Tier List
Denis Villeneuve Movies Tier List: All 11 Films Ranked (2026)
All 11 features he directed alone, from 1999's August 32nd on Earth through Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 to Dune: Part Two, ranked from S-tier to D-tier, with the box office return on every one. Dune: Part Three makes it 12 on December 18, 2026. Then settle your own order with head-to-head comparisons.
The Complete Denis Villeneuve Tier List
Most director rankings are settled by the third film. This one is not, because Villeneuve has effectively had two careers and the argument is about which one you are ranking. There is the Quebec filmmaker of Maelström, Polytechnique and Incendies, working small and hitting hard, and there is the Hollywood architect of Arrival, Blade Runner 2049 and Dune, working at a scale almost nobody else is trusted with. Readers who arrived through Dune have usually seen five of these. Readers who arrived through Incendies have usually seen a different five. Here is every Villeneuve feature ranked into classic S/A/B/C/D tiers. Think Dune: Part Two is being cheated, or that Sicario was the peak all along? Settle it yourself in minutes with Shortlist.
Each film below also says where to watch it in the US, checked October 7, 2026 (JustWatch). Rights move, so those lines disappear rather than guess once that check is over three weeks old.
Arrival
(2016)The one where the technique is in service of an idea rather than the other way round, and the only film here that changes shape entirely on a second viewing. It is a first-contact story in which nobody fires a weapon and the climax is a linguist understanding a verb tense. Amy Adams carries it almost alone and gives the best performance in his filmography, because the whole plot turns on a face registering something it cannot yet explain. Johann Johannsson's score and the slow reveal of the ship are the most alien images in modern science fiction precisely because they refuse to explain themselves. It is also the shortest of his late films by forty minutes, which is not a coincidence.
Streaming on Paramount+ and Peacock
Blade Runner 2049
(2017)The most beautiful film of the last decade and the least likely sequel ever financed, a 164-minute art film about loneliness released as a blockbuster and rejected as one. Roger Deakins finally won his Oscar for it and the win understates the achievement: the Las Vegas sequence, the orange dust, the scale of the sea wall are production design and photography working as a single instrument. What puts it in S rather than second is that it takes the original's question seriously enough to answer it differently, and the answer, that K matters because of what he chose and not what he was, is better than the one it inherited. The complaint that it is slow is accurate and is the point.
Streaming on Prime Video and Paramount+
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Sicario
(2015)The tightest thing he has made and the one that proved he could hold an audience without a single beat of exposition. The border-crossing convoy sequence is a masterclass, ten minutes of nothing happening that is more frightening than any action scene of that decade, and the night-vision raid at the end shifts the film into a genre it never announced. Emily Blunt is the audience, kept ignorant on purpose, and the film's honesty is that it never rewards her for being the only moral person in it. Benicio del Toro walking away in the last act is the moment his American career actually started. It sits below the top two only because it wants to unsettle you rather than move you.
Streaming on HBO Max
Incendies
(2010)The film that got him hired by Hollywood, and still the most emotionally violent thing he has directed. Twins travel to an unnamed Middle Eastern country to carry out their mother's will and the structure keeps folding her past into their present until the two meet at a revelation that is genuinely hard to sit through. The bus sequence is the single most upsetting scene in his work and it is shot plainly, without any of the visual grandeur he is now known for. Lubna Azabal is extraordinary. It is ranked here rather than higher only because the final twist is engineered to a degree that the rest of the film is not.
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Dune: Part Two
(2024)The better half of the Dune project by some distance, because it has a plot instead of an introduction. Everything Part One spent 155 minutes setting up finally moves: the sandworm ride is the best action sequence of his career, the arena fight in monochrome infrared is the single boldest image, and the film is clear-eyed that its hero is becoming something awful. Rebecca Ferguson and Javier Bardem understand exactly what kind of film they are in. What keeps it out of S is Chani, whose rewritten ending is the right idea executed as a shrug, and a final act that ends mid-sentence because a third film exists.
Streaming on HBO Max
Prisoners
(2013)His first American film and the one most people underrate, a 153-minute abduction thriller that is really about what a decent man will do when the system is slow. Hugh Jackman has never been better and has never been used less flatteringly. Jake Gyllenhaal's detective is the actual protagonist and almost nobody remembers that, because the film keeps its own centre of gravity slightly off-frame. It is also the first collaboration with Deakins and it looks like Pennsylvania rain looks. It lands in B because it is thirty minutes longer than its story and the final act leans on a coincidence a tighter film would not need.
