He is the only actor who could play a version of himself in a meta-comedy and then immediately pivot to playing a serial killer who looks like a melting wax doll. Nicolas Cage doesn’t just have a career. He has a chaotic, 100-plus film experiment in "Nouveau Shamanic" acting that has somehow survived four decades of Hollywood’s fickle nonsense.
If you’re looking at a nicolas cage movie list and trying to find a pattern, stop. There isn’t one.
The man has won an Oscar for a heartbreaking drama about a man drinking himself to death, yet he’s also spent years cranking out direct-to-video action movies where he wears a spirit-gum mustache and screams about bees. It’s a lot to process. Honestly, most people just see the memes and think he’s a "bad" actor who got lucky. They’re wrong. Cage is a technician. He chooses the madness.
The Modern Renaissance: From Longlegs to Madden
Lately, it feels like we’re living in a second Golden Age of Cage. In 2024, he terrified everyone as the pale, crooning title character in Longlegs. It was a performance that reminded people he can be genuinely unsettling when he isn't being "the funny meme guy." But look at what’s happening now in 2026.
The biggest buzz right now is surrounding Madden, the biographical drama where Cage plays the legendary football coach John Madden. David O. Russell is directing, and the casting seemed insane at first. But when you see the teaser? It clicks. Cage captures that specific, boisterous energy of a man who changed a sport forever. It’s a far cry from his 2024 stint in Arcadian, a post-apocalyptic creature feature that felt more like a quiet fatherhood drama hidden inside a horror movie.
✨ Don't miss: Why October London Make Me Wanna Is the Soul Revival We Actually Needed
Then there’s the weird stuff. The Carpenter’s Son (2025) and The Surfer (2025) showed that he hasn't lost his appetite for indie experimentation. He’s also reprising his role as Spider-Man Noir in the 2026 Spider-Noir series, because apparently, the man doesn't sleep.
Every Era of the Nicolas Cage Movie List
To understand the full nicolas cage movie list, you have to break it down by his "phases." You can't just group Valley Girl with Ghost Rider. It doesn't work that way.
The 80s: The Neo-Expressionist Newcomer
Back then, he was Nicolas Coppola, but he changed his name to Cage (after Luke Cage, the Marvel character) to avoid the shadow of his famous uncle, Francis Ford Coppola.
- Valley Girl (1983): He was just a punk kid with a weird chest hair situation. It was sweet.
- Raising Arizona (1987): The Coen Brothers basically let him be a live-action Looney Tune.
- Vampire’s Kiss (1988): This is where the legend started. He ate a real cockroach. He ran through New York shouting "I'm a vampire!" It's art, sort of.
The 90s: The A-List God Tier
This was the decade he conquered the world. He won the Academy Award for Leaving Las Vegas (1995) and then, instead of doing boring period dramas, he decided to become the world’s biggest action star.
🔗 Read more: How to Watch The Wolf and the Lion Without Getting Lost in the Wild
- The Rock (1996): Stanley Goodspeed. Iconic name. He held his own against Sean Connery.
- Con Air (1997): The mullet. The bunny. The Southern accent that was... certainly an accent.
- Face/Off (1997): John Woo let Cage and John Travolta literally pretend to be each other. It’s the peak of 90s excess.
The 2000s: The National Treasure Years
He moved into high-concept Disney blockbusters like National Treasure (2004). People forget how massive those movies were. They’re essentially Indiana Jones for people who like historical conspiracy theories. But even then, he was doing stuff like Adaptation (2002), where he played twin brothers and got another Oscar nod. He was balancing the "one for them, one for me" lifestyle until things got complicated financially.
The Direct-to-Video Wilderness and the Cult Comeback
We have to talk about the 2010s. It’s the era of the nicolas cage movie list that most people mock. Titles like Left Behind, Arsenal, and 211. There were a lot of them. Too many. Cage was working off massive debts, and he famously said he never "phoned it in," even if the movies were objectively terrible.
But then Mandy (2018) happened. Panos Cosmatos directed this psychedelic revenge nightmare, and it was like a bell went off. Critics realized Cage wasn't "washed up"—he was just waiting for a director who spoke his language. This led directly to Pig (2021), which is probably his best performance in twenty years. He plays a hermit looking for his stolen truffle pig. It’s quiet. It’s devastating. It’s the exact opposite of what you expect from him.
What People Get Wrong About His "Crazy" Acting
You’ve heard the term "Cage Rage." It’s used to describe those moments where his eyes bulge out and he starts screaming. But if you look at his filmography as a whole, those moments are usually calculated. In Dream Scenario (2023), he plays a boring, pathetic professor who is the furthest thing from an action hero. He’s actually great at playing "loser" characters.
💡 You might also like: Is Lincoln Lawyer Coming Back? Mickey Haller's Next Move Explained
The nuance gets lost in the TikTok clips. His work in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is a masterclass in surrealism. Werner Herzog directed it, which makes sense because they’re both equally eccentric. Cage reportedly asked for "lucky crack pipes" as props. He was fully committed to the bit.
Practical Advice for Your Next Cage Binge
If you’re trying to tackle a nicolas cage movie list, don't go in chronological order. You'll get whiplash. Instead, pick a "vibe" and stick to it for a weekend:
- The "I Want to Cry" Triple Feature: Leaving Las Vegas, Pig, The Weather Man.
- The "Explosions and Mullets" Night: The Rock, Con Air, Gone in 60 Seconds.
- The "What Did I Just Watch?" Marathon: Vampire's Kiss, Mandy, Wild at Heart.
- The Family Friendly Choice: National Treasure or The Croods. (Yes, he’s the dad in The Croods. He's actually a great voice actor.)
The real takeaway from his 40-year career is that he’s never boring. Even his worst movies—and there are some absolute stinkers like The Wicker Man remake—are fascinating to watch because he’s always trying something. He’s not a cynical actor. He loves the craft, even when the craft involves him being covered in bees.
Keep an eye out for Madden later this year. It's likely going to be his next big awards play, and it’ll probably change how people view the later half of his career. Whether he's hunting treasure, fighting animatronics in Willy's Wonderland, or coaching football, Nicolas Cage remains the most interesting man in Hollywood.
If you're ready to start your journey through the Cage-verse, begin with Pig to see his range, then dive into Face/Off for the spectacle. You can find most of his 90s hits on major streaming platforms like Hulu or Disney+, while his more recent indie work usually ends up on Neon or Max. Check your local listings for Madden showtimes around Thanksgiving 2026.