🦈Best Shark Movies Ranked
Shark movies span from masterful suspense to B-movie thrills, shaping summer cinema and pop culture fears. Box office giants and cult favorites compete on scares, spectacle, and legacy. Vote for your top picks.
What counts: Best means iconic impact, tension, and rewatch value. Figures are approximate.
Jaws▲ Rising
Spielberg turned a beach town into a pressure cooker with the great white's attacks building dread through unseen menace. The iconic theme and final boat showdown cemented its status as the definitive shark thriller.
Year: 1975RT Score: 9/10Budget: 9 $MGross: 470 $MRuntime: 124 min
added by IJRin 9 rankingsJaws
41Deep Blue Sea▲ Rising
Smart sharks engineered for research turn on their creators in a flooded facility, delivering frantic chases and shocking kills. Saffron Burrows and the lab explosions made it a 90s action staple.
Year: 1999RT Score: 5.8/10Budget: 60 $MGross: 165 $MRuntime: 105 min
added by IJRDeep Blue Sea
27Teens explore an underwater Mayan city and face blind cave sharks in a flooded ruin. The confined dark spaces amplified the sequel's panic.
Year: 2019RT Score: 4.5/10Budget: 12 $MGross: 58 $MRuntime: 90 min
added by IJR47 Meters Down: Uncaged
2147 Meters Down▲ Rising
Two sisters trapped in a shark cage at depth face dwindling air and circling predators in a claustrophobic nightmare. The underwater panic made it a surprise hit.
Year: 2017RT Score: 5.6/10Budget: 5 $MGross: 61 $MRuntime: 89 min
added by IJR47 Meters Down
20Blake Lively's surfer fights a great white from a rock while injured, turning a simple setup into a tense survival duel. The daylight attacks and resourcefulness defined its tight thrills.
Year: 2016RT Score: 7.9/10Budget: 17 $MGross: 119 $MRuntime: 86 min
added by IJRThe Shallows
18A great white infiltrates a Florida SeaWorld park for 3D attack sequences on tourists and staff. Dennis Quaid's engineer heroics tried to refresh the formula.
Year: 1983RT Score: 3.7/10Budget: 18 $MGross: 88 $MRuntime: 99 min
added by IJRJaws 3-D
14The Brody widow battles a vengeful shark that follows her to the Bahamas in the weakest entry's family curse plot. Michael Caine's presence couldn't save the silly tone.
Year: 1987RT Score: 2/10Budget: 23 $MGross: 52 $MRuntime: 89 min
added by IJRJaws: The Revenge
12Sharknado▲ Rising
Tornadoes filled with sharks ravage Los Angeles in absurd disaster comedy, spawning a meme empire with chainsaw heroics. Its self-aware ridiculousness turned it into cult TV gold.
Year: 2013RT Score: 3.3/10Budget: 1 $MGross: 0 $MRuntime: 86 min
added by IJRin 2 rankingsSharknado
10▲ Rising
Statham returns to battle multiple megs and a new threat in deeper waters with bigger action. The expanded lore kept the franchise alive.
Year: 2023RT Score: 4.6/10Budget: 130 $MGross: 395 $MRuntime: 116 min
added by IJR
8Jason Statham battles a massive prehistoric shark in the Mariana Trench with high-seas action and rescues. Its mix of humor and scale revived the big-budget shark genre.
Year: 2018RT Score: 4.6/10Budget: 130 $MGross: 530 $MRuntime: 113 min
added by IJRThe Meg
7A couple abandoned at sea drifts while sharks circle in this based-on-true-events ordeal of isolation and fear. The real footage style heightened its raw dread.
Year: 2003RT Score: 5.4/10Budget: 0.5 $MGross: 55 $MRuntime: 79 min
added by IJROpen Water
7Burt Reynolds hunts a sunken treasure guarded by sharks in this 60s adventure with underwater action. Its pulp roots prefigured the genre boom.
Year: 1969RT Score: 4.5/10Budget: 3 $MGross: 1 $MRuntime: 99 min
added by IJRin 2 rankingsShark
6College students on a lake face tagged sharks in a remote bayou setup with 3D thrills. Its party-to-terror arc targeted teen audiences.
Year: 2011RT Score: 3.9/10Budget: 25 $MGross: 40 $MRuntime: 91 min
added by IJRShark Night
2Documentary follows divers filming great whites in a real expedition with raw ocean footage. Its authentic shark encounters influenced later fiction.
Year: 1971RT Score: 7.1/10Budget: 1 $MGross: 3 $MRuntime: 99 min
added by IJRBlue Water White Death
1A seaplane crash strands passengers on a shark-infested reef fighting for survival. Its isolated island setup echoed classic survival shark tales.
Year: 2021RT Score: 4.2/10Budget: 5 $MGross: 1 $MRuntime: 91 min
added by IJRGreat White
0Prehistoric sharks hunt beachgoers after emerging from the sand in this low-budget creature romp. Its desert-to-sea gimmick targeted late-night viewers.
Year: 2012RT Score: 2.8/10Budget: 1 $MGross: 0 $MRuntime: 86 min
added by IJRSand Sharks
-14Ghost Shark▼ Falling
A vengeful spectral shark haunts a coastal town after being killed in this supernatural Syfy entry. Its ghostly twist added silly novelty.
Year: 2013RT Score: 3.3/10Budget: 1 $MGross: 0 $MRuntime: 84 min
added by IJRGhost Shark
-19Jersey Shore Shark Attack▼ Falling
A reality TV crew faces sharks during a storm on the Jersey shore in this Syfy mockumentary. Its pop culture satire gave it brief buzz.
Year: 2012RT Score: 2.9/10Budget: 1 $MGross: 0 $MRuntime: 86 min
added by IJRJersey Shore Shark Attack
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