I searched far and wide for lists of best adventure movies of all time. Criteria included the movies being ranked, not just listed, and covering all time, not just a decade. The lists were generally created by groups, whether teams or committees or based on general public voting (like Ranker.com).

I was able to find 18 lists. I took the 18 lists and added all their content into a spreadsheet, noting the rank of every film. The total number was over 1,250 including all the repeats. I experimented with different formulas, trying to balance the value of being ranked high on any list and being included on the most lists. I ended up averaging the rankings each movie got (there were 264 that were on at least 2 lists) and dividing that average by a factor of the number of lists that movie was on. The lowest score meant a high ranking average on many lists. The complete spreadsheet is attached at the bottom.

The movies that were on the most lists (out of 18) were:

  • Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) – 17 lists
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) – 13 lists
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) – 13 lists
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) – 12 lists
  • Jurassic Park (1993) – 12 lists
  • Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977) – 11 lists
  • The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) – 10 lists
  • The Goonies (1985) – 10 lists
  • Lawrence of Arabia (1962) – 9 lists
  • Avatar (2009) – 9 lists
  • Life of Pi (2012) – 9 lists

Here are links to the lists I used along with dates the lists were created:

Best-Adventure-Movies-of-All-TimeDownload

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