CineBrawlThe directors who appear most across CineBrawl tournaments
Which filmographies carry the most weight across the site’s 53 tournaments, and how well their titles are rated.
A director who places six films across the brackets has a real influence on outcomes: whichever tournament you open, you keep meeting their work. This counts how often each one appears, and how their titles are rated on average.
- Steven Spielberg
Always (1989), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), The Sugarland Express (1974), The BFG (2016), War Horse (2011)…
- Alfred Hitchcock
Marnie (1964), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), To Catch a Thief (1955), Strangers on a Train (1951), Shadow of a Doubt (1943)…
- Martin Scorsese
Hugo (2011), Silence (2016), Mean Streets (1973), Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004)…
- Hayao Miyazaki
Ponyo (2008), The Boy and the Heron (2023), Porco Rosso (1992), Warriors of the Wind (1984), Castle in the Sky (1986)…
- Christopher Nolan
Oppenheimer (2023), Tenet (2020), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Batman Begins (2005), Dunkirk (2017)…
- Quentin Tarantino
Jackie Brown (1997), Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019), The Hateful Eight (2015), Django Unchained (2012), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)…
- Stanley Kubrick
The Killing (1956), Barry Lyndon (1975), A Clockwork Orange (1971), Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Full Metal Jacket (1987)…
- Robert Zemeckis
The Polar Express (2004), Back to the Future Part III (1990), Back to the Future Part II (1989), Death Becomes Her (1992), Flight (2012)…
- Tim Burton
Beetlejuice (1988), Batman (1989), Batman Returns (1992), Corpse Bride (2005), Sleepy Hollow (1999)…
- David Fincher
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), The Social Network (2010), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), Zodiac (2007), Gone Girl (2014)…
- Clint Eastwood
Invictus (2009), Sully (2016), Unforgiven (1992), Letters from Iwo Jima (2006), The Bridges of Madison County (1995)…
- Ron Howard
A Beautiful Mind (2001), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), Rush (2013), Apollo 13 (1995), Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)…
- Tony Scott
Spy Game (2001), Top Gun (1986), Unstoppable (2010), Déjà Vu (2006), Crimson Tide (1995)…
- Zack Snyder
Army of the Dead (2021), Dawn of the Dead (2004), Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021), Man of Steel (2013), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)…
- Francis Ford Coppola
The Godfather Part III (1990), The Godfather Part II (1974), Apocalypse Now (1979), The Godfather (1972), The Conversation (1974)
- James Cameron
The Terminator (1984), Titanic (1997), Avatar (2009), Aliens (1986), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
- Ridley Scott
American Gangster (2007), The Martian (2015), Blade Runner (1982), Alien (1979), Gladiator (2000)
- Denis Villeneuve
Dune (2021), Arrival (2016), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), Prisoners (2013), Sicario (2015)
- Brian De Palma
Carlito's Way (1993), The Untouchables (1987), Scarface (1983), Carrie (1976), Mission: Impossible (1996)
- James Gunn
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), The Suicide Squad (2021), Superman (2025), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
- Sam Mendes
Road to Perdition (2002), Revolutionary Road (2008), 1917 (2019), American Beauty (1999), Skyfall (2012)
- George Lucas
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008), Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999), Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002), Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005), Star Wars (1977)
- Sergio Leone
Once Upon a Time in America (1984), A Fistful of Dollars (1964), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
- Peter Jackson
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
- Sidney Lumet
The Verdict (1982), 12 Angry Men (1957), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Network (1976)
How this ranking is built
Only directors with at least three titles in the corpus are listed. The average is a plain mean of the TMDB ratings of their titles here — not of their whole filmography.
The pool is the CineBrawl corpus: every title hand-picked into one of the site’s ready-made tournaments. That is an editorial selection, not a scrape of a whole database — which is exactly why this ranking looks different from a raw “top rated” list.
Ratings and vote counts come from TMDB and were captured when the site was last built. They move over time; treat them as an order of magnitude, not as a verdict.
Rankings are a starting point, not an answer. If you want a decision rather than a list, run these titles through a bracket: build your own tournament or play a ready-made one.