Movie Charades – How to Play, List of Movies, & Printable Cards

Movie Charades is an awesome game to play with kids or adults because it’s so easy to prep and it’s fun for all ages! Learn how to play movie charades and get a list of movies for your next charades game!

Charades is my go-to game when my kids are bored or when I’m hosting a house full of people that need to be entertained. Not only is this fun game super easy to play, but it also requires pretty much zero work to set up, and there’s no clean-up afterwards.

And since you guys loved my Christmas Charades game, I decided to make a fun Movies Charades game also, so you can play year round when you need a simple party game or a fun summer activity to keep your kids busy.

Here’s how to play movie charades and a big list of 160+ movie titles to use for your game:

What is Movie Charades?

Movie charades is a game where players act out movie titles for others to guess. Think regular Charades except with a fun movie titles list.

This game requires pretty much zero prep work, and it’s a great addition to your weekly family game night or to play around the bonfire on a summer evening with friends.

Whether you want to play movie charades for kids in your classroom with Disney movie titles or you need a fun party game for adults, this easy charades game is sure to be a hit!

Charades Rules

Just like the regular Charades game, the rules of Movie Charades are simple. When it’s your turn to act out the movie on the card, there should be:

• no talking or making noise of any kind
• no lip movements
• no pointing at things in the room
• no props

How to Play Movie Charades

There are many different ways to play charades, but here are the basics:

1. Divide players into two teams.
2. The first team sends up one player to draw out a movie title from the bowl or bag.
3. Set a timer for one minute.
4. The player from team A acts out the chosen word or phrase for the other players on their team to guess.
5. If team A can’t guess the word within 60 seconds, then the word gets passed to a player on the opposite team. The player from team B then gets a set amount of time to act out the same word for their teammates to try and “steal” the point.
6. Then, a player from team B draws a card and takes a turn.
7. One point is awarded for each correct guess.
8. The game goes on until one team reaches a specific number of points or the game time runs out. For instance, the game ends once a team gets 10 points or after 30 minutes of play.

*You can also skip the “steal” option… so if team A is not able to guess the movie title, then it gets thrown out, instead of giving team B a chance with the same title.

Movie Charades for Adults – Make Your Game More Challenging

To make this fun printable party game more challenging for older players, you can also use these fun variations:

Option 1: “Steal” the Point in ONE Guess

Set the timer for one minute. If team A is able to guess the word before the timer runs out, then they get a point. But if not, then team B gets to make ONE guess of what the Charades movie title is… but here’s the kicker, team B has to guess based on the actions that they just watched from the player on team A. This helps the game move along a bit faster.

Option 2: How Many Can You Guess in One Minute?

Set the timer for one minute. The first team gets to guess as many words as they can in that one minute… so after the players from team A guess one card, then they immediately draw another one. Either the same player can continue to act out each word or a different player can come up to do the acting. After the one minute is up, then add one point for each correct answer.

Then, team B gets one minute to see how many they can guess.

Option 3: Act or Draw?

Combine Movie Charades and Pictionary in to one epic party game!

After the designated player draws a movie title, have someone flip a coin. If the coin lands on heads, then that player has to ACT OUT the card. If the coin lands on tails, then the player must DRAW what’s on the card. Just add a large white board and some dry erase markers for this fun version of the classic party game!

*My printable movie Charades game cards are perfect for this!

What Do I Need to Play Movie Charades?

One of the best things about playing movie charades is that it requires very few supplies and you can set up the game in less than 5 minutes. Here’s what you need:

• List of movies for Charades – You can use my movie charades printable cards at the end of this post or write movie titles on individual slips of paper.
• Timer – This can be a portable oven timer, a cheap 2 minute sand hourglass timer from Dollar Tree, or even the timer on your iPhone.
• Decorative basket or gift bag to store the movie charades cards – So players can’t see what movie title they are choosing!
• Inexpensive prizes or treats for the winning team – You could even use movie-themed goodies as prizes, like boxes of microwave popcorn, movie theater candy boxes, gift cards for Netflix or Prime Video, or flavored popcorn salts.

*Note – If you’re going to use printable movie Charades cards, you’ll need access to a printer plus white card stock, and scissors or a paper trimmer. I prefer printing my Charades cards on card stock because the game cards are much sturdier and I can use them year after year.

