Jack Black who goes by the nicknames JB or Jables is an all-around entertainer. His career spread across different segments of the entertainment industry. He is a talented and well-known American actor who’s particularly famous for starring in mostly comedy movies and TV shows. He is also a musician, songwriter as well as a YouTuber who has amassed millions of followers and subscribers. Moreso, the talented and hilarious actor has starred in numerous films and shows which have been hit productions but in as much as some were highly successful, some also did not make it as hit movies. In this article, we have presented a list of Jack Black movies ranked from best to worst.
Jack Black Movie Ranked From Best To Worst
1. School of Rock
This is a musical comedy movie that featured Jack Black as the lead actor. His character, Dewey Finn was a guitarist who plays in a nightclub alongside his rock band crew members. Soon after he was kicked out from the band, with his outstanding rent and no money, he must find another work to pay the bills. He decided to impersonate a substitute music teacher for a prominent elementary school. While trying to adjust and pretend as the new substitute teacher, he finds out about his students’ talents and love for rock music. Grabbing this opportunity, he prepares his students for a Battle of the Band musical contest with the aim of winning the acclaimed cash prize in order to settle his debts.
This movie which was released in 2003 was made on a budget of $35 million but it recorded a huge turnover of $131.3 million in the Box Office. Moreso it was a critically acclaimed film that had a lot of positive reviews and it ranks as one of the best Jack Black movies everyone should see.
2. Kung Fu Panda
Talking about another hit movie and one of Black’s best movies is the Kung Fu Panda animation film. The actor played the voice of the main character Po Ping in the animated comedy movie. Po is a large, lazy, and gluttonous panda who works at his adoptive father’s noodles restaurant. Po, however, admired Tigress, Monkey, Mantis, Crane, and Viper – known as the Furious Five for their exceptional Kung Fu skills. Po had always wanted to be like the Furious Five but he had to help out selling and delivering noodles for Mr. Ping.
Along the line, the story changed when Jack Black’s character was chosen as the only Kung Fu Master to defeat the evil snow leopard and receive the Dragon Scroll. Po’s fate quest was unbelievable to him and to all nevertheless, he must be prepared to go through, rigorous, severe, and intense Kung Fu training to achieve his purpose.
This movie was released in 2008 after long periods of hard work on a budget of $130 million. It was not only received well but its box office turnover was a whopping profit of $631.7 million and it undoubtedly showcased the best of Black’s acting skills and it is repeatedly listed among top-notch Jack Black movies.
3. Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle
This is a popular adventurous comedy movie that was released in 2017 and a sequel to Jumanji. It follows the lives of 4 teenagers who were drawn by the game while playing it and soon teleported into the Jumanji video game world. Each person gets to play their desired game character and defeat their opponents in order to return back to the real world.
The fantasy adventurous movie was a major success as it made a huge turnover of $962.1 million in the box office on a $100 million budget. It ranked as the fifth highest-grossing film in 2017 and Jack Black was praised for the excellent portrayal of his character, Prof. Oberon Shelly.
4. Kung Fu Panda Holiday
This TV show follows the original panda movie and the storyline portrayed events after Po Ping fulfilled his destiny of defeating the evil snow leopard. Jack Black’s character was given the Dragons Scroll and he is mandated to organize the Winter Feast Ritual that saw the attendance of all the great Kung Fu Masters. Charged with all these responsibilities, Po also tries to find time for his adoptive father to share in his fame, prominence, and responsibilities but all seems not to be going as planned and he has to make things right.
This animated comedy show was released on the 24th of November, 2010, and had over 6 million views. It was loved by many and the reviews that came in were mainly positive ones. It earned 92% likes by Google users and on Tomatometer, it was listed on the list of successful Jack Black Movies.
5. King Kong
In King Kong, Jack Black portrayed the character of Carl Denham, an over-ambitious and zealous film director who wanted to save his dying career. He deliberately put the lives of his casts and crew members at stake on their voyage to a strange Skull Island where they encountered an enormous gorilla named, King Kong. This even made Carl more ambitious and determined as ever to capture the giant monster after it kidnapped one of his casts named Ann who was deeply in love with Jack-a a scriptwriter. This show aired from September 2004 to March 2005. It also received positive reviews and made a turnover of $550 million. The show won several awards and also made the top ten 2005 list.
6. Year One
Year One is a 2009 comedy film that ranked as one of Black’s worst film appearances in his filmography. He portrayed a hunter named Ned alongside another main character named Oh. The movie tried to play through the early days of the Bible story-Cain and Abel as well as Sodom and Gomorrah. However, this movie was among the list of Jack Black Movies which were not successful, and on Rotten Tomatoes, it was rated 15%. Moreso, its reviews were mainly negative, and on a budget of $60 million it made a very poor turnover of $62 million.
7. Saving Silverman
This movie which was released in 2001 centers around the character Darren Silverman, his friends, and his coercive girlfriend. Jack who plays Wayne happens to be the best friend of Darren and he definitely did not like his friend’s girlfriend. He teamed up with their other friends to stop Darren from spending the rest of his life with his control-freak girlfriend. However, this threatens to rip apart their longtime friendship bond and music band.
Although it was intended to make the audience laugh, Saving Silverman did not sum up to what many critics believed a good comedy movie should portray. Its reception was very poor and on a total budget of $22 million, the film only grossed about $26 million making it one of Black’s worst film appearances.
8. Jack Black in The Big Year
Talk about another Jack Black movie flop and you will have The Big Year which apparently seemed not to be a Big Year for the casts and crew members of this adventurous comedy. Although its director, David Frankil as well as its writer, Howard Franklin are not new to the art of filmmaking, this movie was a disaster. It was made on a budget of $14 million but it managed to gross barely $7.4 million in the Box Office. It also received a lot of bad reviews in spite of starring movie stars like Steve Martin, and Owen Wilson.
9. The Neverending StoryIII: Escape From Fantasia
This movie happens to be the second sequel to The Neverending Story II. Although viewers and critics applauded the original storyline of the first two versions of The Neverending Story however that was not the case of The Neverending Story III. The movie which casts Jack Black as Flip was criticized for its lack of connection to the initial storyline. It received lots of negative reviews and was rate low by many sites. Moreso, with a budget of $17 million incurred in the process of making this film, it was only grossed $9 million in the Box Office.
10. Jack Black in High Fidelity
This is another movie that is ranked as one of Jack Black’s worst movies. In the movie, the actor played the role of Barry, the twin brother of Dick and both of them were friends to Rob. The storyline of this movie follows that Rob was a young man with an obsession for music and he manages a self-established record store named Championship Vinyl. He was able to achieve this with the help of his twin friends – Dick and Barry who seems to be pros when it comes to anything concerning music and musical collections. The movie was released on the 31st of March, 2010 in the United States of America having been made with a budget of $30 million but it was only able to make $47.1 in the Box office. It was also rated poorly by many sites and had a lot of negative reviews.
11. Jack Black in Computer Man
Computer Man is one of Jack Black Movies in which we did not see the talent of the actor. The TV series which ran from 2003 to 2004 did not capture the attention of many viewers. It was mainly aired online and it hardly gained any form of recognition. The series showcased a very powerful but clueless computer man played by Jack Black. This character was created by a scientist named Eugene Murkowski portrayed by Dan Harmon. Generally, it can be inferred that the series is not in any way close to being named among the actor’s best film appearances.
