10 Best 'Steven Spielberg Presents' Movies, Ranked

“Steven Spielberg Presents” signaled something to moviegoers and TV watchers of all ages in the 1980s and 990s. It meant what we were about to watch bore the highest designation a movie could receive: Steven Spielberg’s cinematic stamp of approval.  After all, this was the guy who terrified us with “Jaws,” inspired us with “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” put us at the edge of our seats with “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” and made us cry tears of delight at “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,” among other incredible feature films. Sure, he also bored most of us to tears with “1941,” but you may feel differently about it. Point is, the dude knew how to make a crowd-pleasing movie better than anyone back in the day, so if Spielberg was willing to present something, you knew it had to be good.  

Spielberg has produced a lot of movies, but we’re only going to count down the ones he “presented.” In other words, the movies where his name was front and center in the promotion (so no “Fandango,” “Twisters,” “Men in Black,” or “Transformers”). However, Spielberg did way more than lend his name and credibility to a project. While being an “executive producer” can be kind of an honorific (*cough* huge joke *cough*), Spielberg was almost always a hands-on producer, who didn’t interfere with the director’s vision (debatable in some cases, as we’ll see below). No, Spielberg didn’t direct the following movies, but each of them still displays his Spielbergian cinematic signature. Because as this list proves, it means something when a movie says: “Steven Spielberg Presents.”

You could say the 1980s was the decade when “kids culture” took over the movie business once and for all. Yet in 1985, Ron Howard’s “Cocoon” proved there was still a massive audience for movies starring older actors (though Wilford Brimley was only 50 when “Cocoon” was released, which is frankly terrifying). “Cocoon” earned $76 million, a far cry from the $388 million earned by “Back to the Future,” which Steven Spielberg also presented, but it’s still darn impressive. It turned out there was an audience for sci-fi films starring senior citizens, so two years later, Spielberg and co. followed suit with “*batteries not included.”

Directed by journeyman filmmaker and screenwriter Matthew Robbins, “*batteries not included” stars Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy (seen above) as an elderly couple in New York City who run a struggling diner and apartment building in a poor part of town. When the couple discovers a property developer wants to seize and sell their building, they receive unexpected help in the unlikely form of flying saucers. 

Nobody loves extraterrestrials as much as Spielberg (well, maybe Giorgio A. Tsoukalos), and “*batteries not included” continues the trend that started when he was just 17 directing the alien invasion pic “Firelight.” While the story is pure Spielberg, the director Matthew Robbins doesn’t quite elevate the material to his bosses’ skill level. Still, “*batteries not included” is a fun, family friendly film that should be championed for showcasing elderly actors as more than just background fixtures.

It’s elementary why there have been countless versions of Sherlock Holmes since he was created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: Holmes is in the public domain, so storytellers get to collect all the cash and don’t have to pay any royalties! Okay, that’s part of the reason, but Scotland Yard’s favorite sleuth is also a fantastic character whose eccentric genius has been inspiring storytellers of all stripes for more than a century. 

That includes Steven Spielberg, who produced “Young Sherlock Holmes” for director Barry Levinson. The title tells the tale: This is Sherlock Holmes (Nicholas Rowe) as a teenager going on his first adventure. Along the way, he meets his future sidekick John Watson (Alan Cox) — no doubt infuriating Holmes die-hards — while investigating a series of murders taking place on the campus of his boarding school. 

Spielberg was a busy man in 1985, directing “The Color Purple” while producing this movie, “The Goonies” and “Back To The Future.” But he still made time to lend a helping hand to this project, including enlisting his old pal George Lucas, whose company Industrial Light & Magic developed a fully CG-generated character, the first time for a feature film. The effects may seem dated today, but it was a huge deal back then. But what remains timeless is the appeal of Sherlock Holmes. While hardly the signature version of the sleuth, “Young Sherlock Holmes” is still a charming rendition of the beloved character, and another feather in Spielberg’s (deerstalker) cap.

Steven Spielberg stayed busy in 1987, but it wasn’t his most lucrative year. He directed “Empire of the Sun,” a rare commercial misfire that earned just $22 million, while he produced “*batteries not included,” which earned just $32.9 million. But the biggest bomb of the bunch was “Innerspace,” with $19 million. Don’t cry too hard for Spielberg though, as he broke the opening weekend record two years later with “Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade” in 1989. While “Innerspace” was a disappointment at the box office, it did delight the few people who did go see it.

Directed by Spielberg favorite Joe Dante (“Gremlins”), “Innerspace” is a loose remake of “Fantastic Voyage” from 1966. Dennis Quaid stars as a hotshot flyboy pilot Lt. Pendleton (are there any other kind in movies?) who is shrunk inside a submersible for an experiment that will send him into a rabbit, but instead, he’s injected into the body of a hypochondriac store clerk (Martin Short). Along with his estranged girlfriend (Meg Ryan), Lt. Pendleton must escape the man and stop saboteurs who want to steal the shrinking technology. 