Rent or buy only
Dune
(2021)A magnificent piece of world-building that is, structurally, all first act. Every complaint about it is true and none of them are the film's fault: it adapts the half of the novel where nothing is resolved, and it was made without a guarantee that the other half would ever be shot. The ornithopters, the stillsuits, the sound of the Voice and the scale of the Harkonnen ships are the most convincing science-fiction production design since Alien. Timothee Chalamet is asked mostly to look burdened. Watch it once for the craft, then never again on its own, because Part Two turns it from an unfinished film into a long opening chapter.
Streaming on HBO Max
Enemy
(2014)The strangest film he will ever make and the one his fans defend hardest, ninety minutes of Toronto shot the colour of nicotine in which Jake Gyllenhaal meets his exact double and neither man handles it well. It is deliberately unreadable, it is about infidelity or authoritarianism or arachnophobia depending on who you ask, and its last shot is the best jump scare of the century in a film with no horror in it. That final image is why it is here rather than lower. It is also the least rewatchable thing on this list, which is why it is not higher.
Free with ads on Kanopy, The Roku Channel and Fandango at Home
Polytechnique
(2009)A 77-minute black-and-white reconstruction of the 1989 Montreal massacre, made with the restraint the subject demands and almost no interest in being liked. It refuses to explain the killer, follows two students instead, and shoots the event from angles that keep denying you the thing a lesser film would sell tickets on. As a moral act it is close to unimpeachable. As a film it is deliberately inert, and the artistic choice that makes it defensible is the same one that makes it hard to rank against work that is trying to be entertaining. Important rather than good is a real category and this is the clearest example of it in his filmography.
Streaming on Fandor
Maelström
(2000)The second feature, narrated by a dying fish on a butcher's block, which tells you most of what you need to know about how much of his current style was there at the start. A hit and run, a guilt spiral, a romance built on a lie the audience knows about before either character does. Marie-Josee Croze is very good and the Quebec critics loved it. Two decades on it plays as a talented young director doing a Dogme-adjacent thing that was fashionable in 2000, and the fish is either the best or the worst idea in his whole career depending on the day.
Free with ads on Kanopy, myfilmfriend and Cineverse
August 32nd on Earth
(1999)The debut, and the only film on this list with no reason to be sought out except completeness. A model survives a car crash in the desert, decides she wants a child, and asks her best friend to father it in a place with no other people in it. The salt-flat photography is genuinely striking and everything around it is a first film: characters who behave in whatever way the next scene requires, a whimsy that has not yet been earned, and a pace that mistakes stillness for weight. Watch it after you have seen the other ten, purely to see how little of the later filmmaker is visible here.
Free with ads on Kanopy
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All 11 Denis Villeneuve films, one tap each, S down to D. It saves as you go and it prints. No email, no signup.
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The card above builds one from your taps and nothing else, no star ratings, which matters more on this filmography than on most. Almost everything here is well made, so a star-rated Villeneuve list collapses into a column of fours and fives with no order inside it. A head-to-head refuses that. Asking yourself whether you would honestly rather rewatch Arrival or Blade Runner 2049 tonight produces an answer in about a second, and it is frequently not the one your ratings would have predicted.
There are eleven, and the two early Quebec films are where a Villeneuve ranking gets argumentative, because half the people ranking him have not seen them. Shortlist ranks the full run head-to-head, keeps the list current as the next one arrives, and gives every ranking a share link for whoever still insists Sicario is his best.
Read more about the comparison-based approach in our movie tier list guide.
Two different things get scored around this page. The S to D tiers above are editorial, and S means a film that held up rather than one that reviewed well on opening weekend. The score you see in the app is a different number: it is built from the head-to-head comparisons you make, scaled to 0 to 10, not from critic averages. How Shortlist scores work sets out the whole method.
This website uses TMDB and the TMDB APIs but is not endorsed, certified, or otherwise approved by TMDB.
Every Denis Villeneuve Movie at the Box Office
The two films this list puts in S tier are the best and the worst investments of his career, and that is the most useful thing on this page. Arrival returned 4.33x its budget, the highest multiple he has ever posted. Blade Runner 2049 returned 1.73x, the lowest of his 6 studio films, on a budget 3.2 times the size. Across the 8 films with figures on record he has taken $1.805B worldwide on $638.3M of production budget, a blended 2.83x. No tier list publishes this column, and it is the one that explains why a director this celebrated keeps having to justify himself.
