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Here’s a list of the highest paid actors on television, according to Forbes, which puts out an annual list of who makes the most acting on the small screen. The list is a part of Forbes‘ annual Celebrity 100 ranking, which estimates how much celebrities earn from all of their entertainment-related projects between June 2013 and June 2014, which can include endorsement deals and earnings from other ventures outside TV. For more on how the list is compiled, see Forbes’complete article. Now, here are the nine television actors who made the most money last year.
9. Jim Parsons
It might be surprising to find the star of The Big Bang Theory this low on the list, given all the talk over the cast’s recent humungous raises, but that cash won’t go into effect until next year’s list, where Parsons will likely rank much higher. Last year Parsons made $12 million between the $350,000 an episode CBS paid him to play the awkward physicist Sheldon Cooper on the highly-rated sitcom and small roles in other movies that put him slightly ahead of his cast mates. The stars of the show are now reportedly getting $1 million an episode, so Parsons will likely be near the top of this list next year.
8. Simon Baker
Simon Baker | Michael Buckner / Getty Images
The Australian star of The Mentalist made $13 million last year from the CBS cop drama and his pretty face — a.k.a. endorsement deals with luxury brands including Givenchy and Longines. Baker stars on the series as a former, admittedly fraudulent, psychic who uses his skills of observation, hypnosis, and pickpocketing — among other trades he learned while conning people into believe he was a medium — to help the California Bureau of Investigation solve murders. The show has been renewed for a seventh season.
7. Tim Allen
Allen’s placement on this list, and his $15 million in earnings, goes to show that whether or not people are talking about you doesn’t necessarily indicate whether or not you’re making money. In general, the actors on this list aren’t the ones who starred in this year’s most talked-about shows like Game of Thrones or True Detective. Cheesy sitcoms get the best ratings and make the most in syndication, so that’s where actors stand to make the most money. Allen’s current show, Last Man Standing, in addition to his lucrative stand-up comedy deal in Las Vegas make up most of his earnings, while voice work for a Pure Michigan advertising campaign and the ABC special Toy Story That Time Forgot boosted his income $4 million from last year.
6. Patrick Dempsey
Patrick Dempsey | Harold Cunningham / Getty Images
The doctor known as McDreamy from ABC’s medical drama Grey’s Anatomy made $16 million through endorsement deals with Porchse, Simmons Beautyrest, and the Austrian eyewear maker Silhouette. He also made some money from producing and starring in a four-part mini-series about the endurance sports car race Le Mans, a passion project for the avid racer. Dempsey has played Dr. Derek Shepherd on Grey’s Anatomy since 2005. Even though later seasons of the show haven’t received as much critical acclaim, and there have been a lot of casting changes over the years, ABC is planning an eleventh season of the long-running series.
5. Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey makes his debut on Forbes’ list at number four as the star of Netflix’s Emmy-winning original political drama House of Cards. Spacey tied with Dempsey at $16 million in earnings last year, due to his role on Cards plus an endorsement deal with E-Trade and a role on Horrible Bosses 2. Spacey was one of the first big movie stars to champion moving to television and specifically online-based TV. Forbes predicts that Spacey will remain on the list next year by negotiating a big raise for the next season of House of Cards.
4. Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris on How I Met Your Mother | Source: CBS
Harris was everyone’s favorite character on How I Met Your Mother, and while critics and fans both hated the series finale this spring, the show helped Harris make $18 million last year. Last year Harris was ranked fourth on the list with $15 million in earnings. In addition to How I Met Your Mother, Harris leads a successful career on Broadway and starred in a Tony-winning production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch this year. He’s also getting ready to release a memoir, has an endorsement deal with American Airlines, and has become a popular choice for an awards show host. While How I Met Your Mother has ended, the show will continue making its stars money in syndication.
3. Mark Harmon
NCIS star Mark Harmon made $19 million last year. Harmon’s earnings are even more impressive if you consider all of that cash comes from NCIS alone — he doesn’t have any books or endorsement deals boosting his income. Harmon has starred on the show for eleven years. Though it isn’t as critically-acclaimed and has a much older audience than other ostensibly more popular series, NCIS consistently sees the best ratings on television. NCIS and syndication of the long-running series make up Harmon’s earnings, and he has another spin-off of the show in the works that he will produce and in which he will star.
