UltimateMovieRankings (UMR) has been ranking movies since 2011. Movies are ranked by using a combination of box office grosses, reviews, and awards. So far we have ranked 36,000 movies, written over 8,500 pages, been viewed over 25 million times, won three website awards, and have received over 50,000 comments on our pages.
Our vital links: Site Index, Newest Pages & Request Hotline. The Trending Now Sidebar lists our most popular pages in the last 24 hours.
Our Site Index lets you see what movie subjects we have already written about. The index lists the movie subjects alphabetically. Subjects go from classic performers like Clark Gable and Charlie Chaplin to the stars of the 1960s like Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman to today’s most popular stars like Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum and Chris Pratt.
We like ranking movies…and that is what this website is all about. And we are not talking about a Top Ten list…we are talking about ranking all the movies in somebody’s career from Best to Worst. The criteria used for the rankings is box office grosses, critic reviews, audience voting, and award recognition. Every day the amount of movies ranked by Ultimate Movie Rankings increases ….our tally is now over 25,000 movies. The number one ranked movie is The Godfather ….coming in last is Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas. Thankfully our pages have been well received. Recently we crossed the 15 million view mark and are now read in over 230 different countries.
How we got here.
Sometime in 2010, for the millionth time I was looking at Joel Hirschhorn’s book Rating The Movie Stars (1983) when I wondered had he updated his ratings lately? A quick internet check provided the sad news that Mr. Hirchhorn had passed away in 2005. About a month later, I thought I could update the ratings. I then came up with an idea to create a mathematical equation that would create a numerical score for each movie. The first thing I had to come up with were factors for the equation.
So I thought….if I were producing a movie, what would I like to see my movie accomplish. The first thing I would want would be for the movie to be successful at the box office. Secondly, I would like the critics and moviegoers to enjoy my movie. And finally, I would like my movie to receive award recognition through Golden Globe® and Oscar® ceremonies.
There are all kinds of ways to determine if you want to see or skip a movie. You can depend on your favorite critic. My favorites are the late great Roger Ebert and Leonard Maltin. You might go to Rotten Tomatoes to get the consensus of all the critics. You might watch the viewer ratings at Yahoo Movies and IMDB. You might depend on which movies are doing the best at the box office. You might wait for the end of the year awards.
Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score takes all of these options and creates a mathematical equation that generates a score from 1 to 100. The higher the score the better the movie. A “good ” movie score = 60 or above. So anything above 60 should be a good movie to check out. This gives a good comparison number between centuries and now my wife and I can argue over the merits of her favorite, The Sound of Music and one of my favorites, Pulp Fiction using the same scoring criteria.
So far, I’ve generated scores for 36,000+ movies. With these scores, I’ve written 1,000+ web pages with a focus on actors/actresses and similar groups (Star Trek vs Star Wars, Top 100 Sports Movies are examples).
So let’s look at the breakdown of the variables in the equation.
1. Box office results. Receives the second-highest percentage (30%) of the equation. The ceiling was 200 million in adjusted for inflation dollars. Any movie that crossed 200 million maxed out the points in the category.
2. Critics and audience reception. Receives the highest percentage (46%) of the equation. So where do I find critics/audience reception? I use many different sources: RottenTomatoes, IMDb, MetaCritic, Yahoo Movies, Roger Ebert, Leonard Maltin, and Fandango. Put them all together and I get an average with 100% being the highest score possible. Sadly with the passing of my all-time favorite critic, Roger Ebert, I needed a new source….after much research…..our latest movie critic and taking Mr. Ebert’s spot is YouTube movie reviewer Chris Stuckmann.
3. Award Recognition. The final part of the equation is worth 24%. A movie gets points for Golden Globe® and Oscar® nominations and wins. The Golden Globes get 5% while the Oscars® get 13% of the equation. The last 6% goes to the amount of Oscar® nominations and the amount of Oscar® wins.
One way to see how the scores are calculated:
Top 200 Box Office Hits with Inflation + Top 100 Best Reviewed Movies + 88 Best Picture Oscar Winners = Top 100 UMR Score Movies
In January of 2011, we published our first Ultimate Movie Ranking (UMR) Score table on HubPages.com…we picked one of our favorite actors, Bruce Willis, to be the guinea pig. We have updated his page countless times over the years.
