Highest-ranked title
Highest-ranked title
Ian McKellen has 34 titles in the CriticCrunch catalog across a career spanning the 1980s through the 2020s. 4 sit in the Top 1% of all titles we track — including The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
2007
Adventure · Fantasy
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
2001 · Movie · Actor
Top 1%Max · Included
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2003 · Movie · Actor
Top 1%Max · Included
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2002 · Movie · Actor
Top 1%Max · Included
X-Men: Days of Future Past
2014 · Movie · Actor
Top 1%Disney+ · Included
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
2013 · Movie · Actor
Top 2%Max · Included
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
2014 · Movie · Actor
Top 3%Max · Included
Young hobbit Frodo Baggins, after inheriting a mysterious ring from his uncle Bilbo, must leave his home in order to keep it from falling into the hands of its evil creator. Along the way, a fellowship is formed to protect the ringbearer and make sure that the ring arrives at its final destination: Mt. Doom, the only place where it can be destroyed.
Dir. Peter Jackson · With Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen
As armies mass for a final battle that will decide the fate of the world--and powerful, ancient forces of Light and Dark compete to determine the outcome--one member of the Fellowship of the Ring is revealed as the noble heir to the throne of the Kings of Men. Yet, the sole hope for triumph over evil lies with a brave hobbit, Frodo, who, accompanied by his loyal friend Sam and the hideous, wretched Gollum, ventures deep into the very dark heart of Mordor on his seemingly impossible quest to destroy the Ring of Power.
Dir. Peter Jackson · With Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen
Frodo Baggins and the other members of the Fellowship continue on their sacred quest to destroy the One Ring--but on separate paths. Their destinies lie at two towers--Orthanc Tower in Isengard, where the corrupt wizard Saruman awaits, and Sauron's fortress at Barad-dur, deep within the dark lands of Mordor. Frodo and Sam are trekking to Mordor to destroy the One Ring of Power while Gimli, Legolas and Aragorn search for the orc-captured Merry and Pippin. All along, nefarious wizard Saruman awaits the Fellowship members at the Orthanc Tower in Isengard.
Dir. Peter Jackson · With Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen
The ultimate X-Men ensemble fights a war for the survival of the species across two time periods as they join forces with their younger selves in an epic battle that must change the past – to save our future.
Dir. Bryan Singer · With Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender
The Dwarves, Bilbo and Gandalf have successfully escaped the Misty Mountains, and Bilbo has gained the One Ring. They all continue their journey to get their gold back from the Dragon, Smaug.
Dir. Peter Jackson · With Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage
Following Smaug's attack on Laketown, Bilbo and the dwarves try to defend Erebor's mountain of treasure from others who claim it: the men of the ruined Laketown and the elves of Mirkwood. Meanwhile an army of Orcs led by Azog the Defiler is marching on Erebor, fueled by the rise of the dark lord Sauron. Dwarves, elves and men must unite, and the hope for Middle-Earth falls into Bilbo's hands.
Dir. Peter Jackson · With Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage
Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit enjoying his quiet life, is swept into an epic quest by Gandalf the Grey and thirteen dwarves who seek to reclaim their mountain home from Smaug, the dragon.
Dir. Peter Jackson · With Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage
Professor Charles Xavier and his team of genetically gifted superheroes face a rising tide of anti-mutant sentiment led by Col. William Stryker. Storm, Wolverine and Jean Grey must join Magneto and Mystique to unhinge Stryker's scheme to exterminate all mutants.
Dir. Bryan Singer · With Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen
Two mutants, Rogue and Wolverine, come to a private academy for their kind whose resident superhero team, the X-Men, must oppose a terrorist organization with similar powers.
Dir. Bryan Singer · With Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen
A murder in Paris’ Louvre Museum and cryptic clues in some of Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous paintings lead to the discovery of a religious mystery. For 2,000 years a secret society closely guards information that — should it come to light — could rock the very foundations of Christianity.
Dir. Ron Howard · With Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen
Freddie and Stuart are an old couple who have been together for decades and bicker constantly. Their lives are turned upside down by their new upstairs neighbor Ash, who is sure to cause trouble in their mundane lives.
Dir. Mark Ravenhill · With Ian McKellen, Derek Jacobi, Frances de la Tour
It's 1957, and James Whale's heyday as the director of "Frankenstein," "Bride of Frankenstein" and "The Invisible Man" is long behind him. Retired and a semi-recluse, he lives his days accompanied only by images from his past. When his dour housekeeper, Hannah, hires a handsome young gardener, the flamboyant director and simple yard man develop an unlikely friendship, which will change them forever.
Dir. Bill Condon · With Ian McKellen, Brendan Fraser, Lynn Redgrave
Max is a handsome young man who, after a fateful tryst with a German soldier, is forced to run for his life. Eventually Max is placed in a concentration camp where he pretends to be Jewish because in the eyes of the Nazis, gays are the lowest form of human being. But it takes a relationship with an openly gay prisoner to teach Max that without the love of another, life is not worth living.
Dir. Sean Mathias · With Lothaire Bluteau, Clive Owen, Brian Webber
A family must use a magical box of Animal Crackers to save a rundown circus from being taken over by their evil uncle Horatio P. Huntington.
Dir. Tony Bancroft, Scott Christian Sava, Jaime Maestro · With Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Lydia Rose Taylor
Having helped his brother King Edward IV take the throne of England, the jealous hunchback Richard, Duke of Gloucester, plots to seize power for himself. Masterfully deceiving and plotting against nearly everyone in the royal court, including his eventual wife, Lady Anne, and his brother George, Duke of Clarence, Richard orchestrates a bloody rise to power before finding all his gains jeopardized by those he betrayed.
