100 English films of 1996 ranked by box office. #1: Independence Day ($817.4 million).
| # | Film | Lead | Director | Budget | Box office | Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Independence Day | Roland Emmerich | $75 million | $817.4 million | 10.90x | |
| 2 | Twister | Jan de Bont | $92 million | $499 million | 5.42x | |
| 3 | Mission: Impossible | Brian De Palma | $80 million | $457.7 million | 5.72x | |
| 4 | The Rock | Michael Bay | $75 million | $335.6 million | 4.47x | |
| 5 | 101 Dalmatians | Stephen Herek | $54 million | $320.7 million | 5.94x | |
| 6 | Ransom | Ron Howard | $70 million | $309.5 million | 4.42x | |
| 7 | The Nutty Professor | Tom Shadyac | $54 million | $274 million | 5.07x | |
| 8 | Jerry Maguire | Cameron Crowe | $50 million | $273.6 million | 5.47x | |
| 9 | Space Jam | Tony Cervone | $80 million | $250.2 million | 3.13x | |
| 10 | Eraser | Chuck Russell | $100 million | $242 million | 2.42x | |
| 11 | The English Patient | Anthony Minghella | $29 million | $232 million | 8.00x | |
| 12 | The Birdcage | Mike Nichols | $31 million | $185.3 million | 5.98x | |
| 13 | The First Wives Club | Hugh Wilson | $26 million | $181 million | 6.96x | |
| 14 | Scream | Wes Craven | $14 million | $173 million | 12.36x | |
| 15 | Sleepers | Barry Levinson | $44 million | $165.6 million | 3.76x | |
| 16 | Daylight | Rob Cohen | $80 million | $159 million | 1.99x | |
| 17 | A Time to Kill | Joel Schumacher | $40 million | $152.3 million | 3.81x | |
| 18 | Phenomenon | Jon Turteltaub | $32 million | $152 million | 4.75x | |
| 19 | Broken Arrow | John Woo | $50 million | $150.2 million | 3.00x | |
| 20 | Romeo + Juliet | Baz Luhrmann | $14.5 million | $147.6 million | 10.18x | |
| 21 | Star Trek: First Contact | Jonathan Frakes | $45 million | $146 million | 3.24x | |
| 22 | Evita | Alan Parker | $55 million | $141 million | 2.56x | |
| 23 | Jingle All the Way | Brian Levant | $75 million | $129.8 million | 1.73x | |
| 24 | Executive Decision | Stuart Baird | $55 million | $122.1 million | 2.22x | |
| 25 | Michael | Nora Ephron | $20 million | $119.7 million | 5.99x | |
| 26 | Dragonheart | Rob Cohen | $57 million | $115.3 million | 2.02x | |
| 27 | Striptease | Andrew Bergman | $50 million | $113.3 million | 2.27x | |
| 28 | The Cable Guy | Ben Stiller | $47 million | $102.8 million | 2.19x | |
| 29 | Primal Fear | Gregory Hoblit | $30 million | $102.6 million | 3.42x | |
| 30 | Mars Attacks! | Tim Burton | $70 million | $101.4 million | 1.45x | |
| 31 | Courage Under Fire | Edward Zwick | $46 million | $100.9 million | 2.19x | |
| 32 | Up Close & Personal | Jon Avnet | $60 million | $100.7 million | 1.68x | |
| 33 | One Fine Day | Michael Hoffman | $97.5 million | |||
| 34 | The Long Kiss Goodnight | Renny Harlin | $65 million | $95.5 million | 1.47x | |
| 35 | Spy Hard | Rick Friedberg | $18 million | $84 million | 4.67x | |
| 36 | The Mirror Has Two Faces | Barbra Streisand | $42 million | $82 million | 1.95x | |
| 37 | Jack | Francis Ford Coppola | $45 million | $78 million | 1.73x | |
| 38 | Tin Cup | Ron Shelton | $45 million | $75.8 million | 1.68x | |
| 39 | The Ghost and the Darkness | Stephen Hopkins | $55 million | $75 million | 1.36x | |
| 40 | Trainspotting | Danny Boyle | £1.5 million | $72 million | ||
| 41 | Beavis and Butt-Head Do America | Mike Judge | $12 million | $63.1 million | 5.26x | |
| 42 | The Juror | Brian Gibson | $44 million | $63 million | 1.43x | |
| 43 | Diabolique | Jeremiah S. Chechik | $45 million | $62.4 million | 1.39x | |
| 44 | Fargo | Joel Coen | $7 million | $60.6 million | 8.66x | |
| 45 | Chain Reaction | Andrew Davis | $50 million | $60.2 million | 1.20x | |
| 46 | From Dusk till Dawn | Robert Rodriguez | $19 million | $59.3 million | 3.12x | |
| 47 | The Truth About Cats & Dogs | Michael Lehmann | $59 million | |||
| 48 | The Quest | Jean-Claude Van Damme | $30 million | $57.4 million | 1.91x | |
| 49 | The Preacher's Wife | Penny Marshall | $40 million | $57 million | 1.43x | |