The good news is getting near the end of my dentist work (for awhile)….the bad news is Friday morning is an extraction and a bone graft. This is causing me to miss my first day as a teacher in six years. First day I was required to go to school was Thursday the 27th. It is going to be a long weekend of recovery. No solid foods until next week….joy to the world.
Take care of yourself. Sorry to hear you are having so many problems.
Thanks Flora…..so if all had gone according to schedule this dental nightmare would have been over for about 3 to 6 months. Of course that did not happen….as they did not have the correct bone grafting material so they postponed it for two weeks. So two weeks to wait for this last and by far, most difficult stage to do. Oh what fun the last 6 weeks has been. Thanks for the kind words.
To all. So I start another round of dental fun this week (the fun starts in 5 and 45 minutes) The first and second round were not fun at all. I have a few pages written during my absence. Those will post automatically.
FYIs. Happy to say that the second UMR book is now at 358 pages…..should be a fun book to argue about when we finish. Stay safe and healthy.
FYIs2. 2019 was our greatest year ever at UMR with regards to views….as we had 4,746,500 views for the year. I thought it was going to be hard to top that number. Well…..a couple of weeks ago we passed that number….and with 4 and half months to go….we have 4,977,236 views this year. We actually have a chance to reach 7 million views this year. That could not have happened without you….so thank you thank you.
This is for Steve Lensman.
Hi Steve. My internet and email provider telus migrated its email to merge with google. What I was worrying about might happen did happen. I am no longer able to subscribe to Youtube and get notifications about your videos and the videos of other youtube creators. I am not even allowed to comment as a member of the public. I know most of the videos you create are people whose films I haven’t seen, but there may still be some that I an answer and I will be answering them on UMR just like Bob does. I am writing this here, because the message might get lost on your special Youtube channel page here
Good news, Steve! I figured out how to be signed in to Google without my other email address and so I was able to comment on your new video. Bruce, you will notice my gmail address
Hey Flora…good news indeed.
How Flora, got your youtube comment, thanks! Sorry to hear about the problems with your internet provider. Glad you you found a way in.
Like Bob, you can always comment here at the UMR if a video subject interests you, here at Bruce’s Café Américain. (I’m also a big fan of Rick’s) 😉
When I put this in the memoriam section it comes up under Ian Holm.
From Variety
Joel Schumacher, costume designer-turned-director of films including “St. Elmo’s Fire,” “The Lost Boys” and “Falling Down,” as well as two “Batman” films, died in New York City on Monday morning after a year-long battle with cancer. He was 80.
Schumacher brought his fashion background to directing a run of stylish films throughout the 1980s and 1990s that were not always critically acclaimed, but continue to be well-loved by audiences for capturing the feel of the era.
Schumacher was handed the reins of the “Batman” franchise when Tim Burton exited Warner Bros.’ Caped Crusader series after two enormously successful films. The first movie by Schumacher, “Batman Forever,” starring Val Kilmer, Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey and Nicole Kidman, grossed more than $300 million worldwide.
Schumacher’s second and last film in the franchise was 1997’s “Batman and Robin,” with George Clooney as Batman and Arnold Schwarzenegger as villain Mr. Freeze.
When you get to Gene Autry from the holy book, don’t forget Frankie Marvin who appeared in 83 (yes 83) films with Gene.
Hey Dan. Wow…83 movies with Autry. Autry is going to be a tricky one….as I have almost no box office numbers for his many movies…and he is one of the Joel subjects. Speaking of Joel,is his Rating the Movie Stars book among your collection of movie books? Good stuff.
Yes I have the book, my second copy which was second hand when I got it. I had it when it came out but the cover came off and I thought there were just too many people with a few movies so I dumped it back then after a few years. I also thought he generalized too much, like he gave 3 stars to every performance they did, even bit parts. Example like all of Yvonne De Carlo’s films from 1942 through 1944. Some of the other people are just strange choices when you’re doing only 400 people (Eva Gabor, Timothy Hutton (3 films at the time), Nastassia Kinski, Oscar Levant, