Want to know the best Teaching Movies? How about the worst Teaching Movies? Curious about Teaching Movie box office grosses or which Teaching Movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Teaching Movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information and lots more.
The following table has 74 Teaching movies ranked Best to Worst in 6 different categories. This is part of a two part series on Teaching Movies. This is the statistically ranking part. At our Teachers’ Favorite Teaching Movies page you can see a survey/poll/vote on what teachers actually say are their favorite Teaching Movies. There are obviously a lot more teaching movies…..this table just represents the movies that actual teachers name. See a missing Teaching Movie….and we can add it to this table.
Teaching Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort movies by stars of the movie
- Sort movies by adjusted domestic box office using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Teaching movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort movies by how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort movies by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each movie received.
- Sort movies by Ultimate Movie Ranking (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
- Blue link in Co-star column takes you to that star’s UMR movie page
| 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 | A Beautiful Mind (2001) AA Best Picture Win |
Russell Crowe & Directed by Ron Howard |
170.70 | 325.8 | 598.20 | 11 | 82 | 08 / 04 | 99.8 | |
| 2 | The Graduate (1967) AA Best Picture Nom |
Dustin Hoffman & Anne Bancroft |
103.50 | 921.9 | 1,723.70 | 1 | 85 | 07 / 01 | 99.4 | |
| 4 | Good Will Hunting (1997) AA Best Picture Nom |
Robin Williams & Matt Damon |
138.40 | 325.1 | 530.60 | 7 | 83 | 09 / 02 | 99.4 | |
| 3 | The Song of Bernadette (1943) AA Best Picture Nom |
Jennifer Jones & Vincent Price |
13.40 | 482.5 | 482.50 | 4 | 77 | 12 / 04 | 99.3 | |
| 6 | Dead Poets Society (1989) AA Best Picture Nom |
Robin Williams | 95.90 | 260.3 | 640.40 | 11 | 84 | 04 / 01 | 99.1 | |
| 5 | Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) AA Best Picture Nom |
Robert Donat & Greer Garson |
6.90 | 264.4 | 500.80 | 12 | 79 | 07 / 01 | 99.0 | |
| 7 | To Sir, with Love (1967) | Sidney Poitier | 47.80 | 425.4 | 425.40 | 7 | 83 | 00 / 00 | 98.0 | |
| 8 | Blackboard Jungle (1955) | Sidney Poitier & Glenn Ford |
15.60 | 323.3 | 323.30 | 13 | 75 | 04 / 00 | 97.0 | |
| 9 | Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) | Daniel Radcliffe & Emma Watson |
316.60 | 604.0 | 1,857.90 | 1 | 74 | 03 / 00 | 96.7 | |
| 11 | The Karate Kid (1984) | Ralph Macchio & Noriyuki 'Pat' Morita |
90.80 | 291.4 | 291.40 | 5 | 75 | 01 / 00 | 96.6 | |
| 11 | Monsters University (2013) | Helen Mirren & John Goodman |
268.50 | 356.0 | 986.80 | 7 | 76 | 00 / 00 | 96.6 | |
| 13 | Mr. Holland's Opus (1995) | Richard Dreyfuss & Glenne Headly |
82.60 | 204.6 | 263.40 | 14 | 74 | 01 / 00 | 96.4 | |
