Epic Movies With Most Extras
Before computer-generated imagery could create massive crowds, Hollywood relied on extras, real people who laboriously had to be controlled, clothed, fed and paid. A "cast of thousands" that assemble the huge armies in great land battles.
Note: some movies that were filmed after computer-generated imagery became available, eventually still make use of massive human crowds.
Which is your favorite biblical or historical epic movie?
Cast your Vote in the Live Poll
Join the Discussion Here in the IMDb Poll Community Forum
Note: some movies that were filmed after computer-generated imagery became available, eventually still make use of massive human crowds.
Which is your favorite biblical or historical epic movie?
Cast your Vote in the Live Poll
Join the Discussion Here in the IMDb Poll Community Forum
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- 37 titles
- DirectorFritz LangStarsBrigitte HelmAlfred AbelGustav FröhlichIn a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city"s mastermind falls in love with a working-class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.37,000 extras
- DirectorPeter JacksonStarsElijah WoodIan McKellenOrlando BloomA meek Hobbit from the Shire and eight companions set out on a journey to destroy the powerful One Ring and save Middle-earth from the Dark Lord Sauron.The Trilogy: 20,602 extras
- DirectorDavid LeanStarsPeter O'TooleAlec GuinnessAnthony QuinnThe story of T.E. Lawrence, the English officer who successfully united and led the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes during World War I in order to fight the Turks.1,000 extras + 750 horses + 159 camels
- DirectorVictor FlemingStarsClark GableVivien LeighThomas MitchellA sheltered and manipulative Southern belle and a roguish profiteer face off in a turbulent romance as the society around them crumbles with the end of slavery and is rebuilt during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods.2,400 extras
- DirectorRichard AttenboroughStarsBen KingsleyJohn GielgudRohini HattangadiThe life of the lawyer who became the famed leader of the Indian revolts against the British rule through his philosophy of nonviolent protest.300,000 extras
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsCharlton HestonJack HawkinsStephen BoydA Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend in 1st-century Jerusalem, but it"s not long before he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge.15,000 extras
- DirectorSergey BondarchukStarsLyudmila SavelevaVyacheslav TikhonovSergey BondarchukThe Russian aristocracy prepares for the French invasion on the eve of 1812.12,000 extras
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczRouben MamoulianStarsElizabeth TaylorRichard BurtonRex HarrisonQueen Cleopatra VII of Egypt experiences both triumph and tragedy as she attempts to resist the imperial ambitions of Rome.6,000 extras
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyAnthony MannStarsRobert TaylorDeborah KerrLeo GennAfter fierce Roman commander Marcus Vinicius becomes infatuated with beautiful Christian hostage Lygia, he begins to question the tyrannical leadership of the despotic emperor Nero.30,000 extras
- DirectorCecil B. DeMilleStarsCharlton HestonYul BrynnerAnne BaxterMoses, raised as a prince of Egypt in the Pharaoh"s household, learns of his true heritage as a Hebrew and his divine mission as the deliverer of his people from slavery.14,000 extras & 15,000 animals
- DirectorStanley KubrickAnthony MannStarsKirk DouglasLaurence OlivierJean SimmonsThe slave Spartacus survives brutal training as a gladiator and leads a violent revolt against the decadent Roman Republic, as the ambitious Crassus seeks to gain power by crushing the uprising.50,000 extras
- DirectorSergey BondarchukStarsRod SteigerChristopher PlummerOrson WellesFacing the decline of everything he has worked to obtain, conqueror Napoleon Bonaparte and his army confront the British at the Battle of Waterloo.15,000 extras
- DirectorBernardo BertolucciStarsJohn LoneJoan ChenPeter O'TooleBernardo Bertolucci"s Oscar-winning dramatization of China"s eleventh and final monarch of the Qing dynasty: Emperor Puyi.19,000 extras
- DirectorMichael AndersonJohn FarrowStarsDavid NivenCantinflasFinlay CurrieA Victorian Englishman bets that with the new steamships and railways he can circumnavigate the globe in eighty days.60,000 extras & 8,552 animals
- DirectorWolfgang PetersenStarsBrad PittEric BanaOrlando BloomAn adaptation of Homer"s great epic, the film follows the assault on Troy by the united Greek forces.4,000 extras
- DirectorRon MaxwellStarsTom BerengerMartin SheenStephen LangIn 1863, the Northern and Southern forces fight at Gettysburg in the decisive battle of the American Civil War.5,000 extras
- DirectorJames CameronStarsLeonardo DiCaprioKate WinsletBilly ZaneA seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.18,000 extras
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishRobert HarronMae MarshFour historical tales depict the ongoing human struggle against prejudice and inhumanity.3,000 extras
- DirectorWesley RugglesStarsRichard DixIrene DunneEstelle TaylorA newspaper editor settles in an Oklahoma boom town with his reluctant wife at the end of the nineteenth century.5,000 extras
- DirectorVeit HarlanWolfgang LiebeneinerStarsHeinrich GeorgeKristina SöderbaumHorst CasparDuring Napoleon"s German campaign, the city of Kolberg is isolated from Prussian forces. Residents organize resistance against the French army besieging and bombarding the city, refusing to surrender.15,000 to 20,000 actual German troops in the battle scenes
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsChristian BaleJohn MalkovichMiranda RichardsonA young English boy struggles to survive under Japanese occupation of China during World War II.5,000 local extras
- DirectorKen AnnakinAndrew MartonGerd OswaldStarsJohn WayneRobert RyanRichard BurtonThe events of D-Day, told on a grand scale from both the Allied and German points of view.2,000 serving soldiers as extras
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsTatsuya NakadaiTsutomu YamazakiKen'ichi HagiwaraA petty thief with an utter resemblance to a samurai warlord is hired as the lord"s double. When the warlord later dies the thief is forced to take up arms in his place.5,000 extras for the final battle sequence
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsTatsuya NakadaiAkira TeraoJinpachi NezuIn Medieval Japan, an elderly warlord retires, handing over his empire to his three sons. However, he vastly underestimates how the new-found power will corrupt them and cause them to turn on each other...and him.1,400 extras
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsCary GrantJoan FontaineVictor McLaglenIn 19th century India, three British soldiers and a native waterbearer must stop a secret mass revival of the murderous Thuggee cult before it can rampage across the land.Over 600 extras were employed in the Mt. Whitney scenes
