The American Film Institute has given the following definitions for the top 10 genres:
- "Animation": A genre in which the film's images are primarily created by computer or hand and the characters are voiced by actors.
- "Romantic Comedy": A genre in which the development of a romance leads to comic situations.
- "Western": A genre set in the American West that embodies the spirit, the struggle and the demise of the new frontier.
- "Sports": A genre with protagonists who play athletics or other games of competition.
- "Mystery": A genre that revolves around the solution of a crime.
- "Fantasy": A genre where live-action characters inhabit imagined settings and/or experience situations that transcend the rules of the natural world.
- "Science Fiction": A genre that marries a scientific or technological premise with imaginative speculation.
- "Gangster": A genre that centers on organized crime or maverick criminals in a twentieth century setting.
- "Courtroom Drama": A genre in which a system of justice plays a critical role in the film's narrative.
- "Epic": A genre set in a cinematic interpretation of the past.