| 14 | Remember the Titans (2000) | Denzel Washington | 115.70 | 231.3 | 273.40 | 18 | 67 | 00 / 00 | 94.5 | |
| 14 | The Cider House Rules (1999) AA Best Picture Nom |
Michael Caine & Charlize Theron |
57.50 | 122.6 | 188.60 | 41 | 76 | 07 / 02 | 93.8 | |
| 15 | School of Rock (2003) | Jack Black | 81.30 | 145.3 | 234.70 | 36 | 82 | 00 / 00 | 93.7 | |
| 16 | The Breakfast Club (1985) | Judd Nelson & Emilio Estevez |
45.90 | 139.3 | 156.50 | 16 | 82 | 00 / 00 | 93.2 | |
| 16 | The Miracle Worker (1962) | Anne Bancroft & Patty Duke |
7.10 | 102.7 | 102.70 | 37 | 86 | 05 / 02 | 92.8 | |
| 17 | Kindergarten Cop (1990) | Arnold Schwarzenegger & Angela Bassett |
91.50 | 233.1 | 514.70 | 11 | 59 | 00 / 00 | 91.9 | |
| 20 | Dangerous Minds (1995) | Michelle Pfeiffer | 84.90 | 210.4 | 444.90 | 13 | 58 | 00 / 00 | 91.8 | |
| 21 | The Rookie (2002) | Dennis Quaid | 75.60 | 140.5 | 150.00 | 36 | 78 | 00 / 00 | 91.8 | |
| 19 | Precious (2009) AA Best Picture Nom |
Gabourey Sidibe & Mo'Nique |
47.60 | 68.4 | 91.50 | 63 | 85 | 06 / 02 | 91.2 | |
| 22 | Mean Girls (2004) | Lindsay Lohan & Tina Fey |
86.10 | 149.4 | 226.90 | 28 | 72 | 00 / 00 | 91.1 | |
| 22 | Hoosiers (1986) | Gene Hackman | 28.60 | 83.1 | 83.10 | 34 | 86 | 02 / 00 | 89.2 | |
| 25 | Up The Down Staircase (1967) | Sandy Dennis | 12.50 | 111.4 | 111.40 | 25 | 75 | 00 / 00 | 87.9 | |
| 26 | Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) | Sean Penn | 27.10 | 99.3 | 99.30 | 28 | 74 | 00 / 00 | 86.3 | |
| 27 | Easy A (2010) | Emma Stone | 58.40 | 79.8 | 102.40 | 59 | 79 | 00 / 00 | 85.8 | |
| 29 | Finding Forrester (2000) | Sean Connery | 51.80 | 103.6 | 160.10 | 49 | 72 | 00 / 00 | 85.4 | |
| 30 | Coach Carter (2005) | Samuel L. Jackson & Channing Tatum |
67.30 | 113.3 | 129.10 | 37 | 67 | 00 / 00 | 85.3 | |
| 28 | October Sky (1999) | Chris Cooper & Laura Dern |
32.50 | 69.3 | 73.90 | 63 | 81 | 00 / 00 | 85.0 | |
| 30 | Patch Adams (1998) | Robin Williams | 135.00 | 310.4 | 465.00 | 9 | 38 | 01 / 00 | 84.5 | |
| 31 | Rushmore (1998) | Bill Murray | 17.10 | 39.3 | 43.90 | 92 | 88 | 00 / 00 | 83.9 | |
| 33 | Sky High (2005) | Kurt Russell | 63.90 | 107.7 | 145.50 | 40 | 66 | 00 / 00 | 83.6 | |
| 32 | The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) | Maggie Smith | 5.70 | 43.4 | 43.40 | 48 | 82 | 02 / 01 | 83.0 | |
| 34 | Lean on Me (1989) | Morgan Freeman | 31.90 | 86.6 | 86.60 | 37 | 69 | 00 / 00 | 82.2 | |
| 35 | Educating Rita (1983) | Michael Caine | 14.60 | 50.1 | 50.10 | 49 | 77 | 03 / 00 | 81.3 | |
| 36 | Bad Teacher (2011) | Cameron Diaz & Justin Timberlake |
100.30 | 136.3 | 293.90 | 29 | 52 | 00 / 00 | 81.1 | |
| 37 | Matilda (1996) | Danny DeVito | 33.50 | 81.6 | 81.60 | 45 | 68 | 00 / 00 | 80.1 | |
| 36 | The Edge of Seventeen (2016) | Hailee Steinfeld & Woody Harrelson |
14.40 | 18.0 | 23.40 | 125 | 87 | 00 / 00 | 79.9 | |
| 39 | The Faculty (1998) | Josh Hartnett | 40.30 | 92.6 | 92.60 | 50 | 64 | 00 / 00 | 79.8 | |
| 38 | McFarland, USA (2015) | Kevin Costner | 44.50 | 56.9 | 58.50 | 60 | 75 | 00 / 00 | 79.5 | |
| 40 | Freedom Writers (2007) | Hilary Swank | 36.60 | 57.4 | 57.40 | 74 | 74 | 00 / 00 | 79.0 | |
