Best Christopher Nolan films

The Dark Knight (2008) wins 70% of its duels and tops the Christopher Nolan ranking ahead of Interstellar (2014).

A decisive 128 ELO points separate Interstellar (2014) in second place from Inception (2010) at third, the sharpest divide in the top tier. The Dark Knight (2008) holds first with 1453 points over 105 duels, while Interstellar (2014) sits at 1417 after 122 duels. The Prestige (2006) trails closely at fourth with 1284 points, just ahead of Oppenheimer (2023) at 1268. At the bottom, Following (1999) languishes at twelfth with 859 points and a 17% win rate across 87 duels, suggesting the community views Nolan's debut feature as his weakest work. Insomnia (2002) and Tenet (2020) occupy the eleventh and tenth spots respectively, both with win rates below 36%.

This Christopher Nolan ranking draws on 1049 duels contributed by 36 players across 12 contenders, updated on 12 October 2026. The polarization between the director's acclaimed mid-career output and his earlier or more experimental films reflects how audiences have embraced his blockbuster era while remaining cooler toward his outliers. Cast your vote to shape the ranking and decide which Nolan film deserves the top position.

Updated on October 12, 2026

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.

How our rankings are made →