I searched far and wide for lists of best fantasy 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 30 lists. I took the 30 lists and added all their content into a spreadsheet, noting the rank of every film. The total number was over 1,500 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 237 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 30) were:

  • The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) – 28 lists
  • The Wizard of Oz (1939) – 24 lists
  • Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) – 24 lists
  • The Princess Bride (1987) – 23 lists
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) – 22 lists
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) – 22 lists
  • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) – 20 lists
  • The Dark Crystal (1982) – 17 lists
  • Labyrinth (1986) – 17 lists
  • Edward Scissorhands (1990) – 17 lists
  • The NeverEnding Story (1984) – 16 lists
  • Spirited Away (2001) – 14 lists
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) – 14 lists

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

Best-Fantasy-Movies-of-All-TimeDownload