IMDb's "Top 250"

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The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) invites its users to rate movies, then compiles a list of those with the highest average weighted rating. For a movie to appear on the list, there must be at least 1300 ratings for it given by "regular IMDb voters".

The formula for calculating the Top 250 Films gives a true Bayesian estimate:

weighted rating (WR) = (v / (v+m)) x R + (m / (v+m)) x C
where:
R = average for the movie (mean) = (Rating)
v = number of votes for the movie = (votes)
m = minimum votes required to be listed in the Top 250 (currently 1300)
C = the mean vote across the whole report (currently 6.8)

The list is restricted to theatrical releases; it does not include shorts, TV movies, straight-to-video releases, TV series or miniseries, or any documentaries. For the IMDB top 50 documentaries, see http://www.listsofbests.com/list/11635

For items ranked 251-500 at the IMDb, check out the Bubbling Under List: http://www.listsofbests.com/list/51302

For Archived Lists from January 1st of each year:
2001 Edition: http://www.listsofbests.com/list/68693
2002 Edition: http://www.listsofbests.com/list/68692
2003 Edition: http://www.listsofbests.com/list/68672
2004 Edition: http://www.listsofbests.com/list/68297
2005 Edition: http://www.listsofbests.com/list/68131
2006 Edition: http://www.listsofbests.com/list/67184
2007 Edition: http://www.listsofbests.com/list/67192
2008 Edition: http://www.listsofbests.com/list/67199
2009 Edition: http://www.listsofbests.com/list/67202
Current List: http://www.listsofbests.com/list/1004

(Last update: December 8th, 2009)

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  1. 1.
    The Shawshank Redemption (Two-Disc Special Edition)
    by Frank Darabont

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  2. 2.
    The Godfather (Widescreen Edition)
    by Francis Ford Coppola

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  3. 3.
    The Godfather, Part II (Two-Disc Widescreen Edition)
    by Francis Ford Coppola

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  4. 4.
    The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
    by Sergio Leone

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  5. 5.
    Pulp Fiction

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  6. 6.
    Schindler's List (Widescreen Edition)
    by Steven Spielberg

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  7. 7.
    One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
    by Milos Forman

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  8. 8.
    12 Angry Men
    by Sidney Lumet

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  9. 9.
    The Dark Knight
    by Christopher Nolan

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  10. 10.

  11. 12.
    Casablanca
    by Michael Curtiz

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  12. 13.
    Star Wars, Episode IV- A New Hope (Widescreen Edition)
    by George Lucas

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  13. 14.
    Goodfellas (Two-Disc Special Edition)
    by Martin Scorsese

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  14. 15.
    Seven Samurai - Criterion Collection
    by Akira Kurosawa

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  15. 16.
    City of God
    by Fernando Meirelles

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  16. 17.
    Fight Club (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
    by David Fincher

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  17. 19.
    Rear Window (Collector's Edition)

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  18. 21.
    The Usual Suspects (Special Edition)
    by Bryan Singer

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  19. 22.
    Psycho (Collector's Edition)

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  20. 23.
    Once Upon a Time in the West
    by Sergio Leone

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  21. 24.
    The Silence of the Lambs - Criterion Collection
    by Jonathan Demme

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  22. 25.
    The Matrix
    by Larry Wachowski

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  23. 26.
    Memento

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  24. 27.
    Seven (New Line Platinum Series)
    by David Fincher

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  25. 30.
    It's a Wonderful Life
    by Frank Capra

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  26. 31.
    Sunset Boulevard (Special Collector's Edition)
    by Billy Wilder

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  27. 32.
    Citizen Kane
    by Orson Welles

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  28. 33.
    North by Northwest

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  29. 34.
    Leon - The Professional (Uncut International Version)
    by Luc Besson

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  30. 35.
    Apocalypse Now

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  31. 36.
    American Beauty

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  32. 37.
    American History X
    by Tony Kaye

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  33. 39.
    Taxi Driver

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  34. 40.
    Vertigo (Collector's Edition)

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  35. 41.

  36. 42.
    Wall-E

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  37. 43.
    Amelie
    by Jean-Pierre Jeunet

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  38. 44.
    Terminator 2: Judgment Day
    by James Cameron

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  39. 45.
    Alien
    by Ridley Scott

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  40. 46.
    Saving Private Ryan
    by Steven Spielberg

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  41. 47.
    A Clockwork Orange
    by Stanley Kubrick

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  42. 48.
    The Shining
    by Stanley Kubrick

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  43. 49.
    The Departed (Widescreen Edition)
    by Martin Scorsese

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  44. 50.
    Paths of Glory
    by Stanley Kubrick

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This is a community list. You can contribute, edit, or help maintain it by adding it to your lists.
Created by fox woods on Mar 18, 2006.
 

Comments

Pages: Pages: 1 3 4 5 6

Update...IMDB 251-500 — 1 week ago

Can anyone who has access to IMDB Pro update the “IMDB250-Bubbling under” list? Thanks very much!!!1


Updated 26 November 2009 — 2 weeks ago

No new entries.


Updated 11-1-09 — 6 weeks ago

I updated the last 25 movies or so since some were missing or out of order. I didn’t check the rest of the list.


October 30, 2009 — 6 weeks ago

New update. The biggest changes I noticed were that most silent movies jumped about 10 spots, and anime movies also went up.


Updated 9-30-09 — 10 weeks ago

List has been updated :)


Freshly updated — 19 weeks ago

List is now up-to-date.


updated 6.17.09 — 25 weeks ago

I also updated the section where it said how the top 250 is calculated. You can’t see this on normal imdb but you can with imdbpro.


Untitled — 28 weeks ago

This is a pretty good list. This helps you get a good understanding of film classic and current. It also has a nice selection of foreign classics. Its cool that it is so dynamic because if you finish with it soon you will be able to watch more, with the new additions and all. Plus there’s the Bubbling Under List on IMDB pro, won’t even get into that!


Rachael
UmeƄ

60% so far — 29 weeks ago

I’m watching almost a film from here a day, sometimes more than one. Most so far have been good, only a few have disappointed. And there are a couple I’m leaving to the very end, as they are in a genre I’m not fond of (mainly, horror).


Completed! — 31 weeks ago

Finally finished watching all the movies in IMDB 250 as of May 3rd. Of course, this list changes frequently with new movies entering the list all the time. Nevertheless, feel very happy & satisfied that at a point in time, i have watched all the movies in the list.



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