Channing Tatum, a natural athlete who found that college was not to his liking, moved to Tampa in his teens to work construction and found an outside gig as a male stripper at night. To Tatum’s credit, he never denied his stripping gig but instead turned it into artistic gold (years after he became an actor) with a hit franchise you may have heard about: “Magic Mike” (2012), “Magic Mike XXL” (2015) and “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” (2023).
After being discovered by a talent scout, Tatum started his career with small movie parts until he snagged the lead in “Step Up,” (2006), a successful dance/romance mash-up. Tatum’s looks and athleticism, as well as his dancing and acting skills attracted casting directors, who began to place him in bigger and bigger films.
With Tatum’s skills, that led to films with better and better directors, a list that any actor would envy — Michael Mann (“Public Enemies”), Lasse Hallström (“Dear John”), Quentin Tarantino (“The Hateful Eight”), the Coen Brothers (“Hail, Caesar!”), Bennett Miller (“Foxcatcher”), Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (the “21 Jump Street” series). His primary collaborator has been Steven Soderbergh, who directed Tatum in five films.
Although Tatum has yet to be nominated for an Academy Award, he has been a mighty force in a pair of Oscar-nominated films and will undoubtedly be for some time to come. In our gallery below, we have listed the 15 best Channing Tatum movies ranked. Take a tour and see if you agree with which ones are the greatest and which ones are the worst. Gallery originally published September 2017.
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15. G.I. JOE series (2009, 2013)
Image Credit: Skydance Productions/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directors: Stephen Sommers (“Rise of Cobra”), John Chu (“Retaliation”). Writers: Stuart Beattie, David Elliott, Paul Lovett (“Rise of Cobra”); Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick (“Retaliation”). Starring Channing Tatum, Ray Park, Jonathan Pryce, Byung-hun Lee.
Tatum established his action bona fides in this two-film series (2009’s “The Rise of Cobra” and 2013’s “Retaliation”) designed in large part to stimulate sales of Hasbro Toys’ “G.I. Joe” series. Given the amount of action in both films, the ploy might very well have worked have worked among the young male set. In both films, Tatum plays Duke, an archetypal macho male hero — he’s all into black leather clothes and a motorcycles — who seems to be drawn into some nonsensical plot about a madman who is acquiring nuclear warheads and is threatening to blow up a city unless his mad demands are met. You know, the usual. While both films provide Tatum precious little opportunity to display his acting chops, if Tatum’s goal in choosing these films was to become an action movie star…well, mission accomplished.
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14. STEP UP series (2006, 2008)
Image Credit: Phillip Caruso/Touchstone/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directors: Anne Fletcher (“Step Up”), John Chu (“Step Up 2”); Writers: Duane Adler, Melissa Rosenberg (“Step Up), Toni Ann Johnson, Karen Barna. Starring Channing Tatum.
Besides his athletic prowess, amply displayed in the “G.I. Joe,” Tatum is also famed for his ability to dance, given that he made a living as a “male exotic dancer” in Tampa (an experience he later used artfully in the “Magic Mike” films). The premise to 2006’s “Step Up” (and its 2008 sequel “Step Up 2: The Streets”) is almost irresistible — boy from the wrong side of the tracks (Tatum) meets a classically-trained dancer (Jenna Dewan, who is now in real-life Mrs, Tatum), and when her dance partner injures himself while training for their senior, the bad boy steps in to show his moves. “Step Up” proved to be Tatum’s breakthrough film, prompting audiences (and casting directors) to notice that not only can this good-looking kid dance, but he can act, too! And a career was born.
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13. A GUIDE TO RECOGNIZING YOUR SAINTS (2006)
Image Credit: Walter Thompson/First Look Media/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Writer/Director: Dito Montiel. Starring Robert Downey, Jr., Shia LaBeouf, Rosario Dawson, Eric Roberts, Channing Tatum.
Based on a 2001 memoir by author Dito Montiel, who also wrote and directed the film adaptation, “A Guide” centers on Dito’s childhood in 1986 growing up in Astoria, Queens. When, in present day, the adult Dito (Robert Downey, Jr.) learns that his seriously-ill father Monty (Chazz Palmenteri), really wants little to do with him, he still wants to reconcile with him back in Queens. There, Dito has reminiscences about when young Dito (Shia LeBeouf) met with all kinds of kids — his grilfriend Laurie (Melanie Diaz as a teen, Rosario Dawson as an adult) and hothead Antonio (Tatum as a teen and Eric Roberts as an adult). “A Guide” made the rounds of the better film festivals, providing Tatum his first real taste of critical support.
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12. PUBLIC ENEMIES (2009)
Image Credit: Forward Pass/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Michael Mann. Writers: Ronan Bennett, Ann Biderman, Michael Mann. Starring Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, Billy Crudup, Channing Tatum.
