There are big movies, and then there are EPICS. These are the films that pack in scope, scale and spectacle, creating an experience at the movies that feels truly massive. So enormous, we couldn't even fit 10 movies on the list.
We decided to break the list down by real world history, looking from the days of classical antiquity all the way up to present day. Ancient Chinese dynasties, through Napoleon in 19th Century Russia, all the way to the Vietnam War.
And to clarify, this list doesn't include Fantasy Epics so there's no Lord of the Rings here. That's a different list. We're looking at what makes a historical epic truly huge.In the vein of Cleopatra and Ben Hur, Hero and Curse of the Golden Flower, medieval fare like Ivan the Terrible and Kingdom of Heaven. 19th century epics like How the West was Won, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and 20th century war epics like 1917, or The Thin Red Line.