As you can probably tell, the movie a wee-bit overstuffed, with its blend of sci-fi, comedy, romance, heist, and more things than you can cram into the human body. That said, “Innerspace” is very much a Joe Dante movie, as no director does a better job crafting a cartoon-like environment (so a good hire by Spielberg). Meanwhile, Martin Short understood the assignment, and he matches the movie’s manic energy with a performance that is zany, sweet, and absolutely Short.

Legend goes Howard Hawks directed “The Thing From Another World” in 1951, but credit went to Christian Nyby because sci-fi/horror was considered too schlocky for an A-list director like Hawks. A similar situation happened 31 years later with Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper on “Poltergeist.” As the story goes, Spielberg wanted to direct the haunted house film (based on a story he conceived), but he was legally unable to do so, as he was duty-bound to direct a little film called “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.” So Spielberg only pretended to outsource “Poltergeist” to “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” director, while he clandestinely handled the directorial duties himself. So is “Poltergiest” a really good Steven Spielberg movie … or a really good “Steven Spielberg Presents” movie? Maybe both?

Spielberg was a hands-on producer, but he was very hands-on with “Poltergeist,” showing up frequently on set and sharing his creative input. While having a Hollywood heavyweight the size of Spielberg sharing his thoughts does create a confusing power dynamic, Spielberg and the films’ stars insist “Poltergeist” was Tobe Hooper’s movie. Truth is, it’s maybe a bit of both. Spielberg has been criticized for schmaltz, but the dude directed “Jaws” after all, and “Poltergeist” displays his singular talent for jump scares. That said, Hooper’s gift was grit, and “Poltergeist” gives you that same raw fear you feel from his other films. Whoever ultimately directed “Poltergeist,” let’s just say it was the result of a unique partnership — and one of the best “Steven Spielberg Presents” movies.

As a teenager and young adult in the 1960s, Steven Spielberg was a big fan of The Beatles, and the moviemaking master actually made a movie about the Fab Four: the charming, hilarious, and downright delightful 1978 comedy, “I Wanna Hold Your Hand.” Spielberg made his feature film debut four years earlier with “The Sugarland Express,” but in that short time, he had already established himself as Hollywood’s wunderkind on “Jaws” and “Close Encounters of The Third Kind.” So he was ready to try his hand at producing other filmmaker’s work and lent his credibility and creative authority to launch the career of another young filmmaker (and fellow Beatles’ fan), Robert Zemeckis.

“I Wanna Hold Your Hand” was Zemeckis’ feature film debut, and they don’t come much better. Based on a script Zemeckis co-wrote with Bob Gale, “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” follows four New Jersey teens who have a hard day’s night trying to get to New York City to watch The Beatles’ perform on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” But that’s only the setup. What makes this movie sing is that each of the characters has dreams that go beyond The Beatles. Zemeckis magnificently manages the delicate balance of deploying slapstick humor, while also conveying the heart of the story. Perhaps most impressively, “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” perfectly captures a special moment in time, launching not only Zemeckis’ directorial career but one of the great producer-director collaborations.

Richard Donner is on the shortlist for “greatest journeyman director ever,” because he skillfully jumped across genres, adopting their tropes without overstuffing them with his “creative vision.” Sure, Donner eventually found his niche directing humor-heavy action films (or action-heavy comedies) like “Lethal Weapon,” “Maverick,” and “Conspiracy Theory.” However, he cut his teeth bouncing from horror (“The Omen”), to superheroes (“Superman”), to medieval fantasy (“Ladyhawke”), and in 1985, to “Spielbergian kids adventure” with “The Goonies.”

“The Goonies” is about a group of pals (the titular “Goonies”) who plan to rescue their friends’ family home from foreclosure by finding treasure hidden in a pirate’s map. Along the way they dodge booby traps, evade gangsters, and befriend a monster with a Superman shirt (a nod to Donner’s 1978 film, which Spielberg once wanted to make). But “The Goonies” is great not because of what happens, but who it happens to. You can’t help but feel like these kids are your own buddies, each with their own personalities, quirks, and talents. “The Goonies” is the kind of movie that makes you feel like a kid, no matter how old you are when you watch it. No wonder it sprang from the brain of Spielberg.

Steven Spielberg conceived the story, Richard Donner and future “Home Alone”-helmer Chris Columbus wrote it, and Donner took on the directorial duties. Still, it feels very Spielberg, though I don’t mean to imply he directed it. Rather, Spielberg has a super distinct style and Donner expertly embodied it.

Despite directing musical numbers in movies like “1941” and “Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom,” Steven Spielberg didn’t direct a feature-length musical until 2021’s “West Side Story.” While that movie musical was magnificent, its disappointing $74 million box office suggests Spielberg should maybe try his hand at another musical. If so, might I suggest a live-action adaptation of “An American Tail” from 1986? 