| 43 | The Great Debaters (2007) | Denzel Washington | 30.20 | 47.4 | 47.40 | 85 | 75 | 00 / 00 | 77.5 | |
| 42 | The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) | Emma Watson & Paul Rudd |
17.70 | 24.0 | 45.20 | 112 | 82 | 00 / 00 | 77.2 | |
| 45 | The Man without a Face (1993) | Mel Gibson | 24.80 | 64.5 | 64.50 | 61 | 67 | 00 / 00 | 75.3 | |
| 44 | Radical (2023) | Eugenio Derbez | 8.70 | 8.7 | 20.60 | 99 | 84 | 00 / 00 | 75.0 | |
| 47 | Teachers (1984) | Morgan Freeman & Nick Nolte |
27.80 | 89.1 | 89.10 | 35 | 57 | 00 / 00 | 74.6 | |
| 47 | Stand and Deliver (1988) | Edward James Olmos & Gary Sinise |
14.00 | 36.7 | 36.70 | 68 | 74 | 01 / 00 | 74.3 | |
| 48 | Half Nelson (2006) | Ryan Gosling | 2.70 | 4.4 | 7.60 | 202 | 84 | 00 / 00 | 73.3 | |
| 49 | Mona Lisa Smile (2003) | Julia Roberts & Kirsten Dunst |
63.90 | 114.2 | 252.70 | 46 | 49 | 00 / 00 | 72.7 | |
| 48 | Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969) | Peter O'Toole | 2.90 | 21.7 | 21.70 | 76 | 76 | 02 / 00 | 72.2 | |
| 50 | Conrack (1974) | Jon Voight | 6.10 | 34.9 | 34.90 | 60 | 73 | 00 / 00 | 71.9 | |
| 52 | The Gambler (1974) | James Caan | 3.00 | 17.5 | 17.50 | 89 | 78 | 00 / 00 | 71.2 | |
| 54 | Summer School (1987) | Mark Harmon | 35.70 | 98.3 | 98.30 | 32 | 51 | 00 / 00 | 70.3 | |
| 54 | To Be and to Have (2003) | Mr. Lopez | 0.80 | 1.4 | 1.40 | 193 | 81 | 00 / 00 | 68.7 | |
| 53 | Gifted (2017) | Chris Evans | 24.80 | 29.8 | 46.30 | 90 | 71 | 00 / 00 | 68.2 | |
| 57 | Major Payne (1995) | Damon Wayans | 29.40 | 72.9 | 72.90 | 62 | 57 | 00 / 00 | 67.6 | |
| 58 | The Principal (1987) | Jim Belushi | 19.70 | 54.4 | 54.40 | 56 | 62 | 00 / 00 | 65.8 | |
| 58 | World's Greatest Dad (2009) | Robin Williams | 0.20 | 0.3 | 0.30 | 248 | 79 | 00 / 00 | 65.5 | |
| 59 | Heaven Help Us (1985) | John Heard | 6.10 | 18.4 | 18.40 | 109 | 73 | 00 / 00 | 65.3 | |
| 62 | Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993) | Whoopi Goldberg & James Coburn |
57.30 | 149.3 | 149.30 | 19 | 30 | 00 / 00 | 63.0 | |
| 59 | Music of the Heart (1999) | Meryl Streep | 14.90 | 31.7 | 31.70 | 100 | 64 | 02 / 00 | 61.2 | |
| 64 | Pay It Forward (2000) | Kevin Spacey & Haley Joel Osment |
33.50 | 67.0 | 111.40 | 74 | 52 | 00 / 00 | 56.5 | |
| 63 | Gross Anatomy (1989) | Matthew Modine | 11.60 | 31.5 | 31.50 | 74 | 63 | 00 / 00 | 56.1 | |
| 64 | Super 30 (2019) | Hrithik Roshan | 2.30 | 2.7 | 29.10 | 159 | 72 | 00 / 00 | 55.9 | |
| 65 | Chalk (2006) | Christopher Guest | 0.30 | 0.5 | 0.50 | 265 | 71 | 00 / 00 | 53.7 | |
| 65 | The Emperor's Club (2002) | Kevin Kline | 14.10 | 26.2 | 26.20 | 128 | 62 | 00 / 00 | 51.6 | |
| 67 | The Substitute (1996) | Tom Berenger | 14.80 | 36.1 | 36.10 | 99 | 59 | 00 / 00 | 51.2 | |
| 66 | The Man Who Knew Infinity (2015) | Dev Patel & Jeremy Irons |
3.90 | 4.9 | 15.70 | 145 | 68 | 00 / 00 | 49.5 | |
| 68 | Spare Parts (2015) | George Lopez | 3.60 | 4.6 | 4.60 | 148 | 67 | 00 / 00 | 47.1 | |
| 69 | Detachment (2011) | James Caan | 0.10 | 0.1 | 5.10 | 251 | 67 | 00 / 00 | 44.4 | |
