Top 100 Directors by Audience Score
The highest-rated directors across all scored films in the ThumbScore database.
Published March 31, 2026 · Updated October 21, 2026
Each film's score is its archived Google audience score, the share of everyday viewers who liked it, as its own page shows it. A director's score is the average across the films they directed; directors need at least 5 scored films. It includes mainstream blockbuster directors, independent filmmakers, and international auteurs.
By the numbers: The top three: Hayao Miyazaki (91.6%), Andrei Tarkovsky (88.3%), Yasujirō Ozu (88.0%).
The Rankings
1
Hayao Miyazaki
Avg: 91.6% · 12 scored films · Best: Spirited Away (95%) · Worst: The Castle of Cagliostro (88%)
2
Andrei Tarkovsky
Avg: 88.3% · 7 scored films · Best: Ivan's Childhood (92%) · Worst: The Sacrifice (86%)
3
Yasujirō Ozu
Avg: 88.0% · 13 scored films · Best: An Autumn Afternoon (90%) · Worst: The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (83%)
4
Makoto Shinkai
Avg: 87.9% · 7 scored films · Best: Your Name. (95%) · Worst: Children Who Chase Lost Voices (78%)
5
Roberto Rossellini
Avg: 87.8% · 8 scored films · Best: Germany, Year Zero (90%) · Worst: The Flowers of St. Francis (85%)
6
Charlie Chaplin
Avg: 87.7% · 11 scored films · Best: The Great Dictator (92%) · Worst: A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate (80%)
7
Vittorio De Sica
Avg: 87.1% · 10 scored films · Best: Umberto D. (92%) · Worst: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (81%)
8
Akira Kurosawa
Avg: 86.8% · 25 scored films · Best: Seven Samurai (93%) · Worst: Rhapsody in August (78%)
9
Mario Monicelli
Avg: 86.7% · 12 scored films · Best: The Marquis of Grillo (93%) · Worst: The New Monsters (82%)
10
Quentin Tarantino
Avg: 86.7% · 11 scored films · Best: Pulp Fiction (91%) · Worst: Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (74%)
11
Jean Girault
Avg: 86.4% · 12 scored films · Best: The Gendarme and the Creatures from Outer Space (93%) · Worst: The Miser (63%)
12
John Musker
Avg: 86.3% · 7 scored films · Best: The Great Mouse Detective (93%) · Worst: The Little Mermaid (80%)
13
Wong Kar-Wai
Avg: 86.2% · 10 scored films · Best: Chungking Express (94%) · Worst: My Blueberry Nights (78%)
14
Jean-Pierre Melville
Avg: 85.9% · 10 scored films · Best: Le Samouraï (89%) · Worst: Un Flic (80%)
15
Mervyn LeRoy
Avg: 85.8% · 8 scored films · Best: I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (88%) · Worst: Random Harvest (83%)
16
Ingmar Bergman
Avg: 85.7% · 26 scored films · Best: Winter Light (91%) · Worst: The Serpent's Egg (71%)
17
John Lasseter
Avg: 85.6% · 5 scored films · Best: Toy Story 2 (92%) · Worst: A Bug's Life (80%)
18
Frank Capra
Avg: 85.5% · 11 scored films · Best: Arsenic and Old Lace (91%) · Worst: The Bitter Tea of General Yen (62%)
19
Luchino Visconti
Avg: 85.4% · 13 scored films · Best: Obsession (90%) · Worst: The Innocent (79%)
20
Wolfgang Reitherman
Avg: 85.4% · 7 scored films · Best: Robin Hood (93%) · Worst: The Sword in the Stone (75%)
21
John Glen
Avg: 85.2% · 5 scored films · Best: For Your Eyes Only (88%) · Worst: Octopussy (83%)
