In Research findings, Snap polls•February 5, 2025•7 Minutes

Survey says this is America’s all-time favorite movie

Livy Beaner

“Forrest Gump” has been crowned America’s all-time favorite movie, showing that heart-wrenching, soul-seeking films grip their audiences the most.

Following Tom Hanks’ “Forrest Gump” (17%) and his childlike optimism comes the more than 80-year-old classic “The Wizard of Oz” (15%) and James Cameron’s historical fiction film “Titanic” (15%).

The 1994 animated, coming-of-age story “The Lion King” (15%) ranked fourth, and Patrick Swayze’s romantic drama “Dirty Dancing” (15%) rounded out the top five.  

Our Talker Research poll of 2,000 general population Americans also found that different generations have different movie preferences.

The average American believes that they’ve watched their favorite movie 38 times, while millennials average about 50 times, followed closely by Gen Z (49 times).

Forrest Gump has been crowned America's favorite movie

As the memes suggest, “Shrek” is a staple for Gen Z, along with “Toy Story” (25%) and the newer, now-classic “Avengers: End Game” (24%). Despite premiering before they were even born, the “Jurassic Park” series was found to be most popular with the youngest generation (16%).

The “Harry Potter” series was also found to be popular among Gen Z (15%), but was slightly more for millennials (16%). 

The “Star Wars” series is equally favored among Gen Z as it is with Gen X (both 15%), while baby boomers opt for “The Godfather” (15%).

According to a little more than one-third of Gen Z (34%), the soundtrack can make or break a movie.

Almost three in five (56%) even admit their all-time favorite movie could be categorized as a guilty pleasure.

These movies must fall more on the pleasure than the guilty side as millennials believe they can recite almost half by heart (48%), compared to baby boomers who average about 23%.

This may be because a little more than a third of millennials rewatch their favorite movie daily (12%), a few times per week (12%) or once per week (11%), while 19% of baby boomers only indulge every few months. 

Taking things a step further, the average American believes that they could watch their favorite movie an average of three times without getting sick of it, with Gen Z averaging five times.

AMERICA’S ALL-TIME FAVORITE MOVIES

  • “Forrest Gump” – 17%
  • “The Wizard of Oz” – 15%
  • “The Titanic” – 15%
  • “The Lion King” – 15%
  • “Dirty Dancing” – 14%
  • “John Wick” series – 13%
  • “Home Alone” series – 13%
  • “Fast & Furious” series – 13%
  • “Star Wars” series – 12%
  • “The Godfather” – 12%
  • “Back to the Future” – 12%
  • “Die Hard” – 12%
  • “Jurassic Park” series – 12%
  • “Indiana Jones” series – 11%
  • “Rocky” – 11%
  • “Toy Story” – 11%
  • “Ghostbusters” – 10%
  • “Rush Hour” 10%
  • “Top Gun” – 10%
  • “Harry Potter” series – 10%

FAVORITE MOVIES BY GENERATION

  • Gen Z – “Toy Story” (25%), “Avengers: End Game” (25%), “Shrek” (24%)
  • Millennials – “The Lion King” (22%), “Forrest Gump” (18%), “Titanic” (17%)
  • Gen X – “Forrest Gump” (18%), “Rocky” (16%), “Star Wars” series (15%)
  • Baby boomers – “Dirty Dancing” (19%), “The Wizard of Oz” (18%), “Forrest Gump” (17%)

Survey methodology

Talker Research surveyed 2,000 general population Americans with 1,000 men and 1,000 women; the survey was administered and conducted online by Talker Research between Friday, Jan. 31 and Monday, Feb. 3, 2025.

We are sourcing from a non-probability frame and the two main sources we use are:

  • Traditional online access panels — where respondents opt-in to take part in online market research for an incentive
  • Programmatic — where respondents are online and are given the option to take part in a survey to receive a virtual incentive usually related to the online activity they are engaging in

Those who did not fit the specified sample were terminated from the survey. As the survey is fielded, dynamic online sampling is used, adjusting targeting to achieve the quotas specified as part of the sampling plan.

Regardless of which sources a respondent came from, they were directed to an Online Survey, where the survey was conducted in English; a link to the questionnaire can be shared upon request. Respondents were awarded points for completing the survey. These points have a small cash-equivalent monetary value.

Cells are only reported on for analysis if they have a minimum of 80 respondents, and statistical significance is calculated at the 95% level. Data is not weighted, but quotas and other parameters are put in place to reach the desired sample.

Interviews are excluded from the final analysis if they failed quality-checking measures. This includes:

  • Speeders: Respondents who complete the survey in a time that is quicker than one-third of the median length of interview are disqualified as speeders
  • Open ends: All verbatim responses (full open-ended questions as well as other please specify options) are checked for inappropriate or irrelevant text
  • Bots: Captcha is enabled on surveys, which allows the research team to identify and disqualify bots
  • Duplicates: Survey software has “deduping” based on digital fingerprinting, which ensures nobody is allowed to take the survey more than once

It is worth noting that this survey was only available to individuals with internet access, and the results may not be generalizable to those without internet access. 

Featured image by Alex Litvin

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