| 70 | Critical Thinking (2020) | John Leguizamo | 0.10 | 0.1 | 0.10 | 172 | 65 | 00 / 00 | 40.1 | |
| 71 | Billy Madison (1995) | Adam Sandler | 25.60 | 63.4 | 65.60 | 66 | 41 | 00 / 00 | 35.0 | |
| 72 | Renaissance Man (1994) | Mark Wahlberg & Danny DeVito |
24.30 | 64.3 | 64.30 | 57 | 42 | 00 / 00 | 33.8 | |
| 73 | Light it Up (1999) | Forest Whitaker & Judd Nelson |
6.00 | 12.8 | 12.80 | 143 | 56 | 00 / 00 | 30.3 | |
| 74 | Fist Fight (2017) | Ice Cube | 32.20 | 38.7 | 49.40 | 76 | 42 | 00 / 00 | 19.1 | |
| 75 | Teaching Mrs. Tingle (1999) | Helen Mirren | 9.00 | 19.1 | 19.10 | 130 | 41 | 00 / 00 | 9.6 |
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Great UMR Page
Oh, I see you now have a comment box for this page now Bruce, so I can comment on it.
I have seen 14 Teaching Movies.
My favourite teaching films are:
To Sir, With Love
Blackboard Jungle
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
A Beautiful Mind
Mr. Holland’s Opus
Merry Christmas Bruce to you, your family, and your readers
Hey Flora.
1. Thanks for checking out our teaching movie page…and thanks for the tally count.
2. 14 is pretty good….especially since most of these movies are made after 1976/
3. Of your favorites…..I have seen all of them……and enjoyed all of them.
4. Of those 5 movies….Mr. Holland’s Opus is the movie that got the most attention from the teachers.
5. Thanks for the season good wishes…..and the same to you. Hope you have had a good time with the chorus this year.
6. Have a safe and happy holiday.
HI STEVE
1 Possibly the Graduate is being classed as a teaching movie because the title itself and the character of Benji are seen to be representative of a profession regarded as hallowed by many and therefore paid due lip service on any pretext.
2 Personally I would regard Fonda’s Tin Star as more of a teaching movie than The Graduate but then again I suppose that within that broad definition of teaching it could be argued that Mrs Robinson taught Benji to be “a man!”.
3 A single word like in this case Graduate can invoke all kinds of broader sentiments in people.that they wish to find an excuse to acknowledge. For example have you ever noticed how when one of those stand-up TV comedians comes out with just one swear word audiences burst into fits of laughter even though he/she has said nothing remotely funny? Nowadays such communications are called “dog whistles”
Hey Bob……the person voting on The Graduate had recently been somewhere that had mentioned The Graduate as being one of the best movies of all-time. So when I asked which was the best Teaching movie….The Graduate popped into their head. But it was clear to me that they had not seen the movie…… but a vote is a vote….lol. So that quick moment in time has now been saved for all-time….or at least until the internet is around…lol.
I can see your point on Tin Star…..”teaching” can cover a wide range of topics…from Fonda in Tin Star to Bancroft in The Graduate. It is amazing that some people think using profanity is funny…..Richard Pryor used profanity….but it was normally surrounded by a funny story. Good feedback.
