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Best Fantasy Movies of the 1970s, Ranked by IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDB
52 fantasy films from the 1970s are in our catalog; the 50 best are ranked below. Top of the list is Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), at 8.1 on IMDb. The average IMDb score across this list is 6.8. Biggest split between audiences and critics: The Sentinel, 6.3 on IMDb against 19 on Metacritic.
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| # | Movie | Genre | IMDb | Tomato | Meta | TMDB | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monty Python and the Holy Grail '1975 | Comedy / Fantasy | 8.1 | 92% | 91 | 7.8 | Terry Gilliam |
| 2 | Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory '1971 | Fantasy / Comedy | 7.8 | 84% | 67 | 7.5 | Mel Stuart |
| 3 | The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie '1972 | Comedy / Fantasy | 7.7 | 98% | 93 | 7.4 | Luis Buñuel |
| 4 | Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town '1970 | Animation / Fantasy | 7.7 | 93% | - | 7.2 | Arthur Rankin Jr. |
| 5 | The Spirit of the Beehive '1973 | Drama / Fantasy | 7.7 | 93% | 87 | 7.6 | Víctor Erice |
| 6 | The Year Without a Santa Claus '1974 | Animation / Fantasy | 7.7 | 90% | - | 7.2 | Arthur Rankin Jr. |
| 7 | Three Wishes for Cinderella '1973 | Fantasy / Romance | 7.6 | - | - | 7.5 | Václav Vorlíček |
| 8 | Scrooge '1970 | Fantasy / Drama | 7.5 | 74% | 58 | 6.8 | Ronald Neame |
| 9 | A Touch of Zen '1970 | Action / Fantasy | 7.5 | 97% | - | 7.6 | King Hu |
| 10 | The Lorax '1972 | Animation / Drama / Fantasy | 7.8 | - | - | 7.2 | Hawley Pratt |
| 11 | The Hourglass Sanatorium '1973 | Drama / Fantasy / Horror | 7.4 | - | - | 7.5 | Wojciech Has |
| 12 | Belladonna of Sadness '1973 | Animation / Drama / Fantasy | 7.3 | 90% | 70 | 7.4 | Eiichi Yamamoto |
| 13 | House '1977 | Comedy / Fantasy / Horror | 7.2 | 90% | 75 | 7.3 | Nobuhiko Obayashi |
| 14 | Bedknobs and Broomsticks '1971 | Animation / Fantasy | 7.1 | 66% | 59 | 7.0 | Robert Stevenson |
| 15 | The Adventures of Pinocchio '1972 | Fantasy / Drama / Comedy | 7.7 | - | - | 7.5 | Luigi Comencini |
| 16 | Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell '1974 | Action / Fantasy / Drama / Thriller | 7.3 | - | - | 7.1 | Yoshiyuki Kuroda |
| 17 | Céline and Julie Go Boating '1974 | Comedy / Drama / Fantasy | 7.2 | 80% | 100 | 6.8 | Jacques Rivette |
| 18 | Donkey Skin '1970 | Fantasy / Comedy / Musical / Romance | 7.0 | 89% | 70 | 7.2 | Jacques Demy |
| 19 | Valerie and Her Week of Wonders '1970 | Fantasy / Drama | 7.0 | 81% | - | 7.0 | Jaromil Jireš |
| 20 | The Golden Voyage of Sinbad '1973 | Action / Drama / Fantasy | 6.8 | 76% | 69 | 6.7 | Gordon Hessler |
| 21 | Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands '1976 | Comedy / Drama / Fantasy / Romance | 6.9 | 78% | 52 | 6.8 | Bruno Barreto |
| 22 | The Rescuers '1977 | Fantasy / Animation | 6.9 | 79% | 74 | 6.8 | Wolfgang Reitherman |
| 23 | The Last Wave '1977 | Drama / Mystery / Fantasy | 6.9 | 78% | 85 | 6.7 | Peter Weir |
| 24 | Fando and Lis '1972 | Romance / Fantasy | 6.7 | 80% | - | 6.8 | Alejandro Jodorowsky |
| 25 | From Beyond the Grave '1974 | Fantasy / Horror / Drama | 6.6 | - | - | 6.7 | Kevin Connor |
