The Easter egg hunt holds a place in our collective hearts and minds from early childhood, when we spent Easter Sunday painting eggs before setting out, basket in hand, to dig up these magic orbs that our parents hid in fairly obvious places. Similarly, films have always capitalized on our intrepid urge to find hidden things since movie serials like Buck Rogers and the swashbuckling pirate films of the 1930s. These films inspired later filmmakers like George Lucas and Steven Spielberg to incorporate treasure hunts into modern filmmaking with movies like the Indiana Jones films. Sometimes the pot of gold at the end of these filmic rainbows has been a big bag of money, while other times an escaped culprit or clandestine character has been the protagonist's main egg-hunt-like pursuit.

At their best, these types of films string together a series of clues, spread across a large geographic expanse, enabling directors to guide us through different worlds while keeping us on the edge of our seats. These films provide entertainment in its purest form, eschewing heavy-handed plots for a more experiential moviegoing adventure, tapping into our childlike love of cinema. While these films can be somewhat cerebral, their onus is focused squarely on putting their audiences directly into the protagonists' shoes and hitching a ride in search of fame, fortune and glory while successively securing one egg after another.

The following are the greatest virtual Easter egg hunts in film history.

20 The Da Vinci Code

Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou in The Da Vinci Code
Sony Pictures Releasing

Ron Howard's adaptation of Dan Brown's uber-bestselling novel, The Da Vinci Code saw the culmination of a highly-anticipated film coming to fruition, utilizing Tom Hanks as protagonist Robert Langdon, who guides us through a series of highfalutin Renaissance art-based egg hunts. The book and film make maximal use of anagram decoding, riddle solving, and revisionist religious history which, despite a lack of any real world grounding or factuality create a supremely satisfying watching experience. The film guides us through many a hiding place, touring through some lovely historical architecture and doing well to distract us from Tom Hanks' weird long hair.

Related: Tom Hanks' Best Comedies, Ranked

19 Ad Astra

James Gray's Ad Astra starring Brad Pitt
20th Century Fox

The Brad Pitt rocket-driven tour de space, Ad Astra, sees his protagonist Major Roy McBride on an egg hunt of sorts to find his cosmonaut father Clifford (Tommy Lee Jones), who is dead set (literally) on using some deep space nukes to threaten our planet, much to the chagrin of company man Roy. Pitt tightrope walks from one spaceship to another, and the lunar rover chase scene is one of the best space action sequences ever put on film. While we generally prefer our egg hunts to yield something more exciting than a curmudgeonly Tommy Lee Jones, the anticipation and resolution in the film does well to keep us engaged.

18 Die Hard With a Vengeance

Samuel L Jackson and Bruce Willis in Die Hard With a Vengeance
20th Century Fox

No director does cat and mouse better than John McTiernan, whose involvement in the famous Anthony Pellicano case (the basis of Ray Donovan) saw the director eventually serve jail time. Before that anti-climactic end to his career, he made some highly climactic movies, including Die Hard With a Vengeance, which saw evil Simon Peter-Gruber (Jeremy Irons) lead the dynamic duo of John McLain (Bruce Willis) and Zeus Carver (Samuel L. Jackson) on an action packed egg hunt through New York City's parks and subways. The protagonists search for a series of bombs that could only be found by unraveling the supervillain's riddles, and the duo does well to incite mayhem along the way, dropping one sarcastic one-liner after another as they guide us through the long chase.

17 Uncharted

A scene from Uncharted
Sony Pictures Releasing

Loved by audiences and derided by critics, Uncharted was another action-comedy with a dynamic duo, this time seeing Nate (Tom Holland) and Sully (Mark Wahlberg) hunting down Magellan's fabled treasure. The film follows the twosome through auction heists and tomb raids, stealing one Easter egg after another as they battle Santiago (Antonio Banderas) for all the treasure hunting glory. The movie is low on substance and heavy on green screen, which is all we truly want out of a film like this, which tips its hat to everything from Indiana Jones films to The Goonies, including all the necessary relics and Nazi maps to give us all the dubious historical tie-ins that have become an earmark of hidden treasure films.

16 Three Kings

Three Kings David O Russell movie
Warner Bros.

Three Kings was, in retrospect, a meeting of the minds. Drawing together Oscar-nominated director David O. Russell and Oscar-winning screenwriter John Ridley, the film also assembled a star-studded cast including George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube, and even featured director Spike Jonze in his funniest acting role. The film brought the egg hunt to the Kuwaiti desert, as the disenfranchised soldiers go on a wild goose chase to track down Saddam Hussein's gold. Apparently there were one too many egos on the set, as Russell and Clooney at one point came to blows while making the super-satisfying film.

