Want to know the best Joe Dante movies? How about the worst Joe Dante movies? Curious about Joe Dante box office grosses or which Joe Dante movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Joe Dante movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst reviews? Well, you have come to the right place…. because we have all of that information and much more.
Joe Dante (1946-) is an American director. Dante is one of many directors that got their start by working with the legendary Roger Corman. His IMDb page shows over 42 directing credits since 1968. This page will rank Joe Dante movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. To do well in the rankings, a movie needed to do well at the box office, be liked by both critics and audiences and earn some award recognition.
Joe Dante Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
| Year | Movie (Year) | Rating | S |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Movie (Year) | Rating | S |
| 1984 | Gremlins (1984) |  |
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| 1987 | Innerspace (1987) |  |
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| 1990 | Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) | |
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| 1998 | Small Soldiers (1998) | |
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| 1983 | Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) |  |
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| 1981 | The Howling (1981) | |
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| 1989 | The 'Burbs (1989) | |
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| 1993 | Matinee (1993) |  |
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| 1985 | Explorers (1985) | |
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| 2003 | Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) | |
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| 1978 | Piranha (1978) | |
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| 1976 | Hollywood Boulevard (1976) |  |
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| 2009 | The Hole (2009) Film Festival Circuit Only |
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| 1987 | Amazon Women on the Moon (1987) | |
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| 2018 | Nightmare Cinema (2018) |  |
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| 2014 | Burying The Ex (2014) Limited Release |
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| 1994 | Runaway Daughters (1994) Showtime Movies |
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| 1977 | Grand Theft Auto (1977) | |
Joe Dante Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort Joe Dante movies by co-stars of his movies.
- Sort Joe Dante movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Joe Dante movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Joe Dante movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations each Joe Dante movie received and how many Oscar® wins each Joe Dante movie won.
- Sort Joe Dante movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews, and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
| R | Movie (Year) | UMR Co-Star Links | Adj. B.O. Worldwide (mil) | Review | Oscar Nom / Win | UMR Score | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | Movie (Year) | UMR Co-Star Links | Actual B.O. Domestic (mil) | Adj. B.O. Domestic (mil) | Adj. B.O. Worldwide (mil) | B.O. Rank by Year | Review | Oscar Nom / Win | UMR Score | S |
| 1 | Gremlins (1984) | Zach Galligan & Phoebe Cates |
152.70 | 489.8 | 489.80 | 4 | 79 | 00 / 00 | 97.2 | |
| 2 | Innerspace (1987) | Dennis Quaid & Martin Short |
25.90 | 71.4 | 71.40 | 45 | 73 | 01 / 01 | 82.4 | |
| 3 | Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) | Zach Galligan & Phoebe Cates |
41.50 | 105.7 | 105.70 | 30 | 62 | 00 / 00 | 81.1 | |
| 4 | Small Soldiers (1998) | Kirsten Dunst & Gregory Smith |
54.70 | 125.7 | 163.80 | 41 | 54 | 00 / 00 | 80.1 | |
| 5 | Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) | Dan Aykroyd & Albert Brooks |
29.50 | 100.8 | 145.30 | 24 | 60 | 00 / 00 | 78.5 | |
| 6 | The Howling (1981) | Dee Wallace & Patrick Macnee |
18.00 | 69.7 | 69.70 | 48 | 66 | 00 / 00 | 75.7 | |
| 7 | The 'Burbs (1989) | Tom Hanks & Bruce Dern |
36.60 | 99.4 | 133.30 | 34 | 53 | 00 / 00 | 74.0 | |
| 8 | Matinee (1993) | John Goodman & Cathy Moriarty |
9.50 | 24.8 | 24.80 | 112 | 70 | 00 / 00 | 63.9 | |
| 9 | Explorers (1985) | Ethan Hawke & River Phoenix |
9.90 | 30.0 | 30.00 | 86 | 67 | 00 / 00 | 62.4 | |
| 10 | Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) | Steve Martin & Brendan Fraser |
21.00 | 37.5 | 97.60 | 106 | 62 | 00 / 00 | 57.6 | |
| 11 | Piranha (1978) | Keenan Wynn | 6.40 | 29.7 | 29.70 | 77 | 62 | 00 / 00 | 53.3 | |
| 12 | Hollywood Boulevard (1976) | Mary Woronov & Paul Bartel |
3.00 | 15.3 | 15.30 | 103 | 59 | 00 / 00 | 38.5 | |
| 13 | The Hole (2009) Film Festival Circuit Only |
Haley Bennett | 0.10 | 0.1 | 15.10 | 339 | 61 | 00 / 00 | 31.8 | |
| 14 | Amazon Women on the Moon (1987) | Rosanna Arquette & Michelle Pfeiffer |
0.50 | 1.5 | 1.50 | 198 | 60 | 00 / 00 | 30.4 | |
| 15 | Nightmare Cinema (2018) | Mickey Rourke | 0.10 | 0.1 | 0.10 | 404 | 57 | 00 / 00 | 23.5 | |
| 16 | Burying The Ex (2014) Limited Release |
Anton Yelchin | 0.00 | 0.1 | 0.90 | 406 | 55 | 00 / 00 | 20.0 | |
| 17 | Runaway Daughters (1994) Showtime Movies |
Paul Rudd | 0.10 | 0.1 | 0.10 | 239 | 53 | 00 / 00 | 16.5 | |
| 18 | Grand Theft Auto (1977) | Directed by Ron Howard & Edited by Joe Dante |
6.80 | 32.7 | 32.70 | 76 | 38 | 00 / 00 | 11.2 |
Joe Dante Adjusted World Wide Box Office Grosses
| Movie (Year) | UMR Co-Star Links | World-Wide Box Office Adjusted (mil) | S |
|---|---|---|---|
| Movie (Year) | UMR Co-Star Links | World-Wide Box Office Adjusted (mil) | S |
| Small Soldiers (1998) | Kirsten Dunst & Gregory Smith |
163.80 | |
| Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) | Dan Aykroyd & Albert Brooks |
145.30 | |
| The 'Burbs (1989) | Tom Hanks & Bruce Dern |
133.30 | |
| Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) | Steve Martin & Brendan Fraser |
97.60 | |
| The Hole (2009) Film Festival Circuit Only |
Haley Bennett | 15.10 | |
| Burying The Ex (2014) Limited Release |
Anton Yelchin | 0.90 |
Check out Joe Dante’s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time
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Hey Dan. Your comment really opened my eyes. I was so unaware of those 10 movies. 7 of them starred people with UMR pages….so they all got added to the database and the website. Thanks for making me aware. I imagine your tally has gone up by one. Great comment.
Runaway Daughters from 1994. It is listed as an episode of Rebel Highway. Showtime remade about 9 Roger Corman films at budgets of about 2 million because they decided it was cheaper to make their own films than paying whatever studios they were affiliated with at the time. It has an interesting cast, Paul Rudd and Mr. Corman himself are in it. One of the other remakes starred Renee Zellweger.
Renee’s one is Shake, Rattle and Rock!, also from 1994.
I have seen 13 of Joe’s films; the highest ranked I haven’t seen is The Hole. I remember he directed a few episodes of a TV series called Eerie, Indiana. He also did a remake of a Roger Corman film for Showtime when they remade some of Roger’s/AIP 50’s films.
Hey Dan….one behind you…as I have seen 12 of his movies. I just recently re-watched The Howling…which is a big reason we now have a page on him. Hmmm….I will have to get that Showtime movie added to the table. Good information as always.