There are many movies with amazing Opening scenes but some of the best ones truly stay with you. Someone on a popular online forum asked film lovers which movies have the greatest opening scenes ever. Here are the 26 most unforgettable opening scenes in movie history.
1. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
The John Williams score, the whip, the silhouette, the spiders, the traps, the boulder chase — no single part of the opening to Spielberg and Lucas' Raiders of the Lost Ark doesn't scream iconic.
2. Scream (1996)
Do you like scary movies? The opening to Wes Craven's deconstructionist masterpiece that subverts the rules that he helped codify is sensational. The killer isn't in your dreams and they're not at Camp Crystal Lake. They're on the end of the phone and already in your home. Drew Barrymore's brutal slaying at the hands of Ghostface is as tragic as it is chilling.
3. Up (2009)
Few films can kick you right in the feels like the opening of Up. It's a kid's movie about a curmudgeon who accidentally kidnaps a scout, so how bad can it be? Most films have a few subtle gags for grown-ups — Up has a tragedy in four parts. Carl and Ellie's story is beautiful, honest, and touching. If you looked up the term “emotional rollercoaster” in the dictionary, it should just say “See Up.”
4. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
The opening to James Cameron's sequel was a feast for the eyes when it was released in 1991, but what makes it remain so powerful is the meticulous mis-en-scene that demonstrates how everything we love could be gone in a literal flash.
5. The Matrix (1999)
It's incredible how much the Wachowskis managed to convey about the world of The Matrix in what amounts to a phone call and a DOS screen. The audience is taken deeper down the rabbit hole until the epic moment you see the action pause as the camera spins around Trinity. Action cinema would never be the same again.
6. Inglourious Basterds (2009)
This is probably the most tense conversation over a glass of milk ever committed to film. If the opening of Inglourious Basterds were a guitar string, it would be about to pop at any moment. Watching Christoph Waltz's character's sense of glee as he toys with the lives of everyone else in the room is as captivating as it is disturbing.
7. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
All any Star Wars fan needs is to hear the opening bars of John Williams' iconic score to be transported to a galaxy far, far away. Never before or since has an opening text crawl filled fans with joy and excitement to see the sequel to one of their favorite films. That fight on Hoth is pretty decent too.
8. Blade Runner (1982)
It may be set in 2019, but the opening of Ridley Scott's cyberpunk classic still shows a scarily plausible vision of the future.
After an initial text crawl setting up the world, sweeping shots plunge you into a futuristic industrialized LA filled with smoke and neon as the first notes of the incredible score by Vangelis spring into life.
9. Jurassic Park (1993)
Like Jaws before it, Spielberg is a master of demonstrating how dangerous something is by only showing glimpses of it. In this case, the unfortunate park worker is dragged into a crate and attacked. As we all know, you're still alive when a raptor starts to eat you.
10. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Never has a war film before or since demonstrated how nightmarish the D-Day landings were. Spielberg doesn't pull any punches, showing how desperate and outgunned the Allies were as they stormed the beaches of Normandy.
11. Pulp Fiction (1994)
The first time you see Pulp Fiction, you think Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer are two slightly rude diners discussing pie. Something is slightly off, but you don't think about it. Then seemingly on a dime, the other shoe drops, and Plummer screams one of the most iconic lines in film history: “Anyone of you…”
12. Back to the Future (1985)
If you didn't know that Robert Zemeckis' nostalgia-fueled 80s classic is about time, he sets the scene in the low-key opening as dozens of clocks slowly tick in Doc Brown's messy home. Then Marty McFly sneaks in to have a go on that gigantic amplifier before being late for school.
13. Ghostbusters (1984)
To my young mind, Ghostbusters had the most terrifying opening to a comedy film committed to celluloid. Seeing the creepy librarian as she stalks the stacks of the New York Public Library basement freaked me out as a kid — and that jump scare is absolute perfection.
14. The Lion King (1994)
The opening to The Lion King is Disney at its finest. Watching Simba being presented to his future subjects of Pride Rock to the incredible sound of The Circle of Life is as stirring as it is iconic.
