Chris Columbus attends the NYC Special Screening of ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ on August 14, 2025 in New York City. Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Netflix.
Director Chris Columbus has made some of the most beloved movies of all time!
Beginning his career as a screenwriter on such classics as ‘Gremlins‘ and ‘The Goonies‘, Columbus would go on to direct some of the most popular movies in cinematic history including ‘Home Alone‘, ‘Mrs. Doubtfire‘, ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone‘ and ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets‘.
His latest film, ‘The Thursday Murder Club‘, which is based on the popular novel and stars Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan, opens in select theaters on August 22nd before premiering on Netflix August 28th.
In honor of his new film, Moviefone is counting down every movie Chris Columbus has every directed, from worst to best, including his latest.
NOTE: For this list we are only including films Columbus has directed, and not movies were he is only credited as the writer or producer.
Let’s begin!
17. ‘Pixels‘ (2015)
(L to R) Michelle Monaghan, Adam Sandler, Josh Gad, and Peter Dinklage in ‘Pixels’. Photo: Sony Pictures Releasing.
Video game experts are recruited by the military to fight 1980s-era video game characters who’ve attacked New York.
Release Date: Jul 24, 2015
Run Time: 1 hr 46 min
Budget: $88,000,000
Kate Pierce (Darby Camp) is reluctantly spending Christmas with her mom’s new boyfriend and his son Jack (Jahzir Bruno). But when the North Pole and Christmas are threatened to be destroyed, Kate and Jack are unexpectedly pulled into a new adventure with Santa Claus (Kurt Russell).
“The battle to save Christmas is on.”
Release Date: Nov 18, 2020
Run Time: 1 hr 52 min
(L to R) Robin Wiliams and Sam Neill in ‘Bicentennial Man’. Photo: Buena Vista Pictures Distribution.
Richard Martin (Sam Neill) buys a gift, a new NDR-114 robot. The product is named Andrew (Robin Williams) by the youngest of the family’s children. “Bicentennial Man” follows the life and times of Andrew, a robot purchased as a household appliance programmed to perform menial tasks. As Andrew begins to experience emotions and creative thought, the Martin family soon discovers they don’t have an ordinary robot.
“One robot’s 200 year journey to become an ordinary man.”
Release Date: Dec 17, 1999
Run Time: 2 hr 11 min
Budget: $100,000,000
A valedictorian’s (Paul Rust) declaration of love for a high-school cheerleader (Hayden Panettiere) launches a night of revelry, reflection and romance for a group of graduating seniors.
“Popularity is nice. Popular girls are not.”
Release Date: Jul 10, 2009
Run Time: 1 hr 42 min
Budget: $18,000,000
13. ‘Rent‘ (2005)
This rock opera tells the story of one year in the life of a group of bohemians struggling in late 1980s East Village, New York, USA. The film centers around Mark (Anthony Rapp) and Roger (Adam Pascal), two roommates. While a tragedy has made Roger numb to new experiences, Mark begins capturing their world through his attempts to make a personal movie. In the year that follows, they and their friends deal with love, loss, and working together.
Release Date: Nov 23, 2005
Run Time: 2 hr 15 min
Budget: $40,000,000
When a teen (Charles Schlatter) tries to set up a band at his school, his mother (Tuesday Weld) – who was a big fan of Elvis Presley (David Keith) – gets in a wreck. He and his band members then decide to kidnap Elvis and hook him up with his mother.
“1972. My family needed some help, my town needed a hero, and my band needed a break. So I borrowed Mom’s pink Cadillac and I kidnapped Elvis Presley, and our lives were never the same again.”
Release Date: Sep 30, 1988
Run Time: 1 hr 37 min
Danny Muldoon (John Candy), a Chicago policeman, still lives with his overbearing mother Rose (Maureen O’Hara). He meets and falls in love with Theresa Luna (Ally Sheedy), whose father owns the local funeral parlour. Naturally, his mother objects to the relationship, and Danny and Theresa must either overcome her objections or give up the romance.
“Before he can tie the knot, he has to untie the apron strings.”
