100 English films of 1986 ranked by box office. #1: Top Gun ($360.6 million).
| # | Film | Lead | Director | Budget | Box office | Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Top Gun | Tony Scott | $15 million | $360.6 million | 24.04x | |
| 2 | Crocodile Dundee | Peter Faiman | A$8.8 million | $328 million | ||
| 3 | Cobra | George P. Cosmatos | $25 million | $160 million | 6.40x | |
| 4 | The Golden Child | Michael Ritchie | $12 million | $149.4 million | 12.45x | |
| 5 | Platoon | Oliver Stone | $6 million | $138.5 million | 23.08x | |
| 6 | Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home | Leonard Nimoy | $25 million | $133 million | 5.32x | |
| 7 | Aliens | James Cameron | $18.5 million | $131.1 million | 7.09x | |
| 8 | The Karate Kid Part II | John G. Avildsen | $12.5 million | $130 million | 10.40x | |
| 9 | Heartbreak Ridge | Clint Eastwood | $15 million | $121.7 million | 8.11x | |
| 10 | Police Academy 3: Back in Training | Jerry Paris | $12 million | $107.6 million | 8.97x | |
| 11 | Children of a Lesser God | Randa Haines | $10.5 million | $101.5 million | 9.67x | |
| 12 | 9½ Weeks | Adrian Lyne | $17 million | $100 million | 5.88x | |
| 13 | Legal Eagles | Ivan Reitman | $40 million | $93.2 million | 2.33x | |
| 14 | Back to School | Alan Metter | $11 million | $91.3 million | 8.30x | |
| 15 | The Name of the Rose | Jean-Jacques Annaud | $17.5 million | $77.2 million | 4.41x | |
| 16 | Poltergeist II: The Other Side | Brian Gibson | $19 million | $75 million | 3.95x | |
| 17 | Ruthless People | David Zucker | $13 million | $71.6 million | 5.51x | |
| 18 | Ferris Bueller's Day Off | John Hughes | $5 million | $70.7 million | 14.14x | |
| 19 | Down and Out in Beverly Hills | Paul Mazursky | $14 million | $62.1 million | 4.44x | |
| 20 | The Fly | David Cronenberg | $9 million | $60.6 million | 6.73x | |
| 21 | A Room with a View | James Ivory | £2.3 million | $60 million | ||
| 22 | The Money Pit | Richard Benjamin | $18.4 million | $55 million | 2.99x | |
| 23 | Little Shop of Horrors | Frank Oz | $25 million | $54 million | 2.16x | |
| 24 | Heartburn | Mike Nichols | $20 million | $52.6 million | 2.63x | |
| 25 | The Color of Money | Martin Scorsese | $14.5 million | $52.2 million | 3.60x | |
| 26 | Stand by Me | Rob Reiner | $7.5 million | $52 million | 6.93x | |
| 27 | King Kong Lives | John Guillermin | $18 million | $48.9 million | 2.72x | |
| 28 | Peggy Sue Got Married | Francis Ford Coppola | $18 million | $41.5 million | 2.31x | |
| 29 | Short Circuit | John Badham | $15 million | $40.7 million | 2.71x | |
| 30 | Pretty in Pink | Howard Deutch | $9 million | $40.5 million | 4.50x | |
| 31 | Hannah and Her Sisters | Woody Allen | $6.4 million | $40.1 million | 6.27x | |
| 32 | Three Amigos | John Landis | $25 million | $39.2 million | 1.57x | |
| 33 | About Last Night... | Edward Zwick | $8.5 million | $38.7 million | 4.55x | |
| 34 | Running Scared | Peter Hyams | $38.5 million | |||
| 35 | Howard the Duck | Willard Huyck | $37 million | $37.9 million | 1.02x | |
| 36 | Gung Ho | Ron Howard | $13 million | $36.6 million | 2.82x | |
| 37 | Soul Man | Steve Miner | $4.5 million | $35 million | 7.78x | |
| 38 | Labyrinth | Jim Henson | $25 million | $34 million | 1.36x | |
| 39 | Nothing in Common | Garry Marshall | $12 million | $32.3 million | 2.69x | |
| 40 | Jumpin' Jack Flash | Penny Marshall | $18 million | $29.8 million | 1.66x | |
| 41 | Hoosiers | David Anspaugh | $6 million | $28.6 million | 4.77x | |
| 42 | Wildcats | Michael Ritchie | $26.2 million | |||
| 43 | The Morning After | Sidney Lumet | $15 million | $25.1 million | 1.67x | |
| 44 | Born to Defence | Jet Li | $24.5 million | |||
| 45 | Iron Eagle | Sidney J. Furie | $10 million | $24 million | 2.40x | |
| 46 | Crimes of the Heart | Bruce Beresford | $20 million | $22.9 million | 1.15x | |
| 47 | Tough Guys | Jeff Kanew | $10 million | $21.5 million | 2.15x | |
| 48 | F/X | Robert Mandel | $10 million | $20.6 million | 2.06x | |
| 49 | Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives | Tom McLoughlin | $3 million | $19.5 million | 6.50x | |