| 26 | Heaven Can Wait '1978 | Fantasy / Comedy / Romance | 6.9 | 82% | 72 | 6.7 | Buck Henry |
| 27 | The Five Venoms '1978 | Action / Drama / Mystery / Fantasy | 7.0 | 80% | - | 6.6 | Chang Cheh |
| 28 | Arabian Nights '1974 | Fantasy | 6.6 | 83% | - | 6.5 | Pier Paolo Pasolini |
| 29 | The Hobbit '1977 | Fantasy / Animation | 6.7 | 72% | - | 6.6 | Arthur Rankin Jr. |
| 30 | Oh, God! '1977 | Fantasy / Comedy | 6.6 | 72% | 56 | 6.4 | Carl Reiner |
| 31 | The Man Who Fell to Earth '1976 | Sci-Fi / Drama / Fantasy | 6.6 | 79% | 81 | 6.5 | Nicolas Roeg |
| 32 | Dracula '1979 | Romance / Drama / Fantasy / Horror | 6.5 | 63% | 67 | 6.4 | John Badham |
| 33 | Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger '1977 | Fantasy | 6.4 | 60% | - | 6.6 | Sam Wanamaker |
| 34 | Freaky Friday '1976 | Fantasy / Comedy | 6.3 | 65% | 51 | 6.1 | Gary Nelson |
| 35 | Black Moon '1975 | Fantasy / Horror / Sci-Fi | 6.1 | 42% | - | 6.0 | Louis Malle |
| 36 | The Sentinel '1977 | Horror / Mystery / Fantasy | 6.3 | 45% | 19 | 6.1 | Michael Winner |
| 37 | Escape to Witch Mountain '1975 | Fantasy / Sci-Fi | 6.3 | 87% | 60 | 6.4 | John Hough |
| 38 | Wizards '1977 | Animation / Fantasy / Sci-Fi | 6.3 | 68% | - | 6.2 | Ralph Bakshi |
| 39 | Pete's Dragon '1977 | Fantasy / Animation / Comedy | 6.4 | 56% | 46 | 6.3 | Don Chaffey |
| 40 | The Car '1977 | Horror / Action / Thriller / Mystery / Fantasy | 6.2 | 32% | 21 | 6.4 | Elliot Silverstein |
| 41 | The Beast '1975 | Drama / Fantasy / Horror / Romance | 5.7 | 68% | - | 5.4 | Walerian Borowczyk |
| 42 | Jabberwocky '1977 | Fantasy / Comedy | 6.1 | 45% | 61 | 6.0 | Terry Gilliam |
| 43 | Tourist Trap '1979 | Horror / Fantasy | 6.0 | 67% | - | 6.1 | David Schmoeller |
| 44 | Return from Witch Mountain '1978 | Fantasy / Sci-Fi | 5.7 | 55% | 51 | 5.9 | John Hough |
| 45 | At the Earth's Core '1976 | Fantasy / Sci-Fi | 5.1 | 40% | 32 | 5.1 | Kevin Connor |
| 46 | Herbie Rides Again '1974 | Romance / Comedy / Fantasy | 5.7 | 83% | 49 | 6.2 | Robert Stevenson |
| 47 | Blacula '1972 | Horror / Fantasy | 5.7 | 46% | - | 5.5 | William Crain |
| 48 | The Lord of the Rings '1978 | Animation / Fantasy | 6.2 | 48% | 51 | 6.6 | Ralph Bakshi |
| 49 | Zardoz '1974 | Fantasy / Action / Thriller / Sci-Fi | 5.8 | 49% | 46 | 5.9 | John Boorman |
| 50 | The Wiz '1978 | Fantasy | 5.7 | 38% | 53 | 6.2 | Sidney Lumet |
Our catalog covers roughly the 8,800 most-rated films on TMDB, so lesser-known titles may be missing. Order uses a confidence-weighted IMDb score so a perfect score from a handful of votes does not beat a well-established classic; the scores shown are the raw ones.
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Other genres in the 1970s
Action of the 1970s Animation of the 1970s Comedy of the 1970s Crime of the 1970s Drama of the 1970s Horror of the 1970s Mystery of the 1970s Romance of the 1970s Sci-Fi of the 1970s Thriller of the 1970s War of the 1970s Western of the 1970s
Directors on this list
Terry Gilliam Luis Buñuel Ronald Neame Robert Stevenson Luigi Comencini Jacques Demy Wolfgang Reitherman Peter Weir Alejandro Jodorowsky Pier Paolo Pasolini Carl Reiner Nicolas Roeg
Actors on this list
John Cleese Gene Wilder Fernando Rey Delphine Seyrig Mickey Rooney Fred Astaire Albert Finney Alec Guinness Eddie Albert Angela Lansbury Nino Manfredi Catherine Deneuve