| Film | Worldwide | Budget | Return | Tier | TMDB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dune: Part Two2024 | $714.8M | $190.0M | 3.76x | A | 8.1 |
| Dune2021 | $410.7M | $165.0M | 2.49x | B | 7.8 |
| Blade Runner 20492017 | $259.2M | $150.0M | 1.73x | S | 7.6 |
| Arrival2016 | $203.4M | $47.0M | 4.33x | S | 7.6 |
| Prisoners2013 | $122.1M | $46.0M | 2.65x | B | 8.1 |
| Sicario2015 | $85.0M | $30.0M | 2.83x | A | 7.4 |
| Incendies2010 | $6.8M | $6.8M | 1.00x | A | 8.1 |
| Enemy2014 | $3.4M | $3.5M | 0.97x | B | 6.8 |
| Polytechnique2009 | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | C | 7.1 |
| Maelström2000 | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | C | 6.2 |
| August 32nd on Earth1999 | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | D | 6.5 |
Worldwide grosses, production budgets, runtimes and user scores read from the TMDB API on 2026-09-07, fetched by film id. Return is worldwide gross divided by production budget, computed from the two columns beside it. It is a rough measure on purpose: it counts no marketing spend and no share to exhibitors, so a film needs roughly 2.5x before it is genuinely profitable in cinemas. 3 of the 11 films carry no budget or gross at TMDB (Polytechnique, Maelström, August 32nd on Earth), so they are marked not recorded and are left out of every figure in this section rather than counted as zero.
On the 2.5x reading, 4 of his 6 studio films clear the bar. Dune misses it by about a hundredth, at 2.49x, which is a rounding error and not a verdict. Blade Runner 2049 misses it by a distance: $259.2M on $150.0M is the one genuine financial failure in his filmography, and it is the film most of his admirers would name as his best. That gap between what the audience paid for and what the audience reveres is the whole reason this ranking starts arguments.
The runtimes explain the other half of his reputation. His 6 studio films average 146 minutes, and 4 of the 6 run past two and a half hours. Arrival, the best return on the table, is the shortest of them at 1h 56m. That is the trade every Villeneuve film makes with its audience, and the money column is where you can see who took the deal.
Star ratings cannot separate these films, and the numbers prove it rather than assert it. The 6 best-rated films of the 11 sit inside 0.5 of a point on TMDB, from 8.1 down to 7.6, and three of them are tied outright at 8.1. Those six films sit in 3 different tiers on this page. A ten-point scale that puts Incendies and Blade Runner 2049 within half a point of each other has not ranked anything, it has agreed that both are good. A head-to-head refuses that tie: asked which of the two you would rather rewatch tonight, you answer in about a second.
What Order Should You Watch the Denis Villeneuve Movies In?
Only one pair has a required order, so everything else is a genuine choice. Dune (2021) must come before Dune: Part Two (2024) and they are one story split in half. Nothing else here connects to anything else.
The best way in, for most people: Arrival (2016), then Sicario (2015), then Blade Runner 2049 (2017). The first is the most emotionally direct film he has made and the shortest of the late run, the second is the most gripping, and the third is the one that tells you whether you have the patience for how he actually likes to work. If all three land, the Quebec films are waiting for you.
If you want it chronologically, watch the ambition arrive. August 32nd on Earth (1999), Maelström (2000), Polytechnique (2009), Incendies (2010), Prisoners (2013), Enemy (2014), Sicario (2015), Arrival (2016), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), Dune (2021), Dune: Part Two (2024). The nine-year gap between the second film and the third is the most interesting thing on that list: he stopped making features entirely, and what came back was a different filmmaker.
One twelve-minute detour worth taking. Next Floor (2008) is the short that ended that gap. It is a single grotesque dinner-party idea shot with total control, it won the Canal+ award at Cannes Critics' Week, and it is the first thing he made that looks like his later work.
The Twelfth Film: Dune: Part Three
Dune: Part Three reaches US cinemas on December 18, 2026, and it is the reason this tier list will have 12 entries rather than 11. It closes the trilogy that Dune: Part Two ended mid-sentence, and it is the film most likely to change the top of this ranking: how the trilogy lands will change how the first two read, and both of them currently sit outside S tier.
It is deliberately absent from the ranking. A tier list is a record of films people have actually seen, so nothing enters a tier here until it has opened, and a build check on this page fails on 2026-12-18 if it has not been ranked by then. What follows is what is confirmed rather than what is expected.
| US release | December 18, 2026 |
| Director | Denis Villeneuve |
| Runtime | 2h 20m |
| Cast | Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides, Zendaya as Chani, Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan, Jason Momoa as Hayt, Anya Taylor-Joy as Alia Atreides |
Release date, director, runtime and cast read from the TMDB API on 2026-09-07. The date is the US theatrical entry from the release-dates endpoint. That distinction is load bearing on this title: the record TMDB shows on the film's main page is 15 December, which is a preview screening date, not the wide release.