HI BRUCE
1 Maybe the makers of the Graduate meant that Benji graduated in not only academic ways but in other skills as well !!!
2 By the way I’m currently doing an Esther Williams exercise using your stats and see that On An Island with You is missing from her personal page but luckily for me you have covered it in the 1948 Review crediting it with a healthy adjusted domestic of $176.4 million [actual gross $8.2 million. I suppose the ready reckoner on Esther’s page is out too?
3 Anyway that stats page is very useful in that it clearly illustrates that Esther’s career was sadly killed stone dead in the early 1950s with the decline of the musicals, her last Cogerson 100 million doomestic grosser being Easy to Love in 1953 after which it was downhill all the way into cinematic oblivion.
STEVE
1 It’s interesting how many movies with a teaching connection can be assembled when a close study of the subject us made. Probably my favourites are Hoosiers aka Best Shot and Arnie’s harmless Kindergarten Cop.
2 However another in my top list of the most entertaining “teaching” movies of all time is the 1957 western The Tin Star where Fonda taught greenhorn sheriff Anthony Perkins how to be proficient with a gun so that Tony could as the saying goes these days “drain the swamp” of the town bad guys!
3 Teaching is designed to help build successful lives but in The Tin Star Fonda’s tutorials SAVED Perkins’ life. Certainly I would prefer to have Fonda’s Morg Hickman as my guru rather than someone like say Joel Hirschhorn.
4 As it’s Christmas I might even be generous and declare Laddie’s Shane a teaching movie as he gave little Joey lessons in how to shoot a gun and I might even call Godpop a teaching movie because of the way Don Corelone taught Pacino’s Michael how to gauge his true enemies and outwit the other Mafia mobs after the Don’s death.
But Bob, why is The Graduate a teaching movie? Apart from the title itself.
And I meant next year in the last paragraph of my post not this year of course.
Hey Steve…..The Graduate came from a non-movie person….but from somebody who wanted to help. I debated whether to include it or not….in the end….mainly because I printed up lots of copies of this page….and handed them out to all the teachers and administrators in my school that helped out in the survey…..the decision was made to include The Graduate. Is it a teaching movie? No…..but it was one of the answers given….so it got included.
I actually thought somebody was going to name Star Wars….as Obi Wan Kenobi and Yoda teach Luke the Jedi way. As for Mrs. Robinson….she taught a couple of generations how sexy an older woman could be…lol.
On the odd chance you’ll read this Bruce, I’ve seen 19 of the 73 teaching films listed. About as much as I expected, it’s not one of my favorite genres, unless it’s a comedy. 🙂
But I did enjoy – To Sir With Love, The Karate Kid (1984), Harry Potter, Sky High, The Faculty and The Graduate (was this a teaching movie?).
The list would have been better and neater I think if you narrowed it down to just schools and classrooms, and included Animal House and Ferri Buellers day Off. 🙂
I might do a top 20 video some time this year on ‘School Movies’, not necessarily teaching movies. A Xmas theme video might be a good idea, though too late for this year. Have you done a Xmas movie page yet Bruce? [Cue Bruce screaming]
Hey Steve….jumped to the top of the comment pile to reply to your comment. 19….seen…I have seen the Top 24….and 47 of the Top 50…..only missing the O’Toole Mr. Chips, Conrack and Up The Down Staircase. And 18 of the final 23….for a total of 65.
This list is simply the movies that the teachers named….I did not exclude any of the movies (The Graduate is the oddest selection)….while Ferris Bueller and Whiplash seem to be the ones missing.
I am working on a “complete” UMR teaching movie page…that might reach 300 or 400 movies….but currently the database is dead in the water….so any new pages will be ones that are almost complete….like JCVD or Taye Diggs.
I think a Lensman Xmas video would be a good one. I have not done a new You Tube page in almost a year…..just not enough time…..though I was recently looking at my limited You Tube channel and I am averaging 15,000 views a month….not too bad….though nothing compared to your Video numbers.
Thanks for the feedback.