15 Da 5 Bloods

Da 5 Bloods
Netflix

Spike Lee took a brief sojourn into war films with Da 5 Bloods, a story about Vietnam vets who return to the country to unearth their fallen comrade's remains (and a hidden treasure to boot). Chadwick Boseman gives one of his final performances as "Stormin" Norman Earl Holloway, the deceased soldier in question brought to life through flashbacks, and spiritually guides the ragtag crew of aging servicemen through a dicey series of tests as they attempt to unearth their buried booty.

14 Tracker

temuera-morrison-tracker
Kaleidoscope Entertainment

Sometimes the filmic Easter egg in question is an absconded man, as in the Ray Winstone-helmed film, Tracker. Winstone, playing Afrikaner commando Arjan, gets enlisted to track a Maori whaler named Kereama (Temuera Morrison) through the New Zealand countryside, while shifting allegiances see the plot twist and turn. The historical tie-ins ground the film, creating an enlightening platform relating to the Boer War, but the cut-and-dry manhunt provides the movie's most exciting moments.

13 Ready Player One

Ready Player One
Warner Bros. Pictures

Ready Player One was Steven Spielberg's first foray into gaming, creating a futuristic world where most of humanity has abandoned their real-world lives to inhabit VR gaming platforms from the comfort of their favela-like cubbie-holes. Spielberg incorporated pop-culture movie references to everything from The Shining to Back to the Future, while attempting to bring gamers back into movie theaters. The director included all the power-ups and big bosses of a real-life video game, creating an egg hunt to mimic the experiential enjoyment of gaming. While the movie was a financial success, Spielberg was fighting a losing battle, as theatrical film releases have continued to sag in proportion to the burgeoning video game industry.

12 Zodiac

Robert Downey Jr. and Jake Gyllenhaal in Zodiac (2007)
Paramount Pictures

The master of the psychological thriller, director David Fincher used his film Zodiac to tell the story of Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.), two journalists sifting through the Easter eggs left behind by the Zodiac killer. As the Zodiac haunts one lover's lane after another, the newspapermen unlock his cyphers and riddles to uncover his identity, championing the intellects of these men over the feeble attempts of John Law. The film taps into the audience's love of word game and clues, creating a satisfying experience as Graysmith, a humble cartoonist with loftier ambitions, becomes the key to the killer's capture.

11 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Indiana Jones And the Last Crusade- Tank Scene
Paramount Pictures

Another Steven Spielberg egg hunt, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade taps into historical content from the Crusades to Arthurian conquests, leaving Indy a trail of bread crumbs to discover the Holy Grail. Two incredible casting choices, Sean Connery as Indy's father and the gone-too-soon River Phoenix, burgeon the film with some of the greatest slapstick of the mega-franchise, creating the most lovable entry as Indy again battles fascists to claim history's greatest Easter egg, the Grail cup that grants eternal life. Indy utilizes his penitence and vast historical knowledge to outsmart booby traps with the aid of his father, as the love/hate relationship between the two characters provides the film's many comedic highlights.

10 Romancing the Stone

Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner in Romancing the Stone
20th Century Fox

Before becoming famous for psycho-sexual thrillers like Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct, Michael Douglas took his turn as action hero in Romancing the Stone, a Robert Zemeckis film that seemed intent on capitalizing on an audience created by the Indiana Jones franchise. In this case the egg hunt pursues El Corazon, a large emerald hidden in the jungles of Colombia. Douglas plays opposite a very feisty Kathleen Turner, as the two bicker and banter their way through this adventure before inevitably falling in love.

9 O Brother, Where Art Thou

George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake in O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Buena Vista Pictures

The Coen Brothers loose adaptation of The Odyssey, by Homer sees George Clooney lead a ragtag crew of escaped convicts through the wheat fields and swamps of rural Mississippi in O Brother, Where Art Thou, dragging their shackles along as they seek hidden treasure and elude capture by the authorities. The film references everything from Cool Hand Luke to the famous Homerian poem, creating modern personifications of Cyclopses and Sirens, as the trio of escapees somehow manage to record a chart-topping hit song as they evade the Coppers. The rollicking film gradually becomes an American epic, incorporating Robert Johnson's deal with the Devil and a harsh eye towards the Southern aristocracy as the lovably bumbling convicts pursue fame and fortune.

Related: The 10 Most Underrated Movies from the Coen Brothers

8 Inception

Elliot Page And Leonardo DiCaprio in Inception
Warner Bros. Pictures

Sometimes a film features an egg hunt inside one's dreams, as in Christopher Nolan's brain-bending thriller Inception. The film sees Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb, a forlorn widower who inhabits dreams to commit corporate espionage and spend time with his deceased wife in his subconscious. The film's dreams-within-dreams create a physical world inside of the mind, and create a platform for the other-worldly special effects that have become Nolan's calling card. The film takes the concept of intellectual property to new heights (and depths) as Leo "drops" deeper into the mind to evade dream stealers and cope with his own personal loss.

