Movie charades: hand signals and 250+ charades movies by genre
Movie charades is the classic version of the game: one player mimes a film title, their team guesses it. This guide covers the standard signals for showing a movie, the number of words and "sounds like", plus more than 250 charades movies sorted by genre and difficulty.
Movie titles are where charades turns into a real skill. A single word like "penguin" is one gesture. A title like "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is a puzzle: five words, two of them tiny, one of them a name. Good teams solve it with a shared set of signals, so the actor can say "movie, five words, third word, sounds like" without a sound. Learn the signals below, pick a list, and your next movie night has a game built in.
The hand signals for movie charades
- It’s a movie. Crank an old film camera next to your head: one hand making circles, the other holding the camera.
- Number of words. Hold up that many fingers.
- Which word. Hold up fingers again: three fingers means "the third word".
- Number of syllables. Lay fingers on your forearm. Two fingers means the word has two syllables.
- Sounds like. Tug your earlobe, then act out a rhyme.
- Small word. Pinch thumb and index finger close together for "a", "the", "of".
- The whole thing. Sweep your arms in a big circle to switch to acting out the whole concept.
- Close! Point at the person who is nearly right and wave them on.
- Longer / shorter. Stretch an invisible rubber band for "longer word", squeeze it for "shorter".
Agree on the signals before the first round. Every family has slightly different ones, and arguing about whether a tugged ear means "sounds like" wastes half a turn. More signals and the rest of the rules are in how to play charades.
How to act out a movie title fast
- Signal "movie" and the word count first.It costs three seconds and saves thirty.
- Start with the easiest word,not the first one. In "Jurassic Park", act the park.
- Act the whole plot if the title is abstract."Inception" is easier as "dream inside a dream" than as syllables.
- Use a famous scene.Arms out on a ship’s bow is Titanic. Nobody needs the word count.
- Skip the small words.Your team will fill in "the" and "of" on their own.
Easy charades movies for any crowd
Short titles everyone has seen, with at least one obvious scene.
- Titanic
- Jaws
- Frozen
- Shrek
- Up
- Cars
- Home Alone
- Toy Story
- Finding Nemo
- The Lion King
- Jurassic Park
- Star Wars
- Harry Potter
- Spider-Man
- Batman
- Superman
- Rocky
- E.T.
- Ghostbusters
- Top Gun
- Grease
- Barbie
- King Kong
- Mary Poppins
- Elf
- Aladdin
- Moana
- Madagascar
- Kung Fu Panda
- Despicable Me
Family and animated movies
- The Little Mermaid
- Beauty and the Beast
- Cinderella
- Snow White
- Peter Pan
- Dumbo
- The Jungle Book
- Encanto
- Coco
- Inside Out
- Ratatouille
- Monsters, Inc.
- The Incredibles
- Zootopia
- Tangled
- Brave
- How to Train Your Dragon
- Ice Age
- Minions
- Paddington
- Matilda
- Willy Wonka
- The Wizard of Oz
- Babe
- Chicken Run
- Wallace and Gromit
- Bolt
- Lilo and Stitch
- Wall-E
- Trolls
Action and adventure
- Die Hard
- The Terminator
- Indiana Jones
- Mission: Impossible
- The Matrix
- Gladiator
- Mad Max
- John Wick
- Fast and Furious
- Top Gun: Maverick
- Speed
- Jumanji
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- The Mummy
- Avatar
- Dune
- Black Panther
- Wonder Woman
- Iron Man
- Thor
- The Avengers
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Casino Royale
- Skyfall
- Kill Bill
- The Karate Kid
- Rambo
- Point Break
- Twister
- Armageddon
Comedy and rom-com
- Mean Girls
- Clueless
- Legally Blonde
- The Hangover
- Bridesmaids
- Dumb and Dumber
- Ace Ventura
- The Mask
- Mrs. Doubtfire
- Groundhog Day
- Anchorman
- Superbad
- Notting Hill
- Love Actually
- Pretty Woman
- Dirty Dancing
- The Notebook
- When Harry Met Sally
- Crazy Rich Asians
- Bridget Jones’s Diary
- School of Rock
- Liar Liar
- Big
- Nacho Libre
- Elf
- Zoolander
- Night at the Museum
- Freaky Friday
- The Princess Bride
- Mamma Mia!
Horror charades movies
Horror titles are fun to act because the scenes are iconic: the shower, the twins in the hallway, the red balloon. Perfect for a Halloween round.
- Psycho
- The Shining
- It
- Scream
- Halloween
- The Exorcist
- Get Out
- A Quiet Place
- The Conjuring
- Saw
- Alien
- The Ring
- Jaws
- Gremlins
- Poltergeist
- Friday the 13th
- A Nightmare on Elm Street
- Child’s Play
- Final Destination
- Paranormal Activity
- Bird Box
- Us
- Nope
- M3GAN
- Shaun of the Dead
- Zombieland
- World War Z
- Carrie
- Misery
- Frankenstein
Classics and hard charades movies
For film buffs and the competitive final round. Long or abstract titles: give these 90 seconds.
- The Godfather
- Casablanca
- Forrest Gump
- Back to the Future
- The Shawshank Redemption
- Pulp Fiction
- Fight Club
- Inception
- Interstellar
- The Silence of the Lambs
- Gone with the Wind
- Singin’ in the Rain
- Breakfast at Tiffany’s
- Apocalypse Now
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
- The Sound of Music
- Schindler’s List
- Saving Private Ryan
- Catch Me If You Can
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- No Country for Old Men
- Everything Everywhere All at Once
- Oppenheimer
- Parasite
- Whiplash
- La La Land
- The Social Network
- Black Swan
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Christmas movies for charades
- Home Alone
- Elf
- The Grinch
- The Polar Express
- Love Actually
- It’s a Wonderful Life
- Miracle on 34th Street
- The Santa Clause
- Jingle All the Way
- A Christmas Story
- The Nightmare Before Christmas
- Klaus
For 200+ holiday words beyond movies, see Christmas charades.
Movie charades variations
- Scene only. No signals, no word counts. Act one famous scene and let the team find the title.
- Genre swap. Act a movie as if it belonged to another genre: Frozen as a horror film, Jaws as a rom-com.
- Quote round. Describing allowed, but only by acting out a famous line silently.
- Character round. Act a movie character, the team names the film. Darth Vader, Forrest, Shrek.
- Team scene. The whole team acts a movie scene together, one person guesses. That is reverse charades.
Charades movies without writing a list
The free charades generator works as a charades movie generator: set the topic to Movies or Horror Movies and it draws from more than 300 titles at random. In the Guessy app, the free Movies and Horror Movies topics deal the same titles to the phone on your forehead, with a timer and scoring; premium adds Animated Movies, TV Shows and Movie Characters. See all charades categories.
Free Movies and Horror Movies topics with a timer and tilt-to-score. iPhone and Android, works offline.
Download freeFrequently asked questions
How do you signal a movie in charades?
Crank an imaginary old-fashioned film camera next to your head. Then hold up fingers for the number of words, and fingers again to show which word you are acting.
What are good movies for movie charades?
Short titles with an iconic scene: Titanic, Jaws, Frozen, Home Alone, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Rocky, Ghostbusters, The Lion King and Toy Story. Save long titles for experienced players.
What are hard charades movies?
Long or abstract titles like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Shawshank Redemption, Inception or Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Is there a charades movie generator?
Yes. Set our free charades generator to Movies or Horror Movies and every tap gives you a random film title. The Guessy app does the same on your forehead, with a timer.