B-movie

American  

[bee-moo-vee] / ˈbiˌmu vi /

noun

1. a low-budget movie made especially to accompany a major feature film on a double bill.

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B-movie British  

noun

1. a film originally made (esp in Hollywood in the 1940s and 50s) as a supporting film, now often considered as a genre in its own right

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Etymology

Origin of B-movie

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

B-movie

Though Jason and his Argonauts get top billing in the 1963 B-movie classic, it’s Ray Harryhausen’s sword-wielding troop of the undead that steal the show.

From Salon ● Sep. 4, 2026

The next likely contender for the award is “The Lost Boys,” a spectacle-heavy, bloated stage version of the B-movie from the 1980s about young vampires marauding in a California beach town.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026

A re-recorded Rock Lobster became a minor hit, followed by similarly danceable, subtly transgressive, B-movie party classics like Dance This Mess Around, Give Me Back My Man and Mesopotamia.

From BBC ● Mar. 17, 2026

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II plays Simon Williams, who as a child became a fan of a B-movie superhero called Wonder Man — not a “real” superhero, in this reality, merely a fiction.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 26, 2026

‘It makes you look like an alien in a B-movie.’

From "The London Eye Mystery" by Siobhan Dowd