15. Blade (1998)
The film that singlehandedly saved Marvel from bankruptcy and got millions of impressionable minds into techno opens with a clubber entering an underground club teeming with pasty ravers. All seems well until Pump Panels' remix of New Order's “Confusion” kicks in, and the vampiric revelers are showered in blood and begin to feast on the unsuspecting ravers. Enter Wesley Snipes as Blade — and then mayhem ensues.
16. Apocalypse Now (1979)
Francis Ford Coppola's descent into the heart of darkness opens with a mesmerizing sequence of American choppers raining napalm down on the jungle to the tune of “The End” by the Doors. As the palm trees are engulfed in flame, the scene slowly shifts to Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) on a bed in a Saigon hotel room while the ceiling fan thunders like a helicopter blade. It becomes clear that what Willard has seen in the jungle is forever etched into his mind and that he can never escape it.
17. The Blues Brothers (1980)
“One hat, black. One Timex digital watch, broken. One unused prophylactic. One soiled.” The understated opening to John Landis' incredible musical road movie sees Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi at the height of their comedic powers, as SNL favorites Jake and Elwood Blues reunited after Jake's stint in the joint. The pair then drive through Chicago to the tune of Taj Mahal's “She Caught the Katy” before jumping a suspension bridge in the most nonchalant stunt ever seen in a movie.
18. Baby Driver (2017)
There's a reason Baby Driver won a BAFTA for Best Editing. It's clear from the start that the audience is in for a wild ride that sees Baby (Ansel Elgort) powerslide away from the police to the tune of “Bellbottoms” by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. This incredible sequence is not only a masterclass in stunt driving but also editing, as the swift cuts and spot-on synchronization with the music draw you straight into the world of Baby Driver without a single word said.
19. The Godfather (1972)
“I believe in America” is one of cinema's most iconic opening lines, and it's not even Brando's. It's a simple, tense, and revealing scene, as subtle as it is powerful, thanks to the incredible monologue from Salvatore Corsitto and Marlon Brando's instantly iconic performance as mob boss Don Vito Corleone.
20. Super Troopers (2001)
The delightfully deadpan opening to Jay Chandrasekhar's comedy about the escapades of a group of prank-playing Vermont state troopers is sure to leave you on a high. After troopers Ramathorn and Rabbit pull over a car full of contraband, one of the occupants eats an entire bag of mushrooms and begins to freak out while the Troopers toy with the hapless stoners. In other words, hilarity ensues.
21. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
The first moments definitely set the scene, from the chiptune version of the Universal theme to swift cuts and cartoony, comic book elements, to capturing the feeling of hearing your favorite band for the first time. The opening of Edgar Wright's incredible comic book adaptation about one slacker's battle against his girlfriend's evil exes doesn't skip a beat.
22. The Dark Knight (2008)
The opening heist perfectly introduces Heath Ledger's iconic portrayal of the Joker. The Joker's motives, ruthless nature, and disregard for authority are laid bare with a few choice words and several dead crooks. Remember, kids: “Whatever doesn't kill you makes you… stranger.”l
23. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
It took Peter Jackson less than two minutes to set up the world of Middle Earth and what was at stake. Howard Shore's sweeping score and Cate Blanchett's haunting monologue as Galadriel always send a tingle down the spine.
24. Trainspotting (1996)
Ewan McGregor's matter-of-fact opening monologue to the beat of Iggy Pop's “Lust for Life” is not only iconic but a mission statement for the entire movie. Choose life.
25. Monty Python: The Life of Brian (1979)
Though many prefer the efforts of the dozens of people sacked making the opening credits for Holy Grail, the opening to the biblical epic — which sees the Three Wise Men going to the wrong stable, guided by a star — is as hilarious as it is endlessly quotable.
26. Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)
Assassins, a diplomat assailed on all sides by hired killers, and a hit man having an argument with his secretary about going to his high school reunion — Grosse Pointe Blank has one of the funniest openings to a comedy-action film ever.