22
Sergio Leone
Avg: 85.0% · 7 scored films · Best: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (91%) · Worst: The Colossus of Rhodes (79%)
23
Clyde Geronimi
Avg: 84.8% · 9 scored films · Best: Alice in Wonderland (89%) · Worst: Make Mine Music (78%)
24
Henri-Georges Clouzot
Avg: 84.8% · 6 scored films · Best: Le Corbeau (89%) · Worst: Jenny Lamour (79%)
25
Gérard Krawczyk
Avg: 84.8% · 5 scored films · Best: Wasabi (91%) · Worst: Fan-Fan the Tulip (68%)
26
James Cameron
Avg: 84.7% · 12 scored films · Best: Terminator 2: Judgment Day (95%) · Worst: Piranha II: The Spawning (61%)
27
Jackie Chan
Avg: 84.6% · 12 scored films · Best: Who Am I? (93%) · Worst: Armour of God 3: Chinese Zodiac (72%)
28
Enzo Barboni
Avg: 84.6% · 8 scored films · Best: Crime Busters (91%) · Worst: Renegade (71%)
29
Ettore Scola
Avg: 84.6% · 8 scored films · Best: Will Our Heroes Be Able to Find Their Friend Who Has Mysteriously Disappeared in Africa? (90%) · Worst: The Family (80%)
30
Jacques Demy
Avg: 84.6% · 5 scored films · Best: The Young Girls of Rochefort (87%) · Worst: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (82%)
31
Krzysztof Kieślowski
Avg: 84.4% · 10 scored films · Best: Three Colors: Red (90%) · Worst: No End (77%)
32
Gérard Oury
Avg: 84.4% · 8 scored films · Best: Don't Look Now... We're Being Shot At! (91%) · Worst: The Thirst for Gold (67%)
33
Jacques Tourneur
Avg: 84.4% · 7 scored films · Best: Cat People (89%) · Worst: The Comedy of Terrors (81%)
34
Roberto Benigni
Avg: 84.3% · 7 scored films · Best: Johnny Stecchino (94%) · Worst: Pinocchio (55%)
35
George Lucas
Avg: 84.3% · 6 scored films · Best: Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (92%) · Worst: THX 1138 (75%)
36
Luis Buñuel
Avg: 84.2% · 17 scored films · Best: The Young and the Damned (90%) · Worst: Belle de Jour (73%)
37
Giuseppe Tornatore
Avg: 84.2% · 13 scored films · Best: Brunello: The Gracious Visionary (100%) · Worst: Correspondence (72%)
38
Dean DeBlois
Avg: 84.2% · 5 scored films · Best: How to Train Your Dragon (87%) · Worst: How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (78%)
39
Sydney Sibilia
Avg: 84.2% · 5 scored films · Best: Mixed by Erry (92%) · Worst: Rose Island (76%)
40
Aldo Baglio
Avg: 84.0% · 5 scored films · Best: Three Men and a Leg (93%) · Worst: That's Life (70%)
41
Daisuke Nishio
Avg: 84.0% · 5 scored films · Best: Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might (87%) · Worst: Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13! (76%)
42
Kenji Kodama
Avg: 83.9% · 7 scored films · Best: Detective Conan: Captured in Her Eyes (94%) · Worst: Detective Conan: Crossroad in the Ancient Capital (74%)
43
Terence Young
Avg: 83.8% · 6 scored films · Best: From Russia with Love (88%) · Worst: The Valachi Papers (73%)
44
Massimo Troisi
Avg: 83.8% · 5 scored films · Best: Nothing Left to Do But Cry (89%) · Worst: The Ways of the Lord are Finite (79%)
45
Orson Welles
Avg: 83.7% · 11 scored films · Best: F for Fake (88%) · Worst: Mr. Arkadin (81%)
46
Douglas Sirk
