IMDb's "Top 250"

Add to my lists | Print this list

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: November 20, 2009)

Pages: 1 2 4 5

  1. 51.
    To Kill a Mockingbird (Universal Legacy Series)
    by Robert Mulligan

    Drag me to re-order


  2. 52.
    The Pianist

    Drag me to re-order


  3. 53.
    Inglourious Basterds [Theatrical Release]
    by Quentin Tarantino

    Drag me to re-order


  4. 54.
    Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others)
    by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

    Drag me to re-order


  5. 55.
    Aliens (Special Edition)
    by James Cameron

    Drag me to re-order


  6. 56.
    Spirited Away
    by Hayao Miyazaki

    Drag me to re-order


  7. 57.
    M - Criterion Collection
    by Fritz Lang

    Drag me to re-order


  8. 58.
    Double Indemnity
    by Billy Wilder

    Drag me to re-order


  9. 59.
    Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (Widescreen Edition)
    by Michel Gondry

    Drag me to re-order


  10. 60.
    Chinatown

    Drag me to re-order


  11. 62.

  12. 63.
    L.A. Confidential
    by Curtis Hanson

    Drag me to re-order


  13. 64.
    Reservoir Dogs

    Drag me to re-order


  14. 65.
    Up
    by Bob Peterson

    Drag me to re-order


  15. 66.
    Das Boot - The Director's Cut
    by Wolfgang Petersen

    Drag me to re-order


  16. 67.

  17. 68.
    Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Special Edition)
    by Terry Jones

    Drag me to re-order


  18. 69.
    Pan's Labyrinth
    by Guillermo del Toro

    Drag me to re-order


  19. 70.
    City Lights

    Drag me to re-order


  20. 72.
    Raging Bull

    Drag me to re-order


  21. 73.
    Slumdog Millionaire

    Drag me to re-order


  22. 74.
    The Prestige
    by Christopher Nolan

    Drag me to re-order


  23. 75.
    Singin' in the Rain (Two-Disc Special Edition)
    by Donen, Stanley

    Drag me to re-order


  24. 76.
    2001 - A Space Odyssey
    by Stanley Kubrick

    Drag me to re-order


  25. 77.
    Some Like It Hot (Collector's Edition)
    by Billy Wilder

    Drag me to re-order


  26. 78.
    The Maltese Falcon
    by John Huston

    Drag me to re-order


  27. 79.
    Life Is Beautiful

    Drag me to re-order


  28. 80.
    Downfall
    by Oliver Hirschbiegel

    Drag me to re-order


  29. 81.
    Back to the Future
    by Robert Zemeckis

    Drag me to re-order


  30. 82.
    Gran Torino (Widescreen Edition)
    by Clint Eastwood

    Drag me to re-order


  31. 83.
    Amadeus
    by Milos Forman

    Drag me to re-order


  32. 84.
    Rashomon - Criterion Collection

    Drag me to re-order


  33. 85.
    Modern Times

    Drag me to re-order


  34. 86.
    All About Eve
    by Joseph L. Mankiewicz

    Drag me to re-order


  35. 87.
    Full Metal Jacket

    Drag me to re-order


  36. 88.
    Cinema Paradiso
    by Giuseppe Tornatore

    Drag me to re-order


  37. 89.
    Once Upon a Time in America (Two-Disc Special Edition)
    by Sergio Leone

    Drag me to re-order


  38. 90.
    Braveheart

    Drag me to re-order


  39. 91.
    District 9 [Theatrical Release]

    Drag me to re-order


  40. 92.
    Sin City

    Drag me to re-order


  41. 93.
    The Elephant Man

    Drag me to re-order


  42. 94.
    Metropolis (Restored Authorized Edition)
    by Fritz Lang

    Drag me to re-order


  43. 95.
    Rebecca - Criterion Collection

    Drag me to re-order


  44. 96.
    The Green Mile

    Drag me to re-order


  45. 97.
    The Great Dictator

    Drag me to re-order


  46. 98.
    The Sting
    by George Roy Hill

    Drag me to re-order


  47. 99.
    The Apartment

    Drag me to re-order


  48. 100.
    The Great Escape
    by John Sturges

    Drag me to re-order


Pages: 1 2 4 5

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 2 4 5 6

Untitled — 31 weeks ago

“You cannot convince me Wall-E is the 41st greatest movie of all time.”
Who’s trying to convince you? Are you trying to take this list seriously? Come on, it’s a movie list. It’s not meant to be definitive, it’s subjective. No one can convince me Shawshank is the greatest film of all time because there is not such thing as the greatest film of all time!


great.....i feel i need life — 31 weeks ago

i’m done with 250 films on the current imdb , and i personally own 240 movies..now i’m on to list by Genre,Film-noir. It took me great deal of time, but gave me company for about one and half years, as i was battling through depression due to loss in love. Yeah i need life, i think.


liam24
Kochi

Untitled — 31 weeks ago

The IMDB list has become a joke. IMDB has had years to fix it so fans of summer blockbusters can’t spam it until some garbage like “Transformers” makes the list. A simple solution would be to not let any movie votes count towards the list until months after the DVD release. You cannot convince me Wall-E is the 41st greatest movie of all time.


Untitled — 33 weeks ago

Dear god, is the Dark Knight ever going to fall out of the top 10?! UGH, UGH, UGH.


Untitled — 38 weeks ago

please update the list….


MKaiserman
West Orange

IMDb editor speaks on IMDb Top 250 — 41 weeks ago

Posted on Roger Ebert’s AnswerMan column:

Keith Simanton, IMDb’s managing editor, replies: “Our Top 250, as voted by users, is just that, a list of the Top 250 films as voted on by our users. It’s not a classic (ah, there’s a subjective term!) list by any measure, nor is it a critic’s list. We leave that to the professionals.

“We do get bouts of irrational exuberance for some titles. I rather like it and find it analogous to my own experience. I’ve often felt more fondly about a film upon leaving the theater than my tempered opinion of it as the weeks and months pass. Our “this too shall pass” approach has proved itself out as this inflation value of the new is not a recent phenomenon. In 1991, “Beauty and the Beast” was the No. 1 title on the Top 250 and now it’s not even in the chart; great movie though it is, things do tend to balance out over time.

“At any moment there are always some recent titles in the list but they do find their level eventually. Some of them even continue to maintain a high level, one I personally would not have accorded them. We do appreciate the suggestion, however, as we’re always looking for ways to improve the service, and this kicked off a great internal debate.”


Doneskies!! — 45 weeks ago

It depends on the configuration, but I’m largely done this list now. I tend to fall back to 99 when it gets re-jigged and films like “Doctor Zhivago”, “Barry Lyndon”, “Inherit the Wind” and “Howl’s Moving Castle” creep back up… but I’m sure I’ll eventually see them, too!


Bubbling under chart — 45 weeks ago

Hey, could someone update the 251-500 IMDB Bubbling under chart??


Untitled — 46 weeks ago

Getting there…only about 34% done, but that’s not too bad for a full time 17 year old student who barely has time to think :)


Untitled — 48 weeks ago

Where’s #250?



Pages: Pages: 1 2 4 5 6