Release Date: May 24, 1991
Run Time: 1 hr 44 min
Macaulay Culkin in ‘Home Alone 2: Lost in New York’. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
Instead of flying to Florida with his folks, Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) ends up alone in New York, where he gets a hotel room with his dad’s credit card—despite problems from a clerk and meddling bellboy. But when Kevin runs into his old nemeses, the Wet Bandits (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern), he’s determined to foil their plans to rob a toy store on Christmas Eve.
“He’s up past his bedtime in the city that never sleeps.”
Release Date: Nov 19, 1992
Run Time: 2 hr
Budget: $18,000,000
Jackie (Susan Sarandon) is a divorced mother of two. Isabel (Julia Roberts) is the career minded girlfriend of Jackie’s ex-husband Luke (Ed Harris), forced into the role of unwelcome stepmother to their children. But when Jackie discovers she is ill, both women realize they must put aside their differences to find a common ground and celebrate life to the fullest, while they have the chance.
“Be there for the joy. Be there for the tears. Be there for each other.”
Release Date: Dec 25, 1998
Run Time: 2 hr 5 min
Budget: $50,000,000
Accident prone teenager, Percy (Logan Lerman) discovers he’s actually a demi-God, the son of Poseidon (Kevin McKidd), and he is needed when Zeus’ (Sean Bean) lightning is stolen. Percy must master his new found skills in order to prevent a war between the Gods that could devastate the entire world.
When he finds out his longtime girlfriend (Julianne Moore) is pregnant, a commitment-phobe (Hugh Grant) realizes he might have to change his lifestyle for better or much, much worse.
Release Date: Jul 12, 1995
Run Time: 1 hr 43 min
Budget: $35,000,000
Cars fly, trees fight back, and a mysterious house-elf comes to warn Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) at the start of his second year at Hogwarts. Adventure and danger await when bloody writing on a wall announces: The Chamber Of Secrets Has Been Opened. To save Hogwarts will require all of Harry, Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione’s (Emma Watson) magical abilities and courage.
“Something evil has returned to Hogwarts!”
Release Date: Nov 15, 2002
Run Time: 2 hr 41 min
Budget: $100,000,000
(L to R) Celia Imrie, Ben Kingsley, Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan in ‘The Thursday Murder Club’, which will launch on 28th August 2025 exclusively on Netflix. Photo: Netflix.
Four septuagenarian friends (Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Sir Ben Kingsley and Celia Imrie) living in a retirement community form the Thursday Murder Club to solve cold cases for fun. But when a shady property developer is found dead, the four find themselves in the middle of their first live case.
Release Date: Aug 28, 2025
Run Time: 1 hr 58 min
When plans with her boyfriend fall through, high school senior Chris Parker (Elisabeth Shue) ends up babysitting the Anderson kids, Brad (Keith Coogan) and Sara (Maia Brewton). What should be a quiet night in, however, turns into a series of ridiculous exploits, starting when they leave the house to pick up Chris’ friend Brenda (Penelope Ann Miller). Soon, Brad’s buddy Daryl (Anthony Rapp) is involved, and the group must contend with car thieves, blues musicians and much more.
Loving but irresponsible dad Daniel Hillard (Robin Williams), estranged from his exasperated spouse (Sally Field), is crushed by a court order allowing only weekly visits with his kids. When Daniel learns his ex needs a housekeeper, he gets the job — disguised as a British nanny. Soon he becomes not only his children’s best pal but the kind of parent he should have been from the start.
“She makes dinner. She does windows. She reads bedtime stories. She’s a blessing… in disguise.”
Release Date: Nov 24, 1993
Run Time: 2 hr 5 min
Budget: $25,000,000
Eight-year-old Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) makes the most of the situation after his family unwittingly leaves him behind when they go on Christmas vacation. When thieves (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern) try to break into his home, he puts up a fight like no other.
“A family comedy without the family.”
Release Date: Nov 16, 1990
Run Time: 1 hr 43 min
Budget: $18,000,000
Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter in ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures.
Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) has lived under the stairs at his aunt and uncle’s house his whole life. But on his 11th birthday, he learns he’s a powerful wizard—with a place waiting for him at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As he learns to harness his newfound powers with the help of the school’s kindly headmaster (Richard Harris), Harry uncovers the truth about his parents’ deaths—and about the villain who’s to blame.
Release Date: Nov 16, 2001
Run Time: 2 hr 32 min
Budget: $125,000,000
Discussion about this post