10 Best Opening Movie Scenes Of All Time (According To Reddit)

4. Raiders Of The Lost Ark

Heath Ledger Joker The Dark Knight bank heist opening
Paramount Pictures

Spielberg strikes again! All of the Indiana Jones movies have fantastic openings (yes, even the fourth), but Raiders Of The Lost Ark is the one that Reddit likes the most.

Following Indy as he dodges booby-traps in a Peruvian temple, retrieves a golden idol, then escapes said temple while an enormous boulder chases him down, it's an adrenaline-pumping sequence that really does have it all - from a pinch of humour, to a dash of horror, to a few skilfully-staged action beats.

It's almost a mini-movie in its own right, with Indy's superb, whip-cracking reveal, a major plot twist (the betrayal of Satipo, played by a young Alfred Molina), and a third-act gut-punch in the form of villain René Belloq's arrival on the scene.

It's a testament to Spielberg's GOAT status that there are 10 or 12 iconic moments in this one sequence alone, and bonus points must also be given to composer John Williams, who uses this opening to debut one of the best movie themes of all time.

You're humming it right now, aren't you? Of course you are.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.