2. Jon Cryer
John Cryer on Two and a Half Men | Source: CBS
Tied with Harmon at $19 million is the long-time co-star of Two and a Half Men. Cryer has been with the show through two leading men and it’s paid off handsomely, as he’s coming in second on Forbes’ list for the second year in a row. Between an advance for his memoir, due out in 2015, and his paycheck for the show, Cryer earned $19 million last year, and he’ll keep earning even after the series wraps as the popular show will likely spend a lengthy and profitable time in syndication.
1. Ashton Kutcher
Ashton Kutcher on Two and a Half Men | Source: CBS
Kutcher topped the list for a third year in a row, raking in an estimated $26 million as the star of Two and a Half Men. Kutcher signed on to replace the erratic crowd-pleaser that was the show’s former star, Charlie Sheen, and though ratings have fallen somewhat since Sheen left, the show still performs admirably for CBS. Two and a Half Men is set to end this year, but Kutcher will keep making money on it as the show goes into syndication. He also still earns on syndicated episodes of That ’70s Show, the sitcom that launched his career and introduced him to wife Mila Kunis.
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1.Euphoria(2019– )
TV-MA|55 min|Drama
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A look at life for a group of high school students as they grapple with issues of drugs, sex, and violence.
Stars:Zendaya, Maude Apatow, Angus Cloud, Eric Dane
Votes:23,424
2.Midsommar(I) (2019)
R|147 min|Drama, Horror, Mystery
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A couple travels to Sweden to visit a rural hometown's fabled mid-summer festival. What begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.
Director:Ari Aster| Stars:Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, Vilhelm Blomgren, William Jackson Harper
Votes:34,908|Gross:$26.88M
3.Outlander(2014– )
TV-MA|64 min|Drama, Fantasy, Romance
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An English combat nurse from 1945 is mysteriously swept back in time to 1743.
Stars:Caitriona Balfe, Sam Heughan, Duncan Lacroix, Tobias Menzies
Votes:96,447
4.Shameless(2011– )
TV-MA|46 min|Comedy, Drama
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A scrappy, fiercely loyal Chicago family makes no apologies.
Stars:Emmy Rossum, William H. Macy, Ethan Cutkosky, Jeremy Allen White
Votes:173,515
5.The Wolf of Wall Street(2013)
R|180 min|Biography, Crime, Drama
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Based on the true story of Jordan Belfort, from his rise to a wealthy stock-broker living the high life to his fall involving crime, corruption and the federal government.
Director:Martin Scorsese| Stars:Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Matthew McConaughey
Votes:1,053,810|Gross:$116.90M
6.Leid und Herrlichkeit(2019)
R|113 min|Drama
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A film director reflects on the choices he's made in life as past and present come crashing down around him.
Director:Pedro Almodóvar| Stars:Antonio Banderas, Asier Etxeandia, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Nora Navas
Votes:9,748
7.Gone Girl(2014)
R|149 min|Drama, Mystery, Thriller
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With his wife's disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it's suspected that he may not be innocent.
Director:David Fincher| Stars:Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry
Votes:774,000|Gross:$167.77M
8.Mother!(2017)
R|121 min|Drama, Horror, Mystery
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A couple's relationship is tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence.
Director:Darren Aronofsky| Stars:Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer
Votes:162,516|Gross:$17.80M
9.True Blood(2008–2014)
TV-MA|55 min|Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
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Telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse encounters a strange new supernatural world when she meets the mysterious Bill, a southern Louisiana gentleman and vampire.
Stars:Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Sam Trammell, Ryan Kwanten
Votes:220,401
10.Love(II) (2015)
Not Rated|135 min|Drama, Romance
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Murphy is an American living in Paris who enters a highly sexually and emotionally charged relationship with the unstable Electra. Unaware of the effect it will have on their relationship, they invite their pretty neighbor into their bed.
Director:Gaspar Noé| Stars:Aomi Muyock, Karl Glusman, Klara Kristin, Juan Saavedra
Votes:38,292
11.Spartacus(2010–2013)
TV-MA|55 min|Action, Adventure, Biography
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The life of Spartacus, the gladiator who lead a rebellion against the Romans. From his time as an ally of the Romans, to his betrayal and becoming a gladiator, to the rebellion he leads and its ultimate outcome.
Stars:Andy Whitfield, Lucy Lawless, Manu Bennett, Daniel Feuerriegel
Votes:208,026
12.Deadwood(2004–2006)
TV-MA|55 min|Crime, Drama, History
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A show set in the late 1800s, revolving around the characters of Deadwood, South Dakota; a town of deep corruption and crime.
