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. 101.
    Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Special Edition)
    by Steven Spielberg

    Drag me to re-order


  2. 102.
    Batman Begins
    by Christopher Nolan

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  3. 105.

  4. 106.

  5. 107.
    The Bicycle Thief
    by Vittorio De Sica

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  6. 108.
    Hotel Rwanda
    by Terry George

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  7. 109.
    Blade Runner (The Director's Cut)
    by Ridley Scott

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  8. 110.
    No Country for Old Men
    by Ethan Coen

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  9. 111.
    Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
    by Frank Capra

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  10. 112.

  11. 114.
    Die Hard (Five Star Collection)
    by John McTiernan

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  12. 115.
    The Seventh Seal - Criterion Collection
    by Ingmar Bergman

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  13. 116.
    Oldboy
    by Chan-wook Park

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  14. 117.
    Fargo
    by Joel Coen

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  15. 118.
    The Wizard of Oz
    by Victor Fleming

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  16. 119.
    Princess Mononoke

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  17. 120.
    Strangers on a Train

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  18. 121.
    For A Few Dollars More

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  19. 122.
    The Wrestler

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  20. 123.
    Heat
    by Michael Mann

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  21. 124.
    Donnie Darko
    by Richard Kelly (II)

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  22. 125.
    Cool Hand Luke
    by Stuart Rosenberg

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  23. 126.
    High Noon (Collector's Edition)
    by Fred Zinnemann

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  24. 127.
    There Will be Blood

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  25. 128.
    The Manchurian Candidate
    by John Frankenheimer

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  26. 129.
    Notorious - Criterion Collection

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  27. 131.
    Annie Hall

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  28. 132.
    The Deer Hunter
    by Michael Cimino

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  29. 133.
    Kill Bill, Volume 1
    by Quentin Tarantino

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  30. 134.
    Platoon (Special Edition)

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  31. 135.
    The Big Sleep (Snap case)
    by Howard Hawks

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  32. 136.
    Ben-Hur
    by William Wyler

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  33. 137.
    Star Trek
    by J.J. Abrams

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  34. 138.
    The General
    by Clyde Bruckman

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  35. 139.
    Snatch (Special Edition)

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  36. 140.
    Into the Wild
    by Sean Penn

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  37. 141.
    Million Dollar Baby

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  38. 142.
    The Big Lebowski
    by Joel Coen

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  39. 143.
    Yojimbo - Criterion Collection
    by Akira Kurosawa

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  40. 144.
    Ran (Masterworks Edition)
    by Akira Kurosawa

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  41. 145.
    It Happened One Night
    by Frank Capra

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  42. 146.
    The Bourne Ultimatum
    by Paul Greengrass

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  43. 147.
    Life of Brian

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  44. 148.
    Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Special Edition)
    by George Roy Hill

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  45. 149.
    Finding Nemo (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
    by Andrew Stanton

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  46. 150.
    Wild Strawberries - Criterion Collection
    by Ingmar Bergman

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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

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James
Okayama

Finished. — 1 year ago

This was a satisfying list to complete (at least until it changes again). It was definitely worth doing as I got to see a lot of movies I would otherwise have ignored.

Although many of my favorite movies are missing, there are a many great movies here (and a few that I’d prefer to move to my “bottom 250” list).


hecate_dracul
Jacksonville

Updated — 1 year ago

Updated to the newest list. Removed “Franny and Alexander”, added “Inherit the Wind”.


Update — 1 year ago

Updated the list yet again, and finally replaced the posters of TDK and Iron Man with their respective DVDs.


Update — 1 year ago

I just updated this list, and replaced the picture for The Dark Knight with the official poster.


TDK — 1 year ago

Someone just couldn’t wait to show The Dark Knight as #1. I wonder how long that will last. The 9.5 rating can’t sustain itself. Even ‘The Godfather’ and ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ can only maintain a 9.1 rating!


Update — 1 year ago

I updated the list as of today’s date (July 8th, 2008). I originally was just trying to get the 250th film on there as only 249 were listed, then I realized there were much more updates that needed to be made, especially once you get to the last 50 or so…


jaime1396
Savannah

what!?! — 1 year ago

why is Hot Fuzz on here? i can’t take this seriously….while there are alot of great movies here, that just discredits the entire list for me.


Update — 1 year ago

Updated on 5/21/08


Slushmier
Denver

Updated — 1 year ago

Seems like we were about due for an update.


It is what it is — 1 year ago

The primary fault with IMDB top 250 is that the raters have a tendency to overpraise recent movies. Not that they are not good, just that the status of say, Eternal Sunshine compared to the rank of The Third Man is out of whack. Still, if one were to guide their viewing by this list they wouldn’t be in bad shape. Just remember that there is more out there and it may take some effort to find less mainstream fare.

It is an imposing task to keep this up to date, kudos to anyone who does so.



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