Want to know the best Stephen King movies? How about the worst Stephen King movies? Curious about Stephen King ’s box office grosses or which Stephen King movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Stephen King movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Stephen King (1947-) has sold over 350 million copies of his books. It all got started in 1973 when Carrie was first published. Hollywood has been making movies based on his books since 1976…when Carrie starring John Travolta hit theaters. King has written over 50 more books and Hollywood has been producing almost two King theatrical movies or television movies every year since!
This page will rank Stephen King theatrical movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Normally we are snobs when it comes to movies made for television. However for this page we have included a second table of King television adaptations. They are ranked by how critics and audiences rated them. We have to admit that some of the King mini-series are actually very entertaining and worth watching. Storm of the Century, The Stand and 1979’s Salem’s Lot….being our favorites.
…the highest rated movie on IMDb.com
Stephen King Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Year
Movie (Year)
Rating
S
Year Movie (Year) Rating S
1999
The Green Mile (1999)
AA Best Picture Nom
2017
It (2017)
1976
Carrie (1976)
1980
The Shining (1980)
1990
Misery (1990)
1986
Stand By Me (1986)
2019
It Chapter Two (2019)
1994
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
AA Best Picture Nom
2007
1408 (2007)
1989
Pet Sematary (1989)
1983
The Dead Zone (1983)
1987
The Running Man (1987)
1995
Dolores Claiborne (1995)
1982
Creepshow (1982)
2019
Doctor Sleep (2019)
1983
Christine (1983)
1983
Cujo (1983)
2007
The Mist (2007)
2004
Secret Window (2004)
2019
Pet Sematary (2019)
1985
Cat's Eye (1985)
1992
The Lawnmower Man (1992)
2001
Hearts in Atlantis (2001)
2013
Carrie (2013)
1984
Firestarter (1984)
1993
The Dark Half (1993)
1998
Apt Pupil (1998)
1992
Sleepwalkers (1992)
2017
The Dark Tower (2017)
1984
Children of the Corn (1984)
1990
Tales From the Darkside: The Movie (1990)
1993
Needful Things (1993)
1987
Creepshow 2 (1987)
1985
Silver Bullet (1985)
2003
Dreamcatcher (2003)
Writer
1996
Thinner (1996)
1992
Pet Sematary II (1992)
2022
Mr. Harrigan's Phone (2022)
Netflix
2024
Salems Lot (2024)
HBO Max
1999
The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999)
1997
The Night Flier (1997)
1990
Graveyard Shift (1990)
2004
Stephen King's Riding the Bullet (2004)
1993
Children of the Corn II (1993)
1986
Maximum Overdrive (1986)
2023
Children of the Corn (2023)
1996
Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace (1996)
1995
The Mangler (1995)
Stephen King Movies Can Be Ranked 7 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort Stephen King movies by co-stars of his movies
- Sort Stephen King movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost
- Sort Stephen King by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Stephen King movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Stephen King movie received.
- Sort Stephen King movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
- Lawnmower 2 was titled after a Stephen King short story of the same title, but the stories are unrelated and was NOT written by King.