Stars:Timothy Olyphant, Ian McShane, Molly Parker, Brad Dourif
Votes:86,442
13.Red Sparrow(2018)
R|140 min|Action, Drama, Thriller
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Ballerina Dominika Egorova is recruited to 'Sparrow School,' a Russian intelligence service where she is forced to use her body as a weapon. Her first mission, targeting a C.I.A. agent, threatens to unravel the security of both nations.
Director:Francis Lawrence| Stars:Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Charlotte Rampling
Votes:141,901|Gross:$46.87M
14.Schindler's List(1993)
R|195 min|Biography, Drama, History
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In German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.
Director:Steven Spielberg| Stars:Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Caroline Goodall
Votes:1,105,684|Gross:$96.90M
15.The Souvenir(2019)
R|120 min|Drama, Mystery, Romance
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A young film student in the early '80s becomes romantically involved with a complicated and untrustworthy man.
Director:Joanna Hogg| Stars:Neil Young, Tosin Cole, Jack McMullen, Tilda Swinton
Votes:2,180|Gross:$1.04M
16.Watchmen(2009)
R|162 min|Action, Drama, Mystery
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In 1985 where former superheroes exist, the murder of a colleague sends active vigilante Rorschach into his own sprawling investigation, uncovering something that could completely change the course of history as we know it.
Director:Zack Snyder| Stars:Jackie Earle Haley, Patrick Wilson, Carla Gugino, Malin Akerman
Votes:459,475|Gross:$107.51M
17.Boogie Nights(1997)
R|155 min|Drama
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The story of a young man's adventures in the California pornography industry of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Director:Paul Thomas Anderson| Stars:Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds, Luis Guzmán
Votes:221,969|Gross:$26.40M
18.A Clockwork Orange(1971)
R|136 min|Crime, Drama, Sci-Fi
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In the future, a sadistic gang leader is imprisoned and volunteers for a conduct-aversion experiment, but it doesn't go as planned.
Director:Stanley Kubrick| Stars:Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates, Warren Clarke
Votes:699,253
19.Sense8(2015–2018)
TV-MA|60 min|Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
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A group of people around the world are suddenly linked mentally, and must find a way to survive being hunted by those who see them as a threat to the world's order.
Stars:Doona Bae, Jamie Clayton, Tina Desai, Tuppence Middleton
Votes:126,230
20.The Spy Who Dumped Me(2018)
R|117 min|Action, Adventure, Comedy
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Audrey and Morgan are best friends who unwittingly become entangled in an international conspiracy when one of the women discovers the boyfriend who dumped her was actually a spy.
Director:Susanna Fogel| Stars:Justin Theroux, Blanka Györfi-Tóth, Vilma Szécsi, Mila Kunis
Votes:54,301|Gross:$33.56M
21.High Life(2018)
R|113 min|Adventure, Drama, Mystery
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A father and his daughter struggle to survive in deep space where they live in isolation.
Director:Claire Denis| Stars:Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, André Benjamin, Mia Goth
Votes:14,736|Gross:$1.23M
22.Caligula(1979)
Unrated|156 min|Drama, History
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Details the graphic and shocking, yet undeniably tragic story of Rome's most infamous Caesar, Gaius Germanicus Caligula.
Director:Tinto Brass| Stars:Malcolm McDowell, Peter O'Toole, Helen Mirren, Teresa Ann Savoy
Votes:31,588|Gross:$23.44M
23.Veronica: Spiel mit dem Teufel(I) (2017)
TV-MA|105 min|Horror
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Madrid, 1991. A teen girl finds herself besieged by an evil supernatural force after she played Ouija with two classmates.
Director:Paco Plaza| Stars:Sandra Escacena, Bruna González, Claudia Placer, Iván Chavero
Votes:29,844
24.Easy(2016– )
TV-MA|30 min|Comedy
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Intertwined groups of friends in Chicago fumble through the modern maze of love, sex, technology and culture.
Stars:Michael Chernus, Jane Adams, Elizabeth Reaser, Jacqueline Toboni
Votes:9,621
25.12 Years a Slave(2013)
R|134 min|Biography, Drama, History
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In the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.
Director:Steve McQueen| Stars:Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Kenneth Williams, Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt
Votes:584,815|Gross:$56.67M
26.Papillon(I) (2017)
R|117 min|Adventure, Biography, Crime
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Wrongfully convicted for murder, Henri Charriere forms an unlikely relationship with fellow inmate and quirky convicted counterfeiter Louis Dega, in an attempt to escape from the notorious penal colony on Devil's Island.