Tatum made a big splash early in the Michael Mann mobster saga as legendary gangster Pretty Boy Floyd, machine gun in hand, being chased through a grove by celebrated lawman Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale), and when he is finally cut down by Purvis’ rifle, with his dying breath, he insists on being called Charles rather than “Pretty Boy.” It’s a great death scene, and Tatum makes the most of it. Thanks to Tatum, Floyd’s lack of vanity, insisting on being called by his given name, rather than his popular nickname, offers a brief but telling insight into the gangster’s character.
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11. DEAR JOHN (2010)
Image Credit: Relativity Media/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Lasse Hallström. Writer: Jamie Linden. Starring Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried, Richard Jenkins.
Hallström’s hit film was a key building block in creating the image of Tatum as a romantic heartthrob, a significant part of his public persona. Based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks, Tatum plays John Tyree, a soldier who, on leave, meets a young woman, Savannah Lynn Curtis (Amanda Seyfried), a college student on spring break, who stirs something in him, and the pair soon fall in love. But a casual remark turns into a major disagreement and eventually a break-up, just before John is deployed. Yet they keep up a correspondence via letters, even as Savannah marries someone else. Though the film did not received glowing reviews, moviegoers responded and helped Tatum to become the romantic icon that he is today.
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10. MAGIC MIKE’S LAST DANCE (2023)
Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures Director: Steven Soderbergh. Writer: Reid Carolin. Starring Channing Tatum, Salma Hayek Pinault, Ayub Khan Din, Jemelia George, Juliette Motamed, Vicki Pepperdine.
One distinguishing characteristic of the “Magic Mike” trilogy is that, unlike many sequels that simply remake the first film, each “Mike” film offers a very different focus on just who is touched by his dance. In the first film, it’s men; the second, women; and here, it’s one couple — Mike (Tatum) and the wealthy Maxandra Mendoza (Salma Hayek Pinault) who whisks Mike off to London to bankroll his dancing dream and winds up losing her heart instead. By now, Tatum could have easily just danced through the role without much effort, but here, he’s adds new layers as a man realizes that his best dancing days may be behind him but will anything for that one last dance.
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9. THE HATEFUL EIGHT (2015)
Image Credit: Snap Stills/REX/Shutterstock Writer/Director: Quentin Tarantino. Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Channing Tatum.
In Quentin Tarantino’s Western bloodbath, Tatum plays bad guy Jody Domergue, brother of Daisy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and he is trying to rescue his fugitive sister from being turned in for a bounty by John Ruth (Kurt Russell). During a blizzard, a stagecoach containing Ruth and Daisy, among others, stops for shelter in a hat store, where Jody is hiding in the cellar, ready to spring into action to save his sister. “The Hateful Eight” marked Tatum’s first collaboration with Tarantino, and based on his performance in the film, Tatum seems to have fit into the Tarantino universe just fine.
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8. DOG (2022)
Image Credit: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Directors: Channing Tatum, Reid Carolin. Writer: Reid Carolin. Starring Channing Tatum, Jane Adams, Kevin Nash, Q’orianka Kilcher, Ethan Suplee.
This 2022 road movie marked Tatum’s return to lead roles after five years and also marked his first time behind the scenes as a film’s co-director. Tatum plays Briggs, a former Army ranger suffering from a brain injury and ongoing PTSD. When his best friend is killed in an accident, Jackson is ordered to escort the dead man’s dog to the funeral service in Arizona, a trip that will provide Briggs with opportunity for Briggs to find genuine emotional peace. Tatum’s direction is solid, and though he gives a first-rate performance that’s both funny and quite touching, it almost impossible for any actor not to be upstaged by that fabulous canine.
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7. LOGAN LUCKY (2017)
Image Credit: C Barius/Trans Radial/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Steven Soderberg. Writer: “Rebecca Blunt.” Starring Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Seth MacFarlane, Riley Keough, and introducing Daniel Craig as “Joe Bang.”
Director Steven Soderbergh’s self-imposed “retirement” from directing movies lasted all of four years, but it’s striking that the movie with which he chose to mark his return to film directing was yet another caper movie, this one a down-home version of his “Ocean”s series of capers. Divorced blue-collar construction worker Jimmy Logan (Tatum) is having a hard time — he is laid off from his job working on a NASCAR track and his ex-wife (Katie Holmes) is moving far away, making it practically difficult for Jimmy to see his daughter Sadie (Farrah Mackenzie). Strapped for cash, he comes up with a plan to rob the NASCAR stadium with the help of his one-armed brother Clyde (Adam Driver) and imprisoned safecracker Joe Bang (an outrageous Daniel Craig). The entire film is absolute nonsense, but, as always with Soderbergh, it’s impeccably directed.
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6. HAIL, CAESAR! (2016)
Image Credit: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock Writers/Directors: Joel and Ethan Coen. Starring Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Channing Tatum, Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes, Scarlett Johansson.