| R | Movie (Year) | UMR Co-Star Links | Adj. B.O. Worldwide (mil) | Review | Oscar Nom / Win | UMR Score | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | Movie (Year) | UMR Co-Star Links | Actual B.O. Domestic (mil) | Adj. B.O. Domestic (mil) | Adj. B.O. Worldwide (mil) | B.O. Rank by Year | Review | Oscar Nom / Win | UMR Score | S |
| 1 | The Green Mile (1999) AA Best Picture Nom |
Tom Hanks & Sam Rockwell |
136.80 | 291.4 | 611.00 | 12 | 81 | 04 / 00 | 98.9 | |
| 2 | It (2017) | Bill Skarsgård | 327.50 | 393.6 | 836.90 | 7 | 80 | 00 / 00 | 97.5 | |
| 4 | Carrie (1976) | John Travolta & Sissy Spacek |
33.80 | 171.1 | 171.10 | 17 | 87 | 02 / 00 | 97.3 | |
| 6 | The Shining (1980) | Jack Nicholson & Directed by Stanley Kubrick |
44.00 | 182.5 | 182.50 | 18 | 83 | 00 / 00 | 96.9 | |
| 7 | Misery (1990) | James Caan & Kathy Bates |
61.30 | 156.2 | 156.20 | 19 | 84 | 01 / 01 | 95.6 | |
| 8 | Stand By Me (1986) | John Cusack & River Phoenix |
52.30 | 151.9 | 151.90 | 14 | 85 | 01 / 00 | 95.1 | |
| 5 | It Chapter Two (2019) | James McAvoy & Bill Hader |
211.60 | 249.0 | 555.60 | 11 | 69 | 00 / 00 | 95.0 | |
| 8 | The Shawshank Redemption (1994) AA Best Picture Nom |
Morgan Freeman & Tim Robbins |
28.30 | 74.9 | 74.90 | 51 | 90 | 07 / 00 | 92.9 | |
| 9 | 1408 (2007) | John Cusack & Samuel L. Jackson |
72.00 | 112.8 | 206.80 | 38 | 73 | 00 / 00 | 87.4 | |
| 11 | Pet Sematary (1989) | Fred Gwynne | 57.50 | 156.1 | 156.10 | 23 | 54 | 00 / 00 | 85.4 | |
| 10 | The Dead Zone (1983) | Christopher Walken & Martin Sheen |
20.80 | 71.1 | 71.10 | 36 | 80 | 00 / 00 | 84.9 | |
| 12 | The Running Man (1987) | Arnold Schwarzenegger | 38.10 | 105.1 | 105.10 | 30 | 59 | 00 / 00 | 80.0 | |
| 12 | Dolores Claiborne (1995) | Kathy Bates & Jennifer Jason Leigh |
24.40 | 60.4 | 60.40 | 69 | 74 | 00 / 00 | 79.6 | |
| 14 | Creepshow (1982) | Ted Danson & Leslie Nielsen |
21.00 | 77.1 | 77.10 | 33 | 68 | 00 / 00 | 79.3 | |
| 13 | Doctor Sleep (2019) | Ewan McGregor | 31.60 | 37.2 | 84.60 | 79 | 79 | 00 / 00 | 78.5 | |
| 16 | Christine (1983) | Keith Gordon & John Stockwell |
21.00 | 71.9 | 71.90 | 35 | 66 | 00 / 00 | 76.4 | |
| 17 | Cujo (1983) | Dee Wallace | 21.20 | 72.4 | 72.40 | 34 | 61 | 00 / 00 | 72.3 | |
| 18 | The Mist (2007) | Thomas Jane | 25.60 | 40.1 | 40.10 | 93 | 70 | 00 / 00 | 70.5 | |
| 19 | Secret Window (2004) | Johnny Depp | 48.00 | 83.4 | 161.30 | 67 | 54 | 00 / 00 | 67.9 | |
| 20 | Pet Sematary (2019) | John Lithgow & Horror |
54.70 | 64.4 | 132.10 | 51 | 59 | 00 / 00 | 65.9 | |
| 21 | Cat's Eye (1985) | James Woods & Drew Barrymore |
13.10 | 39.7 | 39.70 | 66 | 63 | 00 / 00 | 61.4 | |
| 23 | The Lawnmower Man (1992) | Pierce Brosnan & Jeff Fahey |
32.10 | 83.4 | 83.40 | 42 | 49 | 00 / 00 | 60.8 | |
| 22 | Hearts in Atlantis (2001) | Anthony Hopkins & Anton Yelchin |
24.20 | 46.1 | 59.00 | 91 | 60 | 00 / 00 | 59.2 | |
| 24 | Carrie (2013) | Chloë Grace Moretz & Julianne Moore |
35.30 | 46.8 | 112.40 | 82 | 59 | 00 / 00 | 57.8 | |
| 27 | Firestarter (1984) | Martin Sheen & Drew Barrymore |
17.10 | 54.8 | 54.80 | 59 | 52 | 00 / 00 | 49.1 | |
| 26 | The Dark Half (1993) | Timothy Hutton | 10.60 | 27.6 | 27.60 | 106 | 59 | 00 / 00 | 46.9 | |