It opens on the same day as Avengers: Doomsday. Both films carry a US theatrical date of December 18, 2026, which puts the conclusion of the most expensive science-fiction trilogy of the decade directly opposite the largest Marvel ensemble since Endgame. One of the two will move, or December 2026 will produce the most crowded single day in modern release history. For a Villeneuve ranking it matters for a smaller reason: Dune and Dune: Part Two both opened with the calendar to themselves, and neither of them had to share an audience on its first weekend.
Two other projects are sometimes listed as his next film and neither is ranked here. The untitled James Bond film has him attached and has not been shot, so it has no release date to report. I'm Waiting for You is in development. Nothing enters this list until it has opened in cinemas.
Denis Villeneuve Tier List FAQ
What is the best Denis Villeneuve movie?
Arrival (2016), narrowly, because it is the one film where the enormous technique is entirely in service of an idea and the climax is a person understanding a verb tense. The strongest counter-argument is Blade Runner 2049 (2017), which is the more astonishing object and the better piece of photography, and the most common answer from anyone who found him before 2013 is Incendies (2010). There is no consensus pick here, which is unusual for a director this celebrated and is the whole reason this list is worth arguing with.
How many movies has Denis Villeneuve directed?
11 features that he directed alone, from August 32nd on Earth (1999) to Dune: Part Two (2024). He has also directed shorts, including Next Floor (2008), and contributed one segment each to two Quebec anthology films, none of which this Denis Villeneuve movies tier list ranks. Dune: Part Three is finished shooting but has not been released yet, so it is not ranked either.
Is Dune: Part Three on this tier list?
Not yet. Dune: Part Three is in post-production and reaches US cinemas on 18 December 2026, and this Denis Villeneuve movies tier list only ranks films that have actually come out. It will be added once it has, and it is the most likely film to change the top of this ranking: Dune: Part Two already sits in A-tier and ends mid-sentence, so how the trilogy lands will change how the first two read.
Why are Cosmos and Un cri au bonheur not on this list?
Because they are anthologies rather than his films. Cosmos (1996) is a Montreal portmanteau feature with six credited directors and Villeneuve shot one segment of it. Un cri au bonheur (2007, also released as Happiness Bound) carries eleven directors on the same basis. Both run over 90 minutes, so a list built on runtime alone would keep them, which is exactly the trap. Only the films he directed by himself are ranked.
Where should someone start with Denis Villeneuve?
Arrival (2016). It is the most emotionally direct film he has made, it is the shortest of his major work by about forty minutes, and it does not require any patience you have to build up to. Follow it with Sicario (2015) for the tension and then Blade Runner 2049 (2017), which is the one that tells you whether his real pace is for you. If those three land, Incendies and Prisoners are waiting.
What is Denis Villeneuve's highest grossing movie?
Dune: Part Two (2024), at $714.8M worldwide against a $190.0M production budget. It is the only Denis Villeneuve film to pass $500M and it out-grossed Dune (2021) by more than $300M. His next two biggest are Dune at $410.7M and Blade Runner 2049 at $259.2M. Figures read from the TMDB API on 2026-09-07.
Did Blade Runner 2049 lose money?
Yes, in cinemas. Blade Runner 2049 took $259.2M worldwide against a $150.0M production budget, a return of 1.73x. A film needs roughly 2.5x its budget to break even theatrically once marketing spend and the exhibitors' share are counted, so it is the one genuine financial failure among the six studio films Denis Villeneuve has directed, and it is also the film his admirers most often name as his best.
What is the best rated Denis Villeneuve movie?
Three are tied at 8.1 on TMDB: Incendies (2010), Prisoners (2013) and Dune: Part Two (2024). That tie is the useful part. The six best-rated films of his eleven sit inside half a point of each other, from 8.1 down to 7.6, and they fall into three different tiers on this list, so a ten-point rating scale does not actually separate his filmography. Ranking them against each other head-to-head does.
When does Dune: Part Three come out?
18 December 2026 in US cinemas. That is the US theatrical date from the TMDB release-dates endpoint, read on 2026-09-07; the date shown on the film's main TMDB page is 15 December 2026, which is a preview screening rather than the wide release. Denis Villeneuve directs, the runtime is 2h 20m, and Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Florence Pugh, Jason Momoa and Anya Taylor-Joy are confirmed in the cast.
Do you have to watch Dune before Dune: Part Two?
Yes. They are one story cut in half rather than a film and its sequel, and Dune: Part Two opens on the assumption that you know who everyone is and what just happened. It is the only required order on this whole list: nothing else here connects to anything else, which is why the ranking is a genuine argument instead of a chart.
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