| 50 | Flight of the Navigator | Randal Kleiser | $9 million | $18.6 million | 2.07x | |
| 51 | Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling | Richard Pryor | $20 million | $18 million | 0.90x | |
| 52 | The Delta Force | Menahem Golan | $9 million | $17.8 million | 1.97x | |
| 53 | The Big Easy | Jim McBride | $8.5 million | $17.6 million | 2.07x | |
| 54 | The Mission | Roland Joffé | £16.5 million | $17.2 million | ||
| 55 | Raw Deal | John Irvin | $8 million | $16.2 million | 2.03x | |
| 56 | Armed and Dangerous | Mark L. Lester | $12 million | $15.9 million | 1.33x | |
| 57 | Youngblood | Peter Markle | $8 million | $15.4 million | 1.93x | |
| 58 | Psycho III | Anthony Perkins | $8.4 million | $14.4 million | 1.71x | |
| 59 | The Mosquito Coast | Peter Weir | $25 million | $14.3 million | 0.57x | |
| 60 | Sweet Liberty | Alan Alda | $14.2 million | |||
| 61 | Extremities | Robert Milton Young | $13.4 million | |||
| 62 | Critters | Stephen Herek | $3 million | $13.2 million | 4.40x | |
| 63 | April Fool's Day | Fred Walton | $5 million | $13 million | 2.60x | |
| 63 | One Crazy Summer | Savage Steve Holland | $9 million | $13 million | 1.44x | |
| 65 | Highlander | Russell Mulcahy | $19 million | $12.8 million | 0.67x | |
| 66 | Club Paradise | Harold Ramis | $19 million | $12.3 million | 0.65x | |
| 66 | No Mercy | Richard Pearce | $14 million | $12.3 million | 0.88x | |
| 68 | Brighton Beach Memoirs | Gene Saks | $18 million | $12 million | 0.66x | |
| 69 | Firewalker | J. Lee Thompson | $8 million | $11.8 million | 1.48x | |
| 70 | Big Trouble in Little China | John Carpenter | $25 million | $11.1 million | 0.44x | |
| 71 | Under the Cherry Moon | Prince | $12 million | $10.1 million | 0.84x | |
| 72 | Round Midnight | Bertrand Tavernier | $3 million | $10 million | 3.33x | |
| 73 | Murphy's Law | J. Lee Thompson | $8 million | $9.9 million | 1.24x | |
| 74 | SpaceCamp | Harry Winer | $18 million | $9.7 million | 0.54x | |
| 75 | Deadly Friend | Wes Craven | $11 million | $8.9 million | 0.81x | |
| 76 | Blue Velvet | David Lynch | $6 million | $8.6 million | 1.43x | |
| 76 | Manhunter | Michael Mann | $15 million | $8.6 million | 0.57x | |
| 78 | Something Wild | Jonathan Demme | $7 million | $8.4 million | 1.20x | |
| 79 | Lucas | David Seltzer | $6 million | $8.2 million | 1.37x | |
| 80 | Haunted Honeymoon | Gene Wilder | $9 million | $8 million | 0.89x | |
| 80 | The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 | Tobe Hooper | $4.5 million | $8 million | 1.78x | |
| 82 | The Best of Times | Roger Spottiswoode | $12 million | $7.8 million | 0.65x | |
| 83 | Wanted: Dead or Alive | Gary Sherman | $4.5 million | $7.6 million | 1.68x | |
| 84 | Witchboard | Kevin S. Tenney | $1.5 million | $7.4 million | 4.93x | |
| 84 | Maximum Overdrive | Stephen King | $9 million | $7.4 million | 0.82x | |
| 86 | Quicksilver | Thomas Michael Donnelly | $10 million | $7.2 million | 0.72x | |
| 87 | The Boy Who Could Fly | Nick Castle | $9 million | $7.2 million | 0.80x | |
| 88 | She's Gotta Have It | Spike Lee | $175,000 | $7.1 million | 40.57x | |
| 89 | Blue City | Michelle Manning | $10 million | $6.9 million | 0.69x | |
| 90 | Trick or Treat | Charles Martin Smith | $3.5 million | $6.8 million | 1.94x | |
| 91 | Black Moon Rising | Harley Cokeliss | $3 million | $6.5 million | 2.17x | |
| 92 | Just Between Friends | Allan Burns | $6.4 million | |||
| 93 | Pirates | Roman Polanski | $40 million | $6.3 million | 0.16x | |
| 94 | A Fine Mess | Blake Edwards | $15 million | $6 million | 0.40x | |
| 95 | Crossroads | Walter Hill | $5.8 million | |||
| 96 | The Hitcher | Robert Harmon | $7.9 million | $5.8 million | 0.73x | |
| 97 | Wisdom | Emilio Estevez | $6.5 million | $5.7 million | 0.88x | |
| 98 | Troll | John Carl Buechler | $2.5 million | $5.5 million | 2.20x | |
| 99 | 52 Pick-Up | John Frankenheimer | $8 million | $5.2 million | 0.65x | |
| 100 | Out of Bounds | Richard Tuggle | $9 million | $5.1 million | 0.57x |
Figures are shown in the currency they were reported in (Wikipedia, Wikidata or TMDB); no conversion.