7 The Fugitive

Ford in The Fugitive
Warner Bros. 

Andrew Davis' adaptation of the 1960s television series, The Fugitive sees Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) on an egg hunt to solve his wife's murder and track down a one-armed murderer. Tommy Lee Jones gives one of his greatest performances U.S. Marshall Sam Gerard, which secured for him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and saw him chasing the fugitive through tunnels and over waterfalls. The dueling manhunts create a web of alliances and deceit, as Kimble chases one clue after another and Gerard chases him.

6 The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Produzioni Europee Associate

Sergio Leone's strongest Spaghetti Western, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly brings a treasure hunt into the Western genre, as Clint Eastwood's "Man With No Name" leads a cat and mouse game through the Civil War-era Old West. The three characters named in the title respectively pursue the hidden Confederate gold to the beat of Ennio Morricone's epic score, with Eli Wallach giving a hilariously bumbling performance as The Ugly. The film's colorful tricksters and garish gunfights create a pleasureful watching experience, distracting from the hastily-dubbed dialogue of the Italian film, as Eastwood gives his most memorable performance in a career full of them.

5 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre with Humphrey Bogart
Warner Bros.

A collaborative effort by father-son duo Walter and John Huston, who respectively wrote and directed the film, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is another Western treasure hunt, as the long-faced Humphrey Bogart exacts revenge on his oil-rig foreman who makes off with his wages. With his reclaimed funds and the help of a winning lottery ticket, Bogey garnishes gear and goes prospecting, battling Mexican Federales and enlisting the help of some local indios to secure a treasure beyond his wildest dreams.

4 The Goonies

A scene from The Goonies 1985
Warner Bros.

The Goonies remains near and dear to the heart of any 80s baby, as the film stays memorable for one of the greatest child-ensemble casts ever to be assembled, as the pre-pubescent crew follow Chester Copperpots footsteps on a virtual egghunt to find One-Eyed Willy's magical ship and hidden treasure.The recent passing of director Richard Donner and Ke Huy Quan's comeback Oscar triumph were a nostalgic reminder of the adventure film, which seems to only gain in popularity with every passing year. Through the use of slick shoes, truffle shuffles and the aid of the lovably grotesque ogre Sloth, the ragtag crew of kids make their way through one booby trap after another, as the evil Fratelli's remain in hot pursuit. The film provided us all with some much-needed life lessons about greed, bullying and how never to judge a book by its cover, as the repulsive Sloth becomes The Goonies' greatest ally in their quest to save Mikey's parent's home from foreclosure.

3 Monty Python and the Holy Grail

A group of knights in various armors, all looking at something with confused faces.
EMI Films

The crown jewel of the British comedy troupe's epic 70s films, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, sees the Knights of the Round Table on a sidesplitting quest to find one of film history's favorite Easter eggs, the Grail chalice. As they battle the annoying Knights Who Say "Ni!" and debate the provenance of coconuts, the semi-moronic Knights and squires guide us through one laughable conquest after another, burgeoning the Arthurian legend with its greatest absurdist entry. The funnest of fun facts about the epic comedy, revealed by Python Eric Idle in a much-shared tweet, is that the film was actually financed by some of Britain's greatest musical talents of the 70s, including Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Sir Elton John.

2 Raiders of the Lost Ark

Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in a scene from Temple of Doom
Paramount Pictures

In the late 70s, as Steven Spielberg was fresh off the success of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the director appealed to his friend George Lucas for advice about his next project, with the director considering a James Bond film. Lucas had a better idea, presenting Spielberg with the opportunity to direct his script for a character named Indiana Smith. Spielberg signed on, the name of the lead character was changed to Indiana Jones, and the rest was history as Raiders of the Lost Ark​​​​​​ created a franchise that appealed to all of our egg hunting desires. In this case Indy sought to uncover the Ark of the Covenant, battling rival archaeologist René Belloq to beat the Nazis to the punch. Belloq met a face-melting end as Indy, despite not securing this particular Easter egg, did manage to get the girl, the rambunctious Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), who matched wits with Indy along this epic treasure hunt.​

1 National Treasure

A scene from National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

If we're speaking purely in egg hunting terms, no film gives a greater experiential enjoyment of the film trope than National Treasure, which saw Jerry Bruckheimer bring his most enjoyably-produced film to the fore for Disney. Nicolas Cage plays treasure hunter and cryptologist Benjamin Franklin Gates, who guides us through a lesson in American history, replete with cyphers, riddles and masonic marvels as he tightrope walks through an obstacle course left behind by our nation's forefathers. None of this is possible without first securing the map inscribed on the back of the Declaration of Independence, and the historical heist kicks off an adventure that sees Cage at his best.