Director:Michael Noer| Stars:Charlie Hunnam, Damijan Oklopdzic, Christopher Fairbank, Jason Ryan
Votes:36,286|Gross:$2.34M
27.Forgetting Sarah Marshall(2008)
R|111 min|Comedy, Drama, Romance
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Devastated Peter takes a Hawaiian vacation in order to deal with the recent break-up with his TV star girlfriend, Sarah. Little does he know, Sarah's traveling to the same resort as her ex - and she's bringing along her new boyfriend.
Director:Nicholas Stoller| Stars:Kristen Bell, Jason Segel, Paul Rudd, Mila Kunis
Votes:249,945|Gross:$63.17M
28.Captain Fantastic(2016)
R|118 min|Comedy, Drama
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In the forests of the Pacific Northwest, a father devoted to raising his six kids with a rigorous physical and intellectual education is forced to leave his paradise and enter the world, challenging his idea of what it means to be a parent.
Director:Matt Ross| Stars:Viggo Mortensen, George MacKay, Samantha Isler, Annalise Basso
Votes:163,614|Gross:$5.88M
29.Mandy(I) (2018)
Not Rated|121 min|Action, Fantasy, Horror
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The enchanted lives of a couple in a secluded forest are brutally shattered by a nightmarish hippie cult and their demon-biker henchmen, propelling a man into a spiraling, surreal rampage of vengeance.
Director:Panos Cosmatos| Stars:Nicolas Cage, Andrea Riseborough, Linus Roache, Ned Dennehy
Votes:47,390|Gross:$1.21M
30.Trainspotting(1996)
R|93 min|Drama
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Renton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out, despite the allure of the drugs and influence of friends.
Director:Danny Boyle| Stars:Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd
Votes:595,344|Gross:$16.50M
31.Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom(1975)
Not Rated|117 min|Drama, Horror, War
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In World War II Italy, four fascist libertines round up nine adolescent boys and girls and subject them to one hundred and twenty days of physical, mental and sexual torture.
Director:Pier Paolo Pasolini| Stars:Paolo Bonacelli, Laura Betti, Giorgio Cataldi, Umberto Paolo Quintavalle
Votes:48,940
32.Under the Skin(I) (2013)
R|108 min|Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
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A mysterious young woman seduces lonely men in the evening hours in Scotland. However, events lead her to begin a process of self-discovery.
Director:Jonathan Glazer| Stars:Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy McWilliams, Lynsey Taylor Mackay, Dougie McConnell
Votes:114,992|Gross:$2.61M
33.The Disaster Artist(2017)
R|104 min|Biography, Comedy, Drama
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When Greg Sestero, an aspiring film actor, meets the weird and mysterious Tommy Wiseau in an acting class, they form a unique friendship and travel to Hollywood to make their dreams come true.
Director:James Franco| Stars:James Franco, Dave Franco, Ari Graynor, Seth Rogen
Votes:115,172|Gross:$21.12M
34.The Dreamers(2003)
NC-17|115 min|Drama, Romance
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A young American studying in Paris in 1968 strikes up a friendship with a French brother and sister. Set against the background of the '68 Paris student riots.
Director:Bernardo Bertolucci| Stars:Michael Pitt, Louis Garrel, Eva Green, Anna Chancellor
Votes:102,047|Gross:$2.53M
35.Roma(2018)
R|135 min|Drama
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A year in the life of a middle-class family's maid in Mexico City in the early 1970s.
Director:Alfonso Cuarón| Stars:Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira, Diego Cortina Autrey, Carlos Peralta
Votes:112,361
36.Revenge(II) (2017)
R|108 min|Action, Horror, Thriller
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Never take your mistress on an annual guys' getaway, especially one devoted to hunting - a violent lesson for three wealthy married men.
Director:Coralie Fargeat| Stars:Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz, Kevin Janssens, Vincent Colombe, Guillaume Bouchède
Votes:28,462|Gross:$0.10M
37.It Follows(2014)
R|100 min|Horror, Mystery, Thriller
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A young woman is followed by an unknown supernatural force after a sexual encounter.
Director:David Robert Mitchell| Stars:Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Olivia Luccardi, Lili Sepe
Votes:186,737|Gross:$14.67M
38.A Serbian Film(2010)
NC-17|104 min|Horror, Mystery, Thriller
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An aging porn star agrees to participate in an 'art film' in order to make a clean break from the business, only to discover that he has been drafted into making a pedophilia and necrophilia themed snuff film.