| 25 | Apt Pupil (1998) | Ian McKellen & Brad Renfro |
8.90 | 20.4 | 20.40 | 125 | 61 | 00 / 00 | 46.5 | |
| 29 | Sleepwalkers (1992) | Ron Perlman | 30.50 | 79.3 | 79.30 | 43 | 42 | 00 / 00 | 45.7 | |
| 28 | The Dark Tower (2017) | Matthew McConaughey | 50.70 | 60.9 | 134.30 | 55 | 48 | 00 / 00 | 44.7 | |
| 31 | Children of the Corn (1984) | Linda Hamilton | 14.60 | 46.7 | 46.70 | 62 | 51 | 00 / 00 | 42.4 | |
| 30 | Tales From the Darkside: The Movie (1990) | Christian Slater & Julianne Moore |
16.30 | 41.6 | 41.60 | 72 | 52 | 00 / 00 | 41.8 | |
| 32 | Needful Things (1993) | Max von Sydow & Ed Harris |
15.20 | 39.5 | 39.50 | 86 | 51 | 00 / 00 | 37.0 | |
| 33 | Creepshow 2 (1987) | Dorothy Lamour & George Kennedy |
14.00 | 38.6 | 38.60 | 71 | 49 | 00 / 00 | 32.7 | |
| 34 | Silver Bullet (1985) | Gary Busey & Corey Haim |
12.40 | 37.5 | 37.50 | 71 | 50 | 00 / 00 | 32.5 | |
| 35 | Dreamcatcher (2003) Writer |
Morgan Freeman & Thomas Jane |
33.70 | 60.3 | 135.40 | 85 | 41 | 00 / 00 | 29.9 | |
| 36 | Thinner (1996) | Joe Mantegna | 15.30 | 37.4 | 37.40 | 97 | 47 | 00 / 00 | 26.8 | |
| 37 | Pet Sematary II (1992) | Edward Furlong & Anthony Edwards |
17.10 | 44.4 | 44.40 | 73 | 41 | 00 / 00 | 20.9 | |
| 37 | Mr. Harrigan's Phone (2022) Netflix |
Donald Sutherland | 0.10 | 0.1 | 0.10 | 220 | 55 | 00 / 00 | 20.7 | |
| 37 | Salems Lot (2024) HBO Max |
Lewis Pullman | 0.10 | 0.1 | 0.10 | 194 | 55 | 00 / 00 | 20.6 | |
| 38 | The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999) | Amy Irving & Jason London |
17.80 | 37.8 | 37.80 | 91 | 42 | 00 / 00 | 19.0 | |
| 39 | The Night Flier (1997) | Miguel Ferrer | 0.10 | 0.3 | 0.30 | 245 | 49 | 00 / 00 | 11.6 | |
| 40 | Graveyard Shift (1990) | Brad Dourif | 11.60 | 29.5 | 29.50 | 90 | 39 | 00 / 00 | 11.1 | |
| 41 | Stephen King's Riding the Bullet (2004) | David Arquette & Barbara Hershey |
0.10 | 0.2 | 0.20 | 271 | 40 | 00 / 00 | 3.9 | |
| 42 | Children of the Corn II (1993) | Terence Knox | 7.00 | 18.2 | 18.20 | 124 | 33 | 00 / 00 | 3.3 | |
| 43 | Maximum Overdrive (1986) | Emilio Estevez & Directed by Stephen King |
7.40 | 21.6 | 21.60 | 81 | 31 | 00 / 00 | 3.1 | |
| 44 | Children of the Corn (2023) | Horror | 0.30 | 0.3 | 0.50 | 174 | 34 | 00 / 00 | 1.6 | |
| 47 | Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace (1996) | Patrick Bergin & Matt Frewer |
2.40 | 5.9 | 5.90 | 176 | 26 | 00 / 00 | 0.5 | |
| 48 | The Mangler (1995) | Robert Englund | 1.80 | 4.4 | 4.40 | 179 | 26 | 00 / 00 | 0.4 |
Stephen King Made For Television Movies
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort Stephen King television movies by year it was made
- Sort Stephen King television movies by the stars of the movie
- Sort Stephen King television movies by trivia for the movie
- Sort Stephen King television movies how they were received by audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie
| Rank | Movie (Year) | Year | Stars | Trivia | Opinion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Storm of the Century | 1999 | Tim Daly | Won 1 Emmy | 74.0% | |
| The Stand | 1994 | Gary Sinise & Rob Lowe | Won Two Emmys | 73.0% | |
| Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King | 2006 | Robert Mammone | Won 2 Emmys | 71.0% | |
| It | 1990 | John Ritter & Tim Curry | Won 1 Emmy | 69.0% | |
| Salem's Lot | 1979 | James Mason | 3 Emmy nominations | 68.0% | |
| Rose Red | 2002 | Nancy Travis | Nominated for 1 Emmy | 67.0% | |
| Salem's Lot | 2004 | Rob Lowe | Nominate for 1 Emmy | 62.0% | |
| The Langoliers | 1995 | Dean Stockwell | Nominated for 1 Emmy | 61.0% | |
| The Shining | 1997 | Steven Weber & Rebecca De Mornay | Won 2 Emmys | 61.0% | |
| Bag of Bones | 2011 | Pierce Brosnan | 2nd King project for Brosnan | 58.0% | |
| Big Driver | 2014 | Maria Bello | 2nd King project for Bello | 57.0% | |
| Sometimes They Come Back | 1991 | Tim Matheson | Filmed in 30 days | 57.0% | |
| Carrie | 2002 | Patricia Clarkson | 2nd of 3 Carrie adaptations | 55.0% | |
| The Tommyknockers | 1993 | Jimmy Smiths & Marg Helgenberger | Nominated for 1 Emmy | 54.0% | |
| Desperation | 2006 | Tom Skerrit & Steven Weber | Nominated for 2 Emmys | 53.0% | |
| Childred of the Corn | 2009 | David Anders | One of 9 Children of the Corn adapatations | 39.0% | |
| Trucks | 1997 | Timothy Busfield | TV version of Maximum Overdrive | 38.0% |
Possibly Interesting Facts About Stephen King Movies
1. Two Stephen King movies have been nominated for Best Picture Oscars®….1994’s The Shawshank Redemption and 1999’s The Green Mile.
2. Five actors have been nominated for an acting Oscar® while performing in a Stephen King movie: Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie in 1976’s Carrie, Kathy Bates in 1990’s Misery, Morgan Freeman in 1994’s The Shawshank Redemption and Michael Clarke Duncan in 1999’s The Green Mile.
3. Kathy Bates won the Best Actress Oscar® for her role as Annie Wilkes in King’s Misery (1990).
4. Stephen King starred in 1982’s Creepshow and directed 1986’s Maximum Overdrive.
5. Stephen King was very disappointed in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980). He has described the film as “A fancy car without an engine.”
6. Jeffrey DeMunn has appeared in four Stephen King screen adaptions: 1994’s The Shawshank Redemption, 1999’s The Green Mile, 1999’s Storm of the Century and 2007’s The Mist. DeMunn played Dale Horvath on The Walking Dead from 2010 to 2012.
7. In our database we have 25,314 movies ranked. King’s The Green Mile is the 154th highest rated movie….on the other of the spectrum….King’s Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace is the 25,301st highest rated movie….or 13th worst.
8. Check out Stephen King ‘s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
Steve Lensman’s Stephen King You Tube Video
If you do a comment….please ignore the email address and website section.
Bruce’s Stephen King page gives an excellent statistical summary of the movies Stephen has been associated with and as WH says King’s novels have sold 350 million copies worldwide.
The combination of the revenues from those books and his earnings from the movies has earned Stephen a massive net fortune of $400 million, placing him in the select company of megastars such as DeNiro, Hanks and Cruise as a movies-related person who is among the top tiers of the richest entertainers of all time.