The Coen Brothers’ criminally underrated Hollywood comedy offers a series of genre highlights from the golden days of the medium, but the biggest and best is a tap number by Tatum in the style of Gene Kelly. Tatum plays Burt Gurney, a seemingly naive song-and-dance man who leads a huge production number of sailors who are deprived of women in a bar and are forced to dance with one another. And they like it. One of the things I like most about Tatum is his comfort in homoerotic situations, and between this film and his “Magic Mike” series, he is a stellar example of straight actors who are unafraid to mix it up their sexuality onscreen.
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5. THE LOST CITY (2022)
Image Credit: Paramount Pictures Directors: Adam Nee, Aaron Nee. Writers: Oren Uziel, Dana Fox, Adam Nee, Aaron Nee. Starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Thomas Forbes-Johnson, Oscar Nunez, Brad Pitt.
Tatum and co-star Sandra Bullock displayed mad chemistry in this romantic adventure in which Bullock, as celebrated romance novelist Loretta Sage, is kidnapped by Abigail Fairfax, an eccentric billionaire (Daniel Racliffe) who believes she has the key to a treasure hidden in an island jungle. Alan (Tatum), Loretta’s lunkhead cover model, wants to prove to her that he’s as courageous as the character he portrays, so he enlists a mercenary (Brad Pitt) to pull off a daring rescue that leads to (almost) disastrous results. Tatum and Bullock have having so much fun together on screen that their spark carries over to the audience as well.
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4. MAGIC MIKE XXL (2015)
Image Credit: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock Director: Gregory Jacobs. Writer: Reid Carolin. Starring Channing Tatum, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, Kevin Nash, Jada Pinkett Smith.
Usually if the subject of a gallery is in two or more films in a series, I will take them in a group. But the focus of “Magic Mike XXL” is so different than its predecessor that it feels like a different film entirely. “Magic Mike” very much depicted the effects of a bro culture in the field of male stripping. “XXL,” on the other hand, is much more interested in the pleasure that the women who come to see them perform experience and what it means to their lives. Steven Soderbergh is no longer in the director’s chair, but the film is looks great and is smartly put together (probably because Soderbergh was the film’s editor and cinematographer). A very worthy sequel.
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3. 21 JUMP STREET series (2012, 2014)
Image Credit: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock Directors: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller. Writers: Michael Bacall (“21 Jump Street”), Michael Bacall, Oren Uziel, Rodney Rothman (“22 Jump Street”). Starring Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Ice Cube, Nick Offerman.
The “Jump Street” series offered a stellar opportunity for Tatum to show off his impressive physical and comedy skills. The Lord/Miller directing approach as been extremely self-referential in films such as “The LEGO Movie,” so in “21,” they decide to take the slightly ridiculous premise of the Johnny Depp TV show (cop goes undercover as a high school student) and make it even more unbelievable by casting the even older Tatum and Hill in those roles. And when they try the same premise in “22,” casting them as undercover college students, it worked again. Arguably, the series marks Tatum’s best comedic work to date.
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2. FOXCATCHER (2014)
Image Credit: Scott Garfield/Annapurna/Likely Story/Media Rights Capital/Sony Worldwide/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Bennett Miller. Writers: E. Max Frye, Dan Futterman. Starring Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, Vanessa Redgrave.
As Tatum’s career began to thrive doing lighter and lighter fare, he surprisingly took on this dark 2014 real-life historical drama as 1984 U.S. Olympic Gold Medal winner Mark Schultz, joined by his fellow Gold Medalist, his older brother Dave (Mark Ruffalo), in being lured into the world of philanthropist John E. DuPont (Steve Carell), who hopes to recruit the Olympians to train at his newly-built private wrestling facility. Du Pont’s offer has the effect of quickly driving the previously-close brothers apart, resulting in anger, resentment and eventually murder. “Foxcatcher” is one of the most highly-regarded films of Tatum’s career, earning five Academy Award nominations.
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1. MAGIC MIKE (2012)
Image Credit: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock Director: Steven Soderbergh. Writer: Reid Carolin. Starring Channing Tatum, Matthew McConaughey, Matt Bomer, Alex Pettyfer, Olivia Munn, Joe Manganiello.
Tatum’s past includes being a male stripper in Tampa when he was younger, but instead of denying it or trying to play it down, Tatum did the smart thing and shined a spotlight on it. What’s more, he enlisted the support of his frequent collaborator Steven Soderbergh to direct, edit and photograph this tale of a group of male Tampa strippers working in a club for ambitious owner Dallas (Matthew McConaughey). Soderbergh’s behind-the-scenes look at male bonding in a most unusual situation garnered critical plaudits and was hugely profitable at the box-office, earning over $167 million world-wide on an investment of only $7 million. Channing Tatum got the last laugh, after all.
