema with his vast and varied filmography.
2Gladiator (2000) - $503 Million
Gladiatoris the film that made Russell Crowe a movie star. This is the story of Maximus Decium Meridius (Crowe), an important Roman general, who is betrayed by the new emperor, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), who has his family killed and Maximus enslaved. Maximus then becomes a gladiator who he plots his revenge.
This is thebest collaboration between Scott and Crowe, the one that revived the swords and sandals genre by itself, and made for an incredible action movie. Crowe is as charismatic as he ever was, Joaquin Phoenix has one of his first great roles as the sleazy Commodus, and Scott proves he’s a master at shooting action, be it between big companies in the woods with fire and horses involved, or in the arena with sword fighting, making for one of the most exciting films of the 2000s. The movie won the Best Picture Oscar, and deservedly so. “Are we not entertained?” indeed.
1The Martian (2015) - $630 Million
The Martian
Based on the Andy Weir novel,The Martiantells the story of Mark Watney (Matt Damon inone of his best movies), a botanist and astronaut who gets left behind on Mars after his crew thinks he has died. He only has his intelligence and knowledge of botany to help him survive on a planet that wants to kill him every second of every day.
This is the only Ridley Scott movie in space where there’s no killer alien, and things get scarier by the minute, and the director still makes an incredible movie. It could’ve been a crude exploration of survival, but what makes the film great is the optimism and humor Watney has (and Damon’s charisma), making his time on Mars much more of a joke on himself, and a test of his abilities, and not a sad, pessimistic story. The movie also goes to great lengths to explain very complicated technological terms in the simplest way possible, so the audience can follow up on everything that is happening.