Dir. Richard Loncraine · With Ian McKellen, Annette Bening, Jim Broadbent
Career con man Roy sets his sights on his latest mark: recently widowed Betty, worth millions. And he means to take it all. But as the two draw closer, what should have been another simple swindle takes on the ultimate stakes.
Dir. Bill Condon · With Helen Mirren, Ian McKellen, Russell Tovey
While Senator Kelly addresses a senate committee about the supposed mutant menace, we learn about the making of the movie, X-Men (2000)
Dir. Thomas C. Grane · With Bruce Davison, Terry Anzur, Bryan Singer
When a cure is found to treat mutations, lines are drawn amongst the X-Men led by Professor Charles Xavier, and Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants.
Dir. Brett Ratner · With Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen
London high-society mouse, Roddy is flushed down the toilet by Sid, a common sewer rat. Hang on for a madcap adventure deep in the sewer bowels of Ratropolis, where Roddy meets the resourceful Rita, the rodent-hating Toad and his faithful thugs, Spike and Whitey.
Dir. David Bowers, Sam Fell · With Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Ian McKellen
The story of a young, gay, black, con artist who, posing as the son of Sidney Poitier, cunningly maneuvers his way into the lives of a white, upper-class New York family.
Dir. Fred Schepisi · With Stockard Channing, Will Smith, Donald Sutherland
One day in 1984, Todd Bowden, a brilliant high school boy fascinated by the history of Nazism, stumbles across an old man whose appearance resembles that of Kurt Dussander, a wanted Nazi war criminal. A month later, Todd decides to knock on his door.
Dir. Bryan Singer · With Brad Renfro, Ian McKellen, Bruce Davison
Set during World War II, a German army garrison is sent to guard a mountain pass in a village in Romania's Carpathian mountains and sets up barracks in an ancient stone fortress. Two of the soldiers unwittingly release a mysterious entity that kills or corrupts those within its influence, drawing the attention of a Gestapo commander, a Jewish scholar, and a mysterious traveller.
Dir. Michael Mann · With Scott Glenn, Alberta Watson, Jürgen Prochnow
Zach Riley is a psychiatrist, who leaves a job at a prestigious university, to take up a job at the privately run mental institution, Millwood. What he doesn't reveal at the time of his appointment is that this was the very place where his novelist father, T.L. Pierson, spent many years of his life.
Dir. Joshua Michael Stern · With Ian McKellen, Aaron Eckhart, Brittany Murphy
Jimmy Erskine is the most feared theatre critic of the age. He lives as flamboyantly as he writes and takes pleasure in savagely taking down any actor who fails to meet his standards. When the owner of the Daily Chronicle dies, and his son takes over, Jimmy quickly finds himself at odds with his new boss and his position under threat. In an attempt to preserve the power and influence he holds so sacred, Jimmy strikes a Faustian pact with a struggling actress, entangling them and the boss in a thrilling but deadly web of desire, blackmail, and betrayal.
Dir. Anand Tucker · With Ian McKellen, Gemma Arterton, Mark Strong
Based on the 1930s comic strip, The Shadow is put up against his archenemy Shiwan Khan, who plans to take over the world by holding a city to ransom using an atom bomb. Using his powers of invisibility and "the power to cloud men's minds", The Shadow comes blazing to the rescue with explosive results.
Dir. Russell Mulcahy · With Alec Baldwin, John Lone, Penelope Ann Miller
In 1947, long-retired and near the end of his life, Sherlock Holmes grapples with an unreliable memory and must rely on his housekeeper's son as he revisits the still-unsolved case that led to his retirement.
Dir. Bill Condon · With Ian McKellen, Laura Linney, Milo Parker
In a parallel universe, after overhearing a shocking secret, precocious orphan Lyra Belacqua trades her carefree existence roaming the halls of Jordan College for an otherworldly adventure in the far North, unaware that it's part of her destiny.
Dir. Chris Weitz · With Dakota Blue Richards, Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig
An aspiring young physician, Robert Merivel found himself in the service of King Charles II and saves the life of someone close to the King. Merivel joins the King's court and lives the high life provided to someone of his position. Merivel is ordered to marry his King's mistress in order to divert the queens suspicions. He is given one order by the king and that is not to fall in love. The situation worsens when Merivel finds himself in love with his new wife. Eventually, the King finds out and relieves Merivel of his position and wealth. His fall from grace leaves Merivel where he first started. And through his travels and reunions with an old friend, he rediscovers his love for true medicine and what it really means to be a physician.
Dir. Michael Hoffman · With Robert Downey Jr., Meg Ryan, Sam Neill
London, June 29th, 1613. The Globe Theater, ran by the famous playwright William Shakespeare, accidentally burns to ashes. Seriously affected, he stops writing and returns to his hometown, where his wife Anne and daughters Judith and Susanna get surprised to hear he intends to stay there definitively, after two decades working in the capital, neglecting his sincere affections for them.
Dir. Kenneth Branagh · With Kenneth Branagh, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen
An English bon-vivant osteopath is enchanted with a young exotic dancer and invites her to live with him. He serves as friend and mentor, and through his contacts and parties she and her friend meet and date members of the Conservative Party. Eventually a scandal occurs when her affair with the Minister of War goes public, threatening their lifestyles and their freedom.
Dir. Michael Caton-Jones · With John Hurt, Joanne Whalley, Bridget Fonda
Top Collaborators
Directors with 2+ shared titles, ranked by frequency