In connection with the movies IMDB classifies Stephen primarily as a “writer/producer/actor and gives him just one credit [for Maximum Overdrive] as a director
IMDB credits King with 5 awards and 8 nominations for his work in movies, including the Lifetime Bram Stoker Achievement Award.
5 separate polls of directors/writers/producers rank him 10th, 12th, 20th, 22nd and 23rd, a respectable average placing of 17.4
Boo!
Happy Halloween!!! This was the only horror related page I could find Bruce.
A John Carpenter page would have been perfect but it’s too late now. (cue Steve sulking)
Horror is my second favorite genre after science fiction, looking at my database I have over 1500 horror and sci-fi films on various formats in my collection.
I haven’t decided what to watch tonight, a modern horror followed by some old classics most probably. I usually start things off with Tim Burtons Nightmare Before Christmas or sometimes The Corpse Bride.
The classic 1957 horror Night of the Demon (aka Curse of the Demon) is one I’ve watched many times on Halloween night, it’s a big favorite of mine.
Since this is the Stephen King page my favorite adaptations are – Carrie, The Shining (1980), Salem’s Lot (1979) and a few other early ones.
Hey Steve…every year I think…I should do a zombie movie page for Halloween….and every year it is November 1st before I know it….and there is still no zombie movie page.
I would say you found the closest horror page I have…so good job there. 1500 sci-fi horror movies is an impressive total for sure.
Night of the Demon is a great cult classic movie…I love how they have to transfer the demon piece to an unsuspecting victim….makes you a little paranoid…I tell ya.
I like your King movies as well….Happy Halloween….though it is now in the rearview mirror.
A horror page would be nice eventually Bruce, you’ve done one on sci-fi. Just select the 100 best horror movies old and new.
Night of the Demon was the last horror movie I watched last night, Poltergeist (1982) and Fright Night (1985) were the other two. No animation, save them for Xmas.
Hey Steve…good Halloween choices…..as I like all of those movies. Thanks for the suggestion of a Top 100 horror page. I will add it to the request list.
An excellent subject for a movie page Bruce. The first King film I saw was Carrie in 1976, at the cinema. It was the first movie based on his stories and King’s first horror novel. I think it’s still one of the very best adaptations of a King novel, directed by Brian De Palma who went on to bigger, not necessarily better, things.
I would say Carrie and Kubrick’s The Shining are my two favorite Stephen King movies. This might come as a shock but I’m not a huge fan of Frank Darabont’s three King adaptations – Shawshank, Green Mile and The Mist. I own them on DVD and Blu-ray but I don’t watch them very often.
I’ve seen 33 of the 40 theatrical films you’ve listed and 7 from the 17 TV movies chart.
Nice work Bruce. One of my first hubs a few years ago was Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining I also wrote a hub on all the noteworthy King movies with facts and trivia.
Voted Up.
Hey Steve.
1. Let’s see I have seen 25 of the 40 theatrical films and 5 of the television movies…so you got me beat in both categories.
2. So you saw Carrie in the theaters….I was a little to young for Carrie to see in theaters but I remember my older brother talking about it with his friends….the bucket of pig blood….kinda of spoked a 8 year old back then.
3. I would say my Top 5 would be Shining, The Green Mile, Shawshank, Stand By Me and Misery….with The Stand and Storm of the Century being my favorite two tv projects.
4. I will have to track down your King hub and include it here as well.
Thanks for stopping by.
That was a lot of info, thanks for sharing!
Hey Wanda….thanks for the feedback. It took a little thought to cram all that information into one line…..but it gives a great snapshot of how the King movie performed.
Also didn’t realize so many of the tv movies were nominated or won emmys…..cool Another reason to track down some of these and watch them.
Hey Carrick and Corrina….I think the mini-series are some of the best King adaptations….as they have the chance to really go into the King characters. Unlike a 2 hour movie….Storm of the Century might be the best case…as it was over 4 hours long and it felt like you really got to know the islanders in the movie. If it was a 90 minute movie the impact of their deaths would have been greatly reduced.