| 50 | The Craft | Andrew Fleming | $15 million | $55.6 million | 3.71x | |
| 51 | Maximum Risk | Ringo Lam | $25 million | $51.7 million | 2.07x | |
| 52 | The Island of Dr. Moreau | John Frankenheimer | $40 million | $49.6 million | 1.24x | |
| 53 | Last Man Standing | Walter Hill | $67 million | $47.3 million | 0.71x | |
| 54 | Muppet Treasure Island | Brian Henson | $31 million | $47.2 million | 1.52x | |
| 55 | Matilda | Danny DeVito | $36 million | $47 million | 1.31x | |
| 56 | The People vs. Larry Flynt | Miloš Forman | A$20.3 million | $43 million | ||
| 57 | Escape from L.A. | John Carpenter | $50 million | $42.3 million | 0.85x | |
| 58 | The Fan | Tony Scott | $55 million | $42 million | 0.76x | |
| 59 | The Glimmer Man | John Gray | $45 million | $41.8 million | 0.93x | |
| 60 | Set It Off | F. Gary Gray | $9 million | $41.5 million | 4.61x | |
| 61 | Happy Gilmore | Dennis Dugan | $12 million | $41.4 million | 3.45x | |
| 62 | Sgt. Bilko | Jonathan Lynn | $39 million | $38 million | 0.97x | |
| 63 | Down Periscope | David S. Ward | $31 million | $37.5 million | 1.21x | |
| 64 | Emma | Douglas McGrath | $7 million | $37.3 million | 5.33x | |
| 65 | Multiplicity | Harold Ramis | $45 million | $37 million | 0.82x | |
| 66 | Fly Away Home | Carroll Ballard | $20 million | $36.5 million | 1.83x | |
| 67 | Shine | Scott Hicks | $6 million | $36 million | 6.00x | |
| 68 | Flipper | Alan Shapiro | $25 million | $35.5 million | 1.42x | |
| 69 | A Thin Line Between Love and Hate | Martin Lawrence | $8 million | $34.8 million | 4.35x | |
| 70 | That Thing You Do! | Tom Hanks | $26 million | $34.6 million | 1.33x | |
| 71 | Sling Blade | Billy Bob Thornton | $1.2 million | $34.1 million | 28.42x | |
| 72 | City Hall | Harold Becker | $40 million | $33.4 million | 0.84x | |
| 73 | Secrets & Lies | Mike Leigh | $4.5 million | $33 million | 7.33x | |
| 73 | Twelfth Night | Trevor Nunn | $5 million | $33 million | 6.60x | |
| 75 | Michael Collins | Neil Jordan | $25 million | $32.8 million | 1.31x | |
| 76 | Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco | David R. Ellis | $32.7 million | |||
| 77 | Black Sheep | Penelope Spheeris | $32.4 million | $32.4 million | 1.00x | |
| 78 | Kingpin | Peter Farrelly | $25 million | $32.2 million | 1.29x | |
| 79 | Eddie | Steve Rash | $30 million | $31.4 million | 1.05x | |
| 80 | Project Grizzly | Peter Lynch | $30 million | |||
| 80 | Marvin's Room | Jerry Zaks | $23 million | $30 million | 1.30x | |
| 82 | The Frighteners | Peter Jackson | $30 million | $29.3 million | 0.98x | |
| 83 | James and the Giant Peach | Henry Selick | $38 million | $28.9 million | 0.76x | |
| 84 | Bed of Roses | Michael Goldenberg | $27.3 million | |||
| 85 | Beautiful Girls | Ted Demme | $16 million | $27 million | 1.69x | |
| 86 | Eye for an Eye | John Schlesinger | $20 million | $26.9 million | 1.35x | |
| 87 | Harriet the Spy | Bronwen Hughes | $12 million | $26.6 million | 2.22x | |
| 88 | First Kid | David M. Evans | $15 million | $26.5 million | 1.76x | |
| 89 | In Love and War | Richard Attenborough | $25.4 million | |||
| 90 | The Crow: City of Angels | Tim Pope | $13 million | $25.3 million | 1.95x | |
| 91 | The Phantom | Simon Wincer | $50 million | $23.5 million | 0.47x | |
| 92 | Crash | David Cronenberg | $8 million | $23.2 million | 2.90x | |
| 93 | Breaking the Waves | Lars von Trier | $7.5 million | $23 million | 3.07x | |
| 94 | D3: The Mighty Ducks | Robert Lieberman | $22.9 million | |||
| 95 | Bulletproof | Ernest Dickerson | $25 million | $22.6 million | 0.90x | |
| 96 | The Chamber | James Foley | $40 million | $22.5 million | 0.56x | |
| 97 | My Fellow Americans | Peter Segal | $21.5 million | $22.3 million | 1.04x | |
| 98 | Home for the Holidays | Jodie Foster | $20 million | $22.1 million | 1.11x | |
| 99 | A Very Brady Sequel | Arlene Sanford | $15 million | $21.4 million | 1.43x | |
| 100 | High School High | Hart Bochner | $21.3 million |
Figures are shown in the currency they were reported in (Wikipedia, Wikidata or TMDB); no conversion.