Director:Srdjan Spasojevic| Stars:Srdjan 'Zika' Todorovic, Sergej Trifunovic, Jelena Gavrilovic, Slobodan Bestic
Votes:52,204
39.The Deer Hunter(1978)
R|183 min|Drama, War
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An in-depth examination of the ways in which the U.S. Vietnam War impacts and disrupts the lives of people in a small industrial town in Pennsylvania.
Director:Michael Cimino| Stars:Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Cazale, John Savage
Votes:287,607|Gross:$48.98M
40.The L Word(I) (2004–2009)
TV-MA|50 min|Drama, Romance
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Follows the lives and loves of a small, close-knit group of gay women living in Los Angeles as well as the friends and family members that either support or loathe them.
Stars:Jennifer Beals, Leisha Hailey, Laurel Holloman, Mia Kirshner
Votes:22,478
41.Lolita(1997)
R|137 min|Drama, Romance
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A man marries his landlady so he can take advantage of her daughter.
Director:Adrian Lyne| Stars:Jeremy Irons, Dominique Swain, Melanie Griffith, Frank Langella
Votes:47,581|Gross:$1.40M
42.Outlaw King(2018)
R|121 min|Action, Biography, Drama
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A true David vs. Goliath story of how the 14th century Scottish 'Outlaw King' Robert the Bruce used cunning and bravery to defeat the much larger and better equipped occupying English army.
Director:David Mackenzie| Stars:Chris Pine, Stephen Dillane, Rebecca Robin, Billy Howle
Votes:47,273
43.28 Days Later...(2002)
R|113 min|Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
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Four weeks after a mysterious, incurable virus spreads throughout the UK, a handful of survivors try to find sanctuary.
Director:Danny Boyle| Stars:Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston, Alex Palmer
Votes:349,063|Gross:$45.06M
44.The Hunt(2012)
R|115 min|Drama
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A teacher lives a lonely life, all the while struggling over his son's custody. His life slowly gets better as he finds love and receives good news from his son, but his new luck is about to be brutally shattered by an innocent little lie.
Director:Thomas Vinterberg| Stars:Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Annika Wedderkopp, Lasse Fogelstrøm
Votes:246,781|Gross:$0.69M
45.Babylon Berlin(2017– )
TV-MA|45 min|Crime, Drama, Thriller
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Colognian commissioner Gereon Rath moves to Berlin, the epicenter of political and social changes in the Golden Twenties.
Stars:Volker Bruch, Liv Lisa Fries, Leonie Benesch, Peter Kurth
Votes:12,113
46.Below Her Mouth(2016)
Not Rated|94 min|Drama, Romance
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1980s Male Tv Actors
An unexpected affair quickly escalates into a heart-stopping reality for two women whose passionate connection changes their lives forever.
Director:April Mullen| Stars:Erika Linder, Natalie Krill, Sebastian Pigott, Mayko Nguyen
Votes:8,025
47.Color of Night(1994)
R|121 min|Mystery, Romance, Thriller
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A color-blind psychiatrist Bill Capa is stalked by an unknown killer after taking over his murdered friend's therapy group, all of whom have a connection to a mysterious young woman that Capa begins having intense sexual encounters with.
Director:Richard Rush| Stars:Bruce Willis, Jane March, Rubén Blades, Lesley Ann Warren
Votes:21,523|Gross:$19.72M
48.Mad Max(1979)
R|88 min|Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
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In a self-destructing world, a vengeful Australian policeman sets out to stop a violent motorcycle gang.
Director:George Miller| Stars:Mel Gibson, Joanne Samuel, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Steve Bisley
Votes:178,669|Gross:$8.75M
49.Bacurau(2019)
131 min|Adventure, Mystery, Sci-Fi
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After the death of her grandmother, Teresa comes home to her matriarchal village in a near-future Brazil to find a succession of sinister events that mobilizes all of its residents.
Directors:Juliano Dornelles, Kleber Mendonça Filho| Stars:Udo Kier, Sônia Braga, Karine Teles, Barbara Colen
Votes:1,308
50.Blue Velvet(1986)
R|120 min|Drama, Mystery, Thriller
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The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.
Director:David Lynch| Stars:Isabella Rossellini, Kyle MacLachlan, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern
Votes:164,901|Gross:$8.55M