Published on June 27, 2025

about sharks, and nearly all of them have been produced in the years since Steven Spielberg’s 1975 masterpiece. Historians say our collective interest in hostile cartilaginous fish actually began during World War II thanks to news reports of servicemen being imperiled in “shark-infested waters” (a scenario famously described in Jaws, proving once again there’s no getting away from that movie). Tales of shark attacks apparently trigger our primal fear of being eaten alive by an unseen animal — few of us, after all, will ever put ourselves at risk of being attacked by lions or tigers, but nearly everybody occasionally gets into an ocean.

Yet there are surprisingly few shark movies that are also considered good. Even the below Top 11 list has only a handful of titles with positive Rotten Tomatoes scores. Not included on the list are documentaries, animated films or movies that simply feature sharks. Our assumption is that you’re looking for real blood-in-the-water, “Ahhh, my leg!” killer shark movies, not Finding Nemo. Here are the 11 best of all time, ranked from worst (though still pretty decent) to the best (spoiler: still Jaws). 

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