Jordan Peele Movies: Complete Guide to Every Film

Three feature films in eight years, each one a distinct horror subgenre, yet all share the same authorial DNA. Jordan Peele’s filmography is small but meticulously built, and this guide maps every film he has directed, the thematic threads that connect them, and the current status of his long-awaited fourth project.

Directed films: 3 ·
Academy Awards won: 1 ·
First feature film: Get Out (2017) ·
Most recent film: Nope (2022) ·
Box office total (directed): over $700 million

Three films, one pattern: each of Peele’s directed features operates as a standalone story while sharing a thematic DNA of social horror, spectacle, and survival.

The data below shows a director whose budgets have climbed while box-office returns have narrowed, an unusual trajectory in blockbuster horror.

What movies are directed by Jordan Peele?

Get Out (2017)

• Director, writer, producer: Jordan Peele
• Budget: $4.5 million; Box office: $255 million (Britannica)
• Won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)
• Nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)

Us (2019)

• Director, writer, producer: Jordan Peele
• Budget: $20 million; Box office: $256 million (Britannica)
• Premiered in March 2019 (Britannica)
• Themes: duality, class anxiety, America’s shadow self

Nope (2022)

• Director, writer, producer: Jordan Peele
• Budget: $68 million; Box office: $172 million (Britannica)
• Opened in July 2022 (Britannica)
• Themes: spectacle, exploitation, image-making (AP News)

The implication: Peele’s filmography is small but tightly controlled. He has not directed a film that he did not also write and produce, giving his three features a singular authorial voice rare in modern studio horror.

Which is Jordan Peele’s best movie?

Critical reception comparison

Three films, three different critical profiles. Get Out holds the highest Rotten Tomatoes score at 98%, making it one of the best-reviewed horror debuts in history (Rotten Tomatoes). Us sits at 93%, while Nope holds 83% — still strong, but reflecting a more divisive reception for Peele’s most ambitious swing.

Box office performance

• Get Out: $255 million worldwide on a $4.5 million budget — a 56x return (Britannica)
• Us: $256 million worldwide on a $20 million budget (Britannica)
• Nope: $172 million worldwide on a $68 million budget (Britannica)

Audience ratings

Audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes tell a slightly different story: Get Out at 86%, Us at 60%, and Nope at 69%. The gap between critics and audiences is widest for Us, suggesting its doppelgänger horror resonated less broadly than Get Out’s more direct social commentary.

Why this matters: Peele’s trajectory mirrors a classic indie-to-studio arc. His debut was a lean, focused social thriller. His follow-ups expanded the canvas but also the risk. For audiences, the “best” film depends on whether you value tight execution (Get Out) or bold ambition (Nope).

Is Get Out connected to Nope?

Shared universe theories

Fans have spotted potential connections: a character in Nope wears a shirt from the Get Out universe, and both films feature characters named “Jupe.” But Peele himself has been clear. In a 2022 interview with The New York Times, he said: “They are not a shared universe. They are all different stories that happen to come from the same brain.”

Common themes and motifs

• Spectacle and the act of watching: central to Nope, present in Get Out’s party scene and Us’s boardwalk
• Social control: Get Out’s hypnosis, Us’s doppelgängers, Nope’s alien predation
• Survival through wit: each protagonist wins by outsmarting the threat, not overpowering it

Direct references

Easter eggs exist — a Get Out teacup appears in Nope, and the “Sunken Place” is referenced indirectly — but these are callbacks, not continuity. Peele has described his films as “spiritual cousins” rather than a cinematic universe.

The catch: fans looking for a Marvel-style interconnected canon will be disappointed. But the thematic trilogy — social horror (Get Out), psychological horror (Us), and sci-fi horror (Nope) — forms a coherent body of work about what America is afraid to look at.

What is Jordan Peele’s next movie?

Status of the fourth film

As of early 2025, Universal Pictures removed Peele’s untitled fourth film from its October 2026 release calendar, according to Variety. The studio had initially targeted October 23, 2026, per IMDb News. No new date has been set.