First, some backstory: Former Disney animator Don Bluth was fed up with the Mouse House’s cost-cutting ways, so he peaced out and made his own movies. While a cult classic today, his first film, “The Secret of NIMH,” tanked, though it eventually found an audience when on home video. One of its fans was Steven Spielberg, who liked Bluth’s style and hired him to direct a tale of Russian Jewish immigrant mice who seek a better life in late-1800s America. 

While very much a Don Bluth movie, “An American Tail” still bears Spielberg’s hallmarks: fidelity to family, love of country, and even Jewish-American identity. Watching “An American Tail,” one suspects Spielberg had a vision, but he didn’t trust himself to direct an animated film, so he outsourced his ideas to Bluth. Spielberg clearly had a soft spot for the film, as its main character Fievel Mousekewitz became a mascot for Spielberg’s “Amblimation” production company. Bluth and Spielberg collaborated again on “The Land Before Time” in 1988, and while that movie has a magic all its own, there’s something especially timeless and wholesome about this immigrant’s tale.

Turns out horror and holidays go together like eggnog and rum, proven by the Christmas classic “Gremlins” and many Christmas horror movies around it. Mischievous demon monsters wreaking havoc on a small town in rural Pennsylvania during Christmas doesn’t exactly scream “holiday favorite,” but hey, everybody celebrates differently. 

Steven Spielberg collaborated with Joe Dante on 1983’s “Twilight Zone: The Movie,” producing the anthology film, with each directing their own segment. Spielberg tackled “Kick The Can,” about a mysterious man who transforms senior citizens into their childhood selves, while Dante helmed “The Good Life,” about a terrifying telepathic boy who holds his family hostage. While the movie received mixed reviews, Spielberg liked Dante’s work enough to hire him to direct “Gremlins.”

“Gremlins” is a strikingly original story that’d never get made today, and I’m surprised it was made in 1984. But hey, Spielberg could get away with anything in the ’80s. A traveling gadget salesman (Hoyt Axton) purchases a mysterious “mogwai” for his teenage son (Zach Galligan), as one does, but calamity ensues when the little critter gets wet, producing offspring — and those offspring transform into monsters when they eat after midnight. 

It sounds nuts because it is, which is why Dante was the perfect pick. Much like he did in “The Howling” in 1981, Dante ably blends blood-curdling horror with laugh-out-loud humor. That he manages to balance both in a film that’s still (mostly) a family friendly holiday favorite is testament to his talents, and why “Gremlins” is among the best movies Steven Spielberg presented.

Walt Disney Pictures and Warner Bros. have been fierce studio rivals since before any of us were even born. Who could possibly get these two studios to work together? Steven Spielberg, that’s who. That, and the potential to work on a groundbreaking film that is still influencing filmmakers decades after its release.

Despite the cartoon star power of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny, and Daffy Duck, the hero of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” is the titular animated character (voiced by Charles Fleischer). Roger is the biggest star in Toontown, but his wife Jessica Rabbit is suspected of cheating on him. When Jessica’s alleged lover turns up murdered, Roger is suspect number one, forcing a hard up, humorless gumshoe named Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins) has to save his tail from the villainous Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd), a toon-hating madman who has invented a formula that can do the impossible: kill cartoons. 

Helming this mayhem fell to “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” director, Robert Zemeckis. This was an incredible opportunity but not an easy one. While movies have blended live action with animation for more than a century, none had done so as seamlessly and skillfully as “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.” But if the movie was just about the innovative special effects, it would already be dated. The fact that it’s not is testament to its touching story and superb filmmaking, not to mention Bob Hoskins pulling off a miracle of an innovative performance. Nearly four decades since its 1988 release, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” doesn’t just hold up; it continues to stand out.

Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis are one of Hollywood’s greatest producer-director collaborations. Their best film, and thus the best movie Steven Spielberg ever presented, was 1985’s “Back to the Future.” You probably know the story by heart, and have seen the movie 10,000 times (give or take): Rowdy teen Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox ) is accidentally transported back to 1955 by his oddball scientist friend Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd). Trapped in the past, Marty encounters his parents as teenagers, and must find a way to get them to fall in love, or else he will cease to exist.

While “Back to the Future” is Zemeckis’ crowning achievement, he owes one of its best parts to Spielberg. In the original script, Marty returns to the future by climbing into a refrigerator that’s blasted into tomorrow at a Nevada atomic bomb test site. Spielberg killed the idea, fearing kids would trap themselves inside fridges. Sadly, Spielberg brought the “nuke the fridge” idea back for 2008’s “Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” but he was right on the mark here, as the iconic DeLorean deserves co-equal billing after Fox and Lloyd. 

But “Back To The Future” has more than a cool car, and it’s just a top-to-bottom perfect movie. Featuring Alan Silvestri’s rousing score, fast-paced, inventive, and funny filmmaking, and especially career-defining work from Fox and Lloyd, “Back to the Future” is Robert Zemeckis’ finest film, and the greatest “Steven Spielberg Presents” movies of them all.