Avg: 83.7% · 7 scored films · Best: A Time to Love and a Time to Die (86%) · Worst: Magnificent Obsession (80%)
47
Yves Robert
Avg: 83.6% · 9 scored films · Best: War of the Buttons (90%) · Worst: We Will All Meet in Paradise (80%)
48
Radu Mihăileanu
Avg: 83.6% · 5 scored films · Best: Live and Become (90%) · Worst: The History of Love (72%)
49
René Clément
Avg: 83.6% · 5 scored films · Best: Forbidden Games (90%) · Worst: Rider on the Rain (76%)
50
William Wyler
Avg: 83.5% · 20 scored films · Best: The Heiress (90%) · Worst: How to Steal a Million (74%)
51
Mel Gibson
Avg: 83.5% · 6 scored films · Best: Hacksaw Ridge (93%) · Worst: Flight Risk (54%)
52
Luis García Berlanga
Avg: 83.4% · 5 scored films · Best: The National Shotgun (87%) · Worst: Placido (77%)
53
Federico Fellini
Avg: 83.3% · 19 scored films · Best: Nights of Cabiria (91%) · Worst: The Voice of the Moon (75%)
54
George Cukor
Avg: 83.3% · 13 scored films · Best: Adam's Rib (87%) · Worst: Sylvia Scarlett (76%)
55
Robert Bresson
Avg: 83.2% · 11 scored films · Best: Diary of a Country Priest (90%) · Worst: Lancelot of the Lake (76%)
56
Ted Kotcheff
Avg: 83.2% · 5 scored films · Best: Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (89%) · Worst: Uncommon Valor (72%)
57
Michael Curtiz
Avg: 83.1% · 16 scored films · Best: The Walking Dead (93%) · Worst: King Creole (77%)
58
Christopher Nolan
Avg: 83.1% · 13 scored films · Best: Interstellar (92%) · Worst: Tenet (72%)
59
Steno
Avg: 83.1% · 9 scored films · Best: Banana Joe (90%) · Worst: Flatfoot in Egypt (76%)
60
Jean Renoir
Avg: 83.1% · 8 scored films · Best: French Cancan (88%) · Worst: The Rules of the Game (76%)
61
Stanley Kramer
Avg: 83.1% · 7 scored films · Best: Judgment at Nuremberg (90%) · Worst: Ship of Fools (77%)
62
François Truffaut
Avg: 83.0% · 19 scored films · Best: The 400 Blows (90%) · Worst: Mississippi Mermaid (79%)
63
Leo McCarey
Avg: 83.0% · 7 scored films · Best: The Awful Truth (88%) · Worst: An Affair to Remember (79%)
64
Juan José Campanella
Avg: 83.0% · 6 scored films · Best: Same Love, Same Rain (93%) · Worst: Underdogs (48%)
65
Fritz Lang
Avg: 82.9% · 27 scored films · Best: M (90%) · Worst: Rancho Notorious (77%)
66
Mario Bava
Avg: 82.9% · 15 scored films · Best: Black Sabbath (90%) · Worst: Five Dolls for an August Moon (75%)
67
George Stevens
Avg: 82.9% · 11 scored films · Best: A Place in the Sun (87%) · Worst: The Greatest Story Ever Told (78%)
68
Raoul Walsh
Avg: 82.8% · 10 scored films · Best: White Heat (86%) · Worst: Pursued (78%)
69
Jacques Tati
Avg: 82.8% · 5 scored films · Best: Jour de Fête (89%) · Worst: Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (80%)
70
Bong Joon Ho
Avg: 82.7% · 9 scored films · Best: Memories of Murder (94%) · Worst: Tokyo! (74%)
71
Billy Wilder
Avg: 82.5% · 24 scored films · Best: Some Like It Hot (90%) · Worst: Buddy Buddy (71%)
72
David Lean
Avg: 82.5% · 11 scored films · Best: Oliver Twist (87%) · Worst: A Passage to India (76%)
73
Vincente Minnelli
Avg: 82.5% · 10 scored films · Best: Meet Me in St. Louis (86%) · Worst: An American in Paris (76%)
74
Chris Sanders
