We know what you’re thinking. “Who in the world would watch Greek mythology movies? That’s so old!”
But look at Percy Jackson. That was one very successful movie based on Greek mythology, and it shows that the interest in it hasn’t waned.
Mythology movies have been around for a long time, thanks in no small part to their near-infinite potential. It’s easy to see why this subject is ideal for a Hollywood film inspiration: knights and kings, extraordinary creatures, tales of tragedy and deception. Basically, the whole nine yards.
As usual, we’re here to share some interesting movie recommendations. This time it’s the turn for the 45 best Greek mythology movies, which will give you an insight into a fascinating universe. Get ready to delve into the fantastic world of gods, goddesses, and heroes!
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#1 The Odyssey
1997 | 2h 56m | Directed by Andrei Konchalovsky
Starring Armand Assante, Greta Scacchi and Isabella Rossellini
Odysseus, a warrior king, leaves his idyllic life in the kingdom of Ithaca to fight in the Trojan War. After winning the war, he now must endure a challenging ten-year journey to return. Did you know that many of the cast members and creative team of this two-part miniseries are actually of Greek ancestry?
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55points
#2 Troy
2004 | 2h 43m | Directed by Wolfgang Petersen
Starring Brad Pitt, Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom
An adaptation of Homer’s great epic, the film follows the assault on Troy by the united Greek forces and chronicles the fates of the men involved. Brad Pitt and Eric Bana, who played Achilles and Hector, didn’t use stunt doubles for the epic fight scene. They made a gentlemen’s agreement to pay for every accidental hit; $50 for each light blow and $100 for each hard blow. Pitt ended up paying Bana $750, and Bana didn’t owe Pitt anything.
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50points
#3 Jason And The Argonauts
1963 | 1h 44m | Directed by Don Chaffey
Starring Todd Armstrong, Nancy Kovack and Honor Blackman
The Greek hero Jason leads a team of intrepid adventurers in a perilous quest for the legendary Golden Fleece. The movie features stop-motion animation master Ray Harryhausen, and he considered this his best film ever. Although it was labeled as unsuccessful at the box office during its initial release, the film was critically acclaimed and later became a cult classic and one of the best mythology movies of all time.
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50points
#4 300
2006 | 1h 57m | Directed by Zack Snyder
Starring Gerard Butler, Lena Headey and David Wenham
With 19 wins and 55 nominations, 300 follows the story of King Leonidas of Sparta and his force of 300 men fighting the Persians at Thermopylae in 480 B.C. To adequately present themselves as the most well-trained and marshaled fighting force of the time, the entire principal cast underwent a rigorous 8-week training regime organized by Marc Twight, a world-record-holding professional mountain climber.
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49points
#5 The 300 Spartans
1962 | 1h 54m | Directed by Rudolph Maté
Starring Richard Egan, Ralph Richardson and Diane Baker
The true story of how a small army of Greeks spearheaded by three hundred Spartans battled against the invading Persian Army, made of 250,000 soldiers.
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46points
#6 Immortals
2011 | 1h 50m | Directed by Tarsem Singh
Starring Henry Cavill, Stephen Dorff and Luke Evans
Theseus is the mortal man chosen by Zeus to lead the fight against the bloody King Hyperion, who is on a rampage across Greece to obtain a weapon that could destroy humanity. For his role, Henry Cavill refused any assistance from the makeup and visual effects departments to get his eight-pack, preferring to achieve it by a tabata-style training regiment instead.
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46points
#7 Hercules (1997)
1997 | 1h 33m | Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker
Starring Tate Donovan, Susan Egan and James Woods
Hercules, an animated feature film loosely based on the Greek myth, stars the voices of Tate Donovan and James Woods. When it seems that Hades will overthrow Zeus, Hercules realizes he’s immortal, and his destiny lies in returning to Mount Olympus. Bonus fact: Hades says, “Relax, it’s only half-time” right in the middle of the movie!
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45points
#8 Wrath Of The Titans
2012 | 1h 39m | Directed by Jonathan Liebesman
Starring Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson and Rosamund Pike
Clash Of The Titans’ sequel. Wrath of the Titans takes place a decade after the events of the preceding film as the gods lose control over the imprisoned Titans, and Perseus is called to save the world. Gemma Arterton was initially supposed to return, but scheduling conflicts prevented that. Her character was written out, rather than being re-cast, as Andromeda was.
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44points
#9 Wonder Woman
2017 | 2h 21m | Directed by Patty Jenkins
Starring Gal Gadot, Chris Pine and Robin Wright
With 29 wins and 72 nominations, Wonder Woman is the highly acclaimed movie starring Gal Gadot. Gal Gadot almost gave up on her acting career before getting this role: when she was told that she was short-listed to play Wonder Woman, she was floored at the idea of playing the iconic superhero and eagerly agreed to participate.