Universal’s 2026 slate changes

The removal from the schedule does not necessarily mean cancellation. Studios regularly adjust release calendars. But the absence of any official statement from Universal or Peele about the film’s status leaves the project in limbo.

What is confirmed

• Peele has a first-look deal with Universal through Monkeypaw Productions
• No title, plot, or cast has been announced
• Filming has not been confirmed to have begun

The implication: Peele’s next film is in a holding pattern. For fans, the takeaway is patience — Peele has never rushed a project, and his three films to date suggest the wait is usually worth it.

What is Jordan Peele’s scariest film?

Audience reactions and scare factors

Among the three, Us is widely considered the most frightening by audiences. Its doppelgänger premise — a family confronted by their exact, murderous doubles — taps into a primal uncanny that Get Out’s social satire and Nope’s sci-fi spectacle don’t quite match. The film’s opening weekend of $71 million was the largest for an original horror film at the time (Britannica).

Critical analysis of horror elements

• Get Out: classified as a social thriller — horror comes from recognition, not jump scares
• Us: pure psychological horror — the terror is inescapable and intimate
• Nope: combines sci-fi, horror, and western elements — the horror is external and spectacular

Genre classification

Peele himself has resisted the “horror director” label, preferring “social thriller” for Get Out. But the industry and audiences have embraced his films as horror, and the genre’s awards recognition has expanded significantly since Get Out’s Best Picture nomination.

The pattern: each film uses a different horror subgenre to explore a similar question — what are we afraid to see about ourselves? For pure fright, Us wins. For unease that lingers, Get Out. For awe mixed with dread, Nope.

Why did Jordan Peele quit acting?

Transition from comedy to directing

Peele stepped back from on-screen acting after Key & Peele ended in 2015. The sketch comedy show, which ran for five seasons on Comedy Central, established him as a major comedic talent alongside Keegan-Michael Key. But Peele had already begun writing Get Out during the show’s run.

Focus on writing and producing

Through Monkeypaw Productions, Peele has produced a wide range of projects, including the 2019 reboot of The Twilight Zone, the horror film Candyman (2021), and Nope. He has said in interviews that directing gives him the creative control he values most.

Occasional voice acting roles

Peele has not entirely left acting. He voiced Bunny in Toy Story 4 (2019) and has made cameo appearances. But his focus has clearly shifted from performer to filmmaker.

The trade-off: audiences lost a talented comedic actor, but gained a director whose three films have grossed over $700 million and reshaped what horror can be about.

Timeline

• 2017: Get Out released; wins Oscar for Best Original Screenplay (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)
• 2019: Us released; breaks box office records for original horror (Britannica)
• 2022: Nope released; Peele’s third directorial feature (Britannica)
• 2024: Universal announces Peele’s fourth film for a 2026 release
• 2025: Universal removes the film from its 2026 release slate (Variety)

Confirmed facts

• Jordan Peele directed three feature films: Get Out, Us, and Nope (Britannica)
• His production company is Monkeypaw Productions
• He won an Academy Award for Get Out (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)
• Universal had planned a fourth film for 2026 (Variety)

What’s unclear

• Whether the fourth film is cancelled or delayed
• The title, plot, or cast of the next movie
• When or if the production will begin

Quotes

“They are not a shared universe. They are all different stories that happen to come from the same brain.”

— Jordan Peele, The New York Times (2022)

“Movie’s done. I’m still writing it.”

— Jordan Peele, on the creative process around Nope, AP News (2022)

For fans of modern horror, the choice is clear: watch all three films as a thematic trilogy, or risk missing the through-line that makes Peele’s work more than the sum of its scares. His next move remains uncertain, but his first three films have already secured his place as a defining voice in American cinema.

For a deeper look at his journey from sketch comedy to horror auteur, check out Jordan Peeles career and net worth.

Frequently asked questions