Avg: 82.4% · 5 scored films · Best: How to Train Your Dragon (86%) · Worst: The Croods (75%)
75
Howard Hawks
Avg: 82.3% · 21 scored films · Best: Bringing Up Baby (89%) · Worst: Scarface (66%)
76
David Lynch
Avg: 82.3% · 10 scored films · Best: The Straight Story (89%) · Worst: Wild at Heart (75%)
77
Ishirō Honda
Avg: 82.2% · 13 scored films · Best: Godzilla (91%) · Worst: All Monsters Attack (69%)
78
Anthony Mann
Avg: 82.0% · 12 scored films · Best: Bend of the River (89%) · Worst: The Fall of the Roman Empire (78%)
79
Park Chan-wook
Avg: 82.0% · 10 scored films · Best: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (91%) · Worst: Stoker (50%)
80
Brad Bird
Avg: 82.0% · 6 scored films · Best: Ratatouille (90%) · Worst: Tomorrowland (63%)
81
Miloš Forman
Avg: 81.9% · 11 scored films · Best: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (91%) · Worst: Hair (69%)
82
Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Avg: 81.7% · 14 scored films · Best: 5 Fingers (86%) · Worst: Cleopatra (71%)
83
Mel Brooks
Avg: 81.7% · 11 scored films · Best: Young Frankenstein (93%) · Worst: Life Stinks (68%)
84
Alejandro Jodorowsky
Avg: 81.7% · 6 scored films · Best: Santa Sangre (87%) · Worst: Fando and Lis (68%)
85
Nancy Meyers
Avg: 81.7% · 6 scored films · Best: The Parent Trap (89%) · Worst: It's Complicated (69%)
86
Pier Paolo Pasolini
Avg: 81.6% · 13 scored films · Best: Mamma Roma (90%) · Worst: Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (61%)
87
Taika Waititi
Avg: 81.5% · 8 scored films · Best: Jojo Rabbit (91%) · Worst: Thor: Love and Thunder (68%)
88
Jean-Luc Godard
Avg: 81.4% · 16 scored films · Best: Vivre Sa Vie (91%) · Worst: Goodbye to Language (61%)
89
Henri Verneuil
Avg: 81.3% · 12 scored films · Best: A Monkey in Winter (89%) · Worst: Guns for San Sebastian (70%)
90
J. A. Bayona
Avg: 81.2% · 5 scored films · Best: Society of the Snow (93%) · Worst: A Monster Calls (64%)
91
Len Wiseman
Avg: 81.2% · 5 scored films · Best: Underworld: Evolution (90%) · Worst: Total Recall (72%)
92
Ryan Coogler
Avg: 81.2% · 5 scored films · Best: Black Panther (87%) · Worst: Fruitvale Station (68%)
93
John Ford
Avg: 81.0% · 25 scored films · Best: Young Mr. Lincoln (87%) · Worst: The Grapes of Wrath (72%)
94
Abbas Kiarostami
Avg: 81.0% · 9 scored films · Best: Taste of Cherry (90%) · Worst: Like Someone in Love (72%)
95
Carlos Saura
Avg: 81.0% · 8 scored films · Best: Carmen (87%) · Worst: Ay, Carmela! (74%)
96
Shigeyasu Yamauchi
Avg: 81.0% · 7 scored films · Best: Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn (89%) · Worst: Street Fighter Alpha: The Movie (69%)
97
Michael Herbig
Avg: 81.0% · 5 scored films · Best: Balloon (87%) · Worst: Manitou's Canoe (68%)
98
Alfred Hitchcock
Avg: 80.9% · 42 scored films · Best: Rear Window (91%) · Worst: Marnie (70%)
99
Alejandro González Iñárritu
Avg: 80.9% · 7 scored films · Best: The Revenant (84%) · Worst: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (75%)
100
Tom Shadyac
Avg: 80.9% · 7 scored films · Best: Bruce Almighty (88%) · Worst: Evan Almighty (70%)
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