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44points
#10 Spartacus (1960)
1960 | 3h 17m | Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Starring Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier and Jean Simmons
Inspired by the story of Spartacus, the leader of a slave revolt, and the events of the Third Servile War. Spartacus survives brutal training as a gladiator and leads a violent revolt against Rome. In 2017, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
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44points
#11 Clash Of The Titans
2010 | 1h 46m | Directed by Louis Leterrier
Starring Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes
Perseus, the son of Zeus and a demigod raised by humans, battles the minions of Hades and the Underworld to stop them from conquering Olympus and Earth. Emma Thompson almost made an accidental cameo in this movie: while visiting friend Liam Neeson, she could not exit the set fast enough as the cameras began to roll and had to hide behind Huston’s throne so she would not be picked up by the cameras.
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43points
#12 Agora
2009 | 2h 7m | Directed by Alejandro Amenábar
Starring Rachel Weisz, Max Minghella and Oscar Isaac
Set in Roman Egypt, Agora follows the story of a slave who embraces Christianity in his quest for freedom while falling in love with his mistress, the philosophy and mathematics professor Hypatia of Alexandria. The visual effects team used star chart software to accurately depict the skies as they would have appeared in that period.
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38points
#13 Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
2010 | 1h 58m | Directed by Chris Columbus
Starring Logan Lerman, Brandon T. Jackson and Alexandra Daddario
A teenager discovers he’s the descendant of the Greek god Poseidon and sets out on an adventure to end an ongoing battle between gods. The movie includes a scene with a Maserati, which happens to have the trident as his logo, the same as Poseidon’s emblem. Based on a novel by Rick Riordan.
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37points
#14 Percy Jackson: Sea Of Monsters
2013 | 1h 46m | Directed by Thor Freudenthal
Starring Logan Lerman, Brandon T. Jackson and Alexandra Daddario
Sequel to Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and the second film in the Percy Jackson film series. To restore their safe haven, Percy and his friends embark on a quest to find the mythical Golden Fleece while trying to stop the rising of an ancient evil. While filming the yacht scene, Alexandra Daddario found out she was prone to seasickness. Coincidentally, her book character becomes seasick on Queen Anne’s Revenge.
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37points
#15 Hercules (2014)
2014 | 1h 38m | Directed by Brett Ratner
Starring Dwayne Johnson, Ian McShane and Rufus Sewell
Do you have a soft spot for movies about gods and goddesses? Hercules, the Greek demigod, has his life turned upside down when the King of Thrace and his daughter seek his aid in training an army to defeat a tyrannical warlord. Want to know a weird bonus fact? For his role as Hercules, Dwayne Johnson wore a false beard made of yak testicle hair. We said it was weird!
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37points
#16 300: Rise Of An Empire
2014 | 1h 42m | Directed by Noam Murro
Starring Sullivan Stapleton, Eva Green and Lena Headey
A must-watch among the ancient Greek movies! Themistokles, the Greek general of Athens, guides the naval charge against the invading Persian forces led by Xerxes and Artemisia after their victory over Leonidas’ 300. Rodrigo Santoro, his character being a 10-foot giant, filmed almost all of his scenes alone in a green-screen room and had little to no interaction with the rest of the cast.
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36points
#17 Minotaur
2006 | 1h 33m | Directed by Jonathan English
Starring Tom Hardy, Tony Todd and Ingrid Pitt
For generations, the village youths have been sent to their deaths as sacrifices to the mythical Minotaur. Theo, haunted by the loss of his lover in an earlier sacrifice, is convinced that the beast isn’t real and that his girl is alive within the palace and plans to save her. Starring Tom Hardy in his first leading role.
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34points
#18 The Legend Of Hercules
2014 | 1h 39m | Directed by Renny Harlin
Starring Kellan Lutz, Gaia Weiss and Scott Adkins
When Hercules’ stepfather, the King, exiles and sells him as a slave, the Greek hero must use his godly powers to fight his way back to his kingdom. Director Renny Harlin required all the male actors to shave their legs and torsos because the film was being shot natively in 3D, and he said that hair stuck out when filming with stereoscopic cameras.
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33points
#19 Helen Of Troy
1956 | 1h 58m | Directed by Robert Wise
Starring Stanley Baker, Rossana Podestà and Brigitte Bardot
Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey's story of the Trojan war, told from the Trojans' point of view! The movie presents some major changes to the original storyline, though. It was the first movie to get a global premier: on January 26, 1956, Helen Of Troy was premiered in 56 countries.
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33points
#20 Alexander
2004 | 2h 55m | Directed by Oliver Stone
Starring Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie and Val Kilmer
Alexander, King of Macedonia and one of the greatest army leaders in history, conquered almost every territory of the known world. The movie almost didn’t make it to theaters in Greece when a group of Greek lawyers tried to ban this movie on the basis that Oliver Stone was denigrating the figure of Alexander by making reference to his bisexuality. This movie ultimately got released in Greece, where it premiered at number one at the box office.
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32points