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Robert Zemeckis movies in order

Twenty-two films, each one built around a technical problem nobody had solved yet.

Updated 6 August 2026 · 22 titles tracked

Only the Back to the Future films connect to each other, and those have their own order — covered on the Back to the Future page. Everything else stands alone.

What holds the filmography together is a method rather than a theme. Almost every Zemeckis film exists because something in it had not been done before: animation and live action sharing a light source, an actor composited into archive footage, a face captured rather than filmed. The trick is always in service of a mainstream film that never mentions it.

Zemeckis films, in a suggested starting order

An entry path rather than release order. Toggle on the filmography page.

  1. 1Back to the Future1985 · Major work
  2. 2Forrest Gump1994 · Major work
  3. 3Who Framed Roger Rabbit1988 · Major work
  4. 4Cast Away2000 · Major work
  5. 5Contact1997 · Major work
  6. 6Back to the Future Part II1989 · Major work
  7. 7Back to the Future Part III1990 · Major work
  8. 8Romancing the Stone1984 · Major work
  9. 9Death Becomes Her1992
  10. 10Flight2012 · Major work
  11. 11The Polar Express2004 · Major work
  12. 12What Lies Beneath2000
  13. 13The Walk2015
  14. 14Used Cars1980
  15. 15I Wanna Hold Your Hand1978
  16. 16Beowulf2007
  17. 17A Christmas Carol2009
  18. 18Allied2016
  19. 19Pinocchio2022
  20. 20The Witches2020
  21. 21Welcome to Marwen2018
  22. 22Here2024
Open the full Robert Zemeckis filmography

Start with Back to the Future

It is one of the most efficiently engineered screenplays ever produced — nothing in the first act is wasted, and every setup pays twice. It is also the least demanding entry point in the filmography.

Then Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), which put hand-drawn characters into live-action frames with matching shadows and camera moves, four years before digital compositing was viable. It has still not really been surpassed.

The prestige run

Forrest Gump (1994) won six Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director. Cast Away (2000) shut down production for a year so Tom Hanks could physically transform, and runs close to an hour with almost no dialogue. Contact (1997) is the outlier — Carl Sagan's first-contact novel taken entirely seriously, and more patient than anything else he has made.

Flight (2012) is the one people forget. Denzel Washington as an alcoholic pilot, and Zemeckis's first live-action film in twelve years.

The motion-capture decade

Between 2004 and 2009 he made three fully performance-captured features: The Polar Express, Beowulf and A Christmas Carol. The first was the first of its kind and is worth seeing for that reason; the other two are for completists.

This is where most viewers get off, and it is a reasonable place to.

The early comedies

I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978) and Used Cars (1980) both flopped and both were produced by Steven Spielberg, who kept backing him anyway. Used Cars in particular is genuinely nasty and has a real cult following.

Romancing the Stone (1984) was the hit that finally got Back to the Future greenlit after more than thirty rejections.

Common questions

What order should I watch Robert Zemeckis movies in?

Any order except the Back to the Future trilogy, which runs 1, 2, 3. Start with Back to the Future, then Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Forrest Gump, Cast Away and Contact.

Which Robert Zemeckis film should I watch first?

Back to the Future. It is his best-known film and the tightest screenplay he ever shot.

How many films has Robert Zemeckis directed?

Twenty-two features, from I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978) to Here (2024).

Did Robert Zemeckis direct Forrest Gump?

Yes, and it won him the Academy Award for Best Director in 1995. The film took six Oscars in total, including Best Picture.