The Best Michael Keaton Movies (and Where to Stream Them)

Tim Burton’s iconic dark comedy from 1988 follows the story of a ghost couple whose afterlives are disrupted by a noisy living family who have moved into their house. Desperate to get rid of them, the couple (played by Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin) hire a rambunctious poltergeist named Beetlejuice (Keaton) to drive them out. Other cast members include Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, and Jeffrey Jones.

Michael Keaton was nominated for Best Actor in 2015 for his role in Birdman, in which he plays a washed-up Hollywood actor who used to play superheroes in films. In order to try and resuscitate his career and prove he’s a real artist, he decides to take on an ambitious role in a Broadway production. The film, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, also stars Edward Norton, Emma Stone, and Naomi Watts, among others.

This 1997 Quentin Tarantino crime drama is the director’s one and only adapted screenplay, based on Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard. The film tells the story of Jackie Brown (Pam Grier), a flight attendant with a criminal past. When she gets caught by law enforcement for smuggling, she has to turn into an informant while trying to survive to tell the tale. Michael Keaton plays Ray Nicolette, one of the main ATF agents working with the police.

Spotlight won the Best Picture Oscar at the 2016 Academy Awards for its depiction of the true story of the The Boston Globe journalists who investigated and broke the story of widespread and rampant sexual abuse being covered up by the Catholic Church. Michael Keaton plays Walter ‘Robby’ Robinson, the head of the team of investigative journalists.

In 1989, Michael Keaton and director Tim Burton teamed up again after Beetlejuice to make a very different movie: Batman. With Keaton in the starring role as Bruce Wayne (aka Batman), the film is one of the better Batman films to come from the late 80s/early 90s phases, and sees Batman take on Jack Nicholson's iconic Joker.

John Schlesinger’s 1990 psychological thriller Pacific Heights stars Michael Keaton as a malicious con artist who moves into a San Francisco couple’s newly bought housing complex and begins to wreak havoc on their lives. The film demonstrates Keaton’s more deranged side, allowing him to experiment with a darker role. Pacific Heights also stars Melanie Griffith and Matthew Modine.

2017’s Spider-Man addition, Homecoming, stars Tom Holland in the role of the webslinger, and Michael Keaton as the villain Adrian Toomes (aka Vulture). After Spider-Man returns home from fighting alongside the Avengers, he, under the tutelage of Tony Star (aka Iron Man) continues to hone his skills as the Spider-Man — all of which is put to the test when the evil Vulture comes on the scene.

Ron Howard’s 1994 comedy-drama The Paper sees Michael Keaton return to the newsroom as a journalist hot on the story of a police cover-up after two businessmen were found murdered. Starring Glenn Close, Marisa Tomei, Randy Quaid, and Robert Duvall, The Paper goes through the fast-paced 24 hours before the story breaks.

In this 2024 film, Michael Keaton takes on the role of director in addition to playing the main character. The film sees him play an ex contract killer who is diagnosed with rapidly deteriorating dementia. With limited time, he takes the opportunity to redeem himself when his desperate and estranged son shows up on his doorstep looking for help.

This 1982 comedy directed by Ron Howard first put Michael Keaton on the map as a comedic actor. The film stars Keaton and Henry Winkler as two night shift employees at the morgue. Keaton’s Bill is always finding ways to make some quick cash, and he convinces Winkler’s Chuck to convert the morgue into a brothel at night in order to also help out Belinda, Chuck’s sex worker neighbor.