Sports Movies

Gene Hackman in 1986's Hoosiers
Gene Hackman in 1986’s Hoosiers

Want to know the best Sports Movies?  How about the worst Sports Movies?  Curious about Sports Movies did at the box office or which Sports Movies picked up the most Oscar® nominations and Oscar® wins? Need to know which  Sports Movies movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.

A few years ago, I got a request from HubPages’s Stevennix2001 to figure out the Top 100 Sports Movies according to our Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score formula.  Well I had to research over 1,200 sports movies….but I was able to come up with a Top 100.  Along the way I actually wrote 14 sports movie pages.  Many of those pages look at each individual sport….for example Ranking Baseball Movies.   The final  page I did was this one….which lists over 400 movies that received a Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  To be eligible a movie had to play in movie theaters in North America.

Since 1976 it is almost impossible to think about boxing and not think of one of the Rocky movies.
Since 1976 it is almost impossible to think about Top 400 Sports Moviesand not think of one of the Rocky movies.

Sports 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 the type of sport
  • Sort Movies by the star of the movie
  • Sort Movies by adjusted box office grosses using current movie ticket cost
  • Sort by how Movies 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 Sports Movies received.
  • Sort Sports 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.
  • This table is freaking huge.  You need to use the sort and search buttons to find information.  For example if you want to see Kevin Costner sports movies…type his name in the search box and his 7 sports movies will pop up.  You can do the same thing with sports….if you want to see cricket movies….type in cricket in the search box and the two cricket movies will pop up. Sylvester Stallone leads the way with 11 movies in the table.
(Visited 75,765 times)

68 thoughts on “Sports Movies

  1. My favorite has to be Cool Runnings- I guess it’s such a fish out of water tale that it just appeals to me. I haven’t heard of all of these films but a good majority of them.

    I’m not surprised Rocky’s number one- it’s hard to top it.

    1. Hey Alecia Murphy…..Cool Runnings is a classic movie…and I am glad that it scored so high….41st place is pretty good out of 1300 movies. I agree I do not see how a sports movie can top Rocky. Thanks for the comments.

  2. What a complete list. I am surprised at how many of these movies I’ve seen. Great statistical analysis to rank the movies, but on personal preferences I would have rated Rudy higher and Miracle, Slapshot, and Cool Runnings higher than Dodgeball (I am old and like winter sports). I was surprised The Big Lebowski, We Are Marshall, and Secretariat didn’t make the Top 100

    1. Hey bankscottage….the three movies you mentioned did not make the Top 100…but they made the list. Secretariat just missed the list as it was ranked 103rd, We Are Marshall came in 150th place and The Big Lebowksi actually did not make any of the lists but it would have finished in 116th place. The search button makes it real easy to find movies on this massive table.

      Overall I ranked 400 movies by each category…those links are just above. This list is just based on statistics…..but I agree that Rudy, Slapshot, and Miracle are awesome movies that would rank even higher on a list that was just my personal preferences…thanks for stopping by.

    1. Hey Stendel. Glad you enjoyed my top sport movie page. It has turned into one of my most popular pages. Thanks for the comment.

  3. @Cogerson…Great Movie Page on the greatest sports movies!

    I think nine of the Top Ten will stand the test of time. I own nine of them. “The Blind Side” is the one I don’t have, and I don’t think it deserves ranking in the Top Ten, even though stats say otherwise. It didn’t seem to me that the meat of the story came through dramatically enough. It was a soft treatment on an explosive controversy. And I think Sandra B. has given much better portrayals in other films.

    I like “Chariots of Fire” No.1, then “Rocky” No.2; from there it’s a toss-up. I would replace “The Blind Side” with “Remember the Titans”, a far more powerful statement on some of the same subject matter based on a real situation, or with “Ali”, one of the most compelling true life sports stories ever told.

    1. Hey Barbsbitsnpieces. Thanks for stopping by. Glad to see that 9 of my Top10 rank high with you. I thought Blind Side was decent, but I know many people that think it is the best sports movie of all-time(my wife is one of those). Remember the Titans is a movie that seems to pick up more steam with each passing year….I just bought it on Blu-Ray….quality quality movie. Ali is a great movie…but it did not have much of a big office run…but Will Smith was excellent as Ali. Thanks for the nice comment.

  4. Sports movies are great! Remember the Titans, and Rocky IV are my favorites by far, but is is very difficult decision. Major League is awesome as well. No wonder this page reached me via twitter. It is freaking awesome!

    1. Hey kjrzeek1. Good to see your two favorite sports movies did so well in rankings…with Rocky IV coming in 23rd place while Titans picked up the 21st spot. Thanks for the compliment and the visit.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.