List of Movies for Charades

Want to make your own list of movies for charades? Here are some awesome movie titles to get you going:

Classic Movies for Charades

If you’re playing this fun game with adults, then you’ll probably want to include some classic movie titles like these:

1. Rocky
2. Die Hard
3. The Godfather
4. Star Wars
5. Back to the Future
6. ET
7. Ghost Busters
8. Pretty Woman
9. When Harry Met Sally
10. Goodfellas
11. Taxi Driver
12. The Shining
13. Jaws
14. Halloween
15. Schindler’s List
16. Grease
17. Gone with the Wind
18. West Side Story
19. It’s a Wonderful Life
20. Breakfast at Tiffany’s
21. 16 Candles
22. The Silence of the Lambs
23. King Kong
24. The Sound of Music
25. The Wizard of Oz
26. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
27. Singin’ in the Rain
28. Casablanca
29. A Streetcar Named Desire
30. Caddy Shack
31. Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Comedy Movies for Charades

Here are some commonly known comedy movie titles that are perfect for your charades game:

1. Knocked Up
2. Bridesmaids
3. Happy Gilmore
4. The Hangover
5. American Pie
6. Napoleon Dynamite
7. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
8. Mean Girls
9. Clueless
10. Dumb and Dumber
11. The Parent Trap
12. Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
13. Freaky Friday
14. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
15. Big
16. Mrs. Doubtfire
17. Barbershop
18. Dazed and Confused
19. Zoolander
20. Super Troopers
21. The 40 Year Old Virgin
22. Legally Blonde
23. The School of Rock
24. Sister Act
25. National Lampoon’s Vacation
26. Meet the Parents
27. Four Weddings and a Funeral
28. Superbad
29. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
30. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
31. Coming to America
32. Groundhog Day

Action and Drama Movies for Charades

1. Black Hawk Down
2. Anaconda
3. The Bourne Identity
4. Matrix
5. Castaway
6. Saw
7. Saving Private Ryan
8. The Big Lebowski
9. Titanic
10. Speed
11. Scream
12. The Hunger Games
13. Jurassic Park
14. The Sixth Sense
15. Edward Scissorhands
16. Free Willy
17. Cool Runnings
18. The Karate Kid
19. Interview with the Vampire
20. Forrest Gump
21. Pirates of the Caribbean
22. Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone
23. The Lord of the Rings
24. The Shawshank Redemption
25. The Green Mile
26. Dances with Wolves
27. Rain Man
28. Braveheart
29. Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom
30. Pulp Fiction
31. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
32. Good Will Hunting

Superhero Movies for Charades

These comic and superhero movie titles are great if you’re playing movie charades in a group of both kids and adults:

1. Spider-Man
2. Batman and Robin
3. Batman
4. Wonder Woman
5. The Dark Knight
6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
7. The Incredible Hulk
8. Superman
9. Iron Man
10. Thor
11. Captain America: The First Avenger
12. Black Widow
13. X-Men
14. Ant-Man
15. Marvel’s The Avengers
16. Guardians of the Galaxy
17. Black Panther

Disney Movie Charades for Kids

If you want to play movie charades for kids in your classroom or as a fun indoor activity, here are some Disney movie titles to get you started:

1. The Jungle Book
2. Frozen
3. Moana
4. Beauty and the Beast
5. The Lion King
6. Finding Nemo
7. Toy Story
8. Monsters Inc.
9. Aladdin
10. Sleeping Beauty
11. Cinderella
12. Dumbo
13. The Little Mermaid
14. Snow White
15. A Bug’s Life
16. 101 Dalmations
17. Bambi
18. Mulan
19. Pocahantas
20. Lady and the Tramp
21. Wreck-It Ralph
22. Ratatouille
23. The Princess Diaries
24. Cars
25. Mary Poppins
26. Descendants
27. Inside Out
28. The Incredibles
29. The Muppets
30. Winnie the Pooh
31. The Princess and the Frog

Other Kids Charades Movie Titles

1. The Grinch
2. Wall-E
3. Shrek
4. Despicable Me
5. Up
6. Trolls
7. Diary of a Wimpy Kid
8. The Secret Life of Pets
9. The Emoji Movie
10. The Lego Movie
11. Kung Fu Panda
12. How to Train Your Dragon
13. Sing
14. Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie
15. Ice Age
16. Madagascar
17. The Croods
18. Happy Feet
19. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
20. Minions
21. The Lorax
22. Paddington
23. Hotel Transylvania

Printable Movie Charades Cards

Want to make setting up your movie charades game even easier? Instead of writing the list of movies on individual slips of paper, you can use my cute printable movie charades cards!