The main film genres are the most common and identifiable film genre categories. Each of these main categories are fully described in this section.

	Action Films			Horror Films
	Adventure Films			Musicals (Dance) Films
	Comedy (& Black Comedy) Films			Science Fiction Films
	Crime & Gangster Films			War (Anti-War) Films
	Drama Films			Westerns
	Epics/Historical/Period Films

Sub-Genres are more specific sub-classes of the larger category of main film genres (above), with their own distinctive subject matter, style, formulas, and iconography. Some of them are very prominent and are on the verge of being considered main genres.

	Biographical Films ("Biopics") - or Historical			Melodramas, Women's or "Weeper" Films, Tearjerkers
	'Chick' Flicks			Road Films
	Courtroom Dramas			Romance Films
	Detective & Mystery Films			Sports Films
	Disaster Films			Superhero Films
	Fantasy Films			Supernatural Films
	Film Noir			Thriller-Suspense Films
	Guy Films			Zombie Films

There are many other (non-genre) film categories that cross-over many traditional genre film types, such as: animated films, UK films, classic films, family-oriented children's films, cult films, documentary films, serial films, sexual/erotic films, and silent films.

	Animated Films			Documentary Films
	British (UK Films)			Serial Films
	Childrens - Kids - Family-Oriented Films			Sexual - Erotic Films
	Classic Films			Silent Films
	Cult Films

There are dozens and dozens of film sub-genres types (and hybrids), that include films that combine different film elements or types together: e.g., action-comedies, zombie-disaster-thrillers, martial arts/kung-fu or video-game action films, musical dramas, espionage thrillers, black comedies, etc.).

There are obvious biases in the selection of Best Picture winners by the Academy. Serious dramas or social-problem films with weighty inspirational themes, biopics (inspired by real-life individuals or events), or films with literary pretensions are much more likely to be nominated (and win). Glossy, large-scale epic historical productions with big budgets (of various genres) have often taken the Best Picture prize. Likewise for studio pictures with big stars - they are much preferred over quirky independent films, although that trend has begun to change in recent years.

This section provides examples of all the top films (through history) of the main film genre categories. It presents an overview of the rankings of films in those genre categories that have been regarded as 'greatest' by other critics and film-makers' polls, box-office totals, awards organizations, and other tallies.

The American Film Institute in Los Angeles, California, in 2008 honored America’s 10 greatest films in 10 classic film genres. The jury was asked to choose up to 10 movies per genre from a comprehensive list. Ten genres were ultimately selected from 500 nominated films (50 from each genre): Animated, Fantasy, Gangster, Science Fiction, Western, Sports, Mystery, Romantic Drama, Courtroom Drama, and Epic.

These are the top, highest-grossing (domestic) films in all the various sub-categories or genres (types of films).

'Pan and Scan' formats