Ben-Hur (1959)

With many massive crowd scenes, including the crowds watching the famed chariot race, the arduous slave/prisoner march and the revolt.

Spartacus (1960)

With numerous crowd scenes, including the gladiators' freedom revolt and the large-scale battle sequences with thousands of extras, and the sight of 1,000's of men on crucifix crosses lining the road.

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

With a panoramic view of Lawrence's looting Bedouin army poised to attack a train in the desert, and other long-shots of desert battles and caravans.

The Longest Day (1962)

Darryl F. Zanuck's film re-created the Allied invasion on Normandy on D-Day in 1944. One aerial shot along the beach was unbelievable - as hundreds of soldiers ran up during the assault.

Cleopatra (1963)

The most expensive film ever made ($300 million adjusted for inflation) that featured massive crowd scenes and large scale battles.

Falstaff (1965, Sp./Switz.) (aka Chimes at Midnight, or Campanadas a Medianoche)

The Battle of Shrewsbury in this film was considered the first great battle scene of the modern era, influential on Mel Gibson's Braveheart (1995).

Ran (1985, Jp.)

Akira Kurosawa's last great film - a medieval Japanese interpretation of William Shakespeare's King Lear that featured violent, colorful large-scale battles.

The Last Emperor (1987, UK/It./China/HK)

Bernardo Bertolucci's Best Picture winner included a memorable scene in which 3-year old toddler Pu Yi (Richard Vuu) rushed out of his palace to see hundreds of obedient servant/vassals bowing before him.

Stargate (1994)

One of the last films to employ actual extras that comprised "a cast of thousands" - instead of simply using CGI to "paint" them in, as evidenced by its massive slave revolt scene.

Braveheart (1995)

A Best Picture-winner with large-scale, brutally-violent battle scenes, led by William Wallace (Mel Gibson).

Antz (1998)

This CGI animated film featured crowd scenes of up to 10,000 individual characters, including the "wrecking ball" scene comprised of hundreds of individual ants, and the Starship Trooper-ish battle scene between ants and termites.

Gladiator (2000)

Many of the large-scale crowds and battles in this film featured thousands of CGI extras to save money and time, as well as insure safety when dealing with such things as computer-generated tigers. In the arena scenes, parts of the crowd were digitally reproduced.

Winner of the Best Visual Effects Oscar.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003, US/NZ)

Peter Jackson's trilogy featured many large-scale CGI battles, including the 100,000 computer generated fighters in the prologue battle of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001). The largest and most noteworthy being the climactic battle in the pouring rain at Helm's Deep in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) (pictured).

Gangs of New York (2002)

With many brutally violent gang wars, especially the opening and closing battles between the Natives and the Dead Rabbits; also, the performance of Uncle Tom's Cabin with hundreds of booing spectators, and the protection of a church from a vengeful Bill Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis) by hundreds of women and children holding candles.

The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

In this segment of the trilogy, there was a fight scene between Neo (Keanu Reeves) and 100 Agent Smiths (Hugo Weaving), using special-effects techniques. The real Agent Smith's actions were digitially recorded and then digital (or 'cloned') humans were reproduced from different angles, indistinguishable from real humans.

I, Robot (2004)

This film featured massive crowd scenes, including the battle scene between live humans and CGI robots.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)

In the prophesied battle for Narnia, signaled by the return of the Messianic lion Aslan (voice of Liam Neeson), the forces of the evil White Witch or Queen (Tilda Swinton) (composed of ogres, dwarves, wolves and minotaurs) assembled on one side, to fight against the forces led by young Peter Pevensie (William Moseley), which were embodied by humans, centaurs, satyrs, flying wildcats, cheetahs and horses. The two forces faced each other, with Peter riding a white steed with his magical sword drawn, while the Queen vowed, in her spiky chariot drawn by polar bears: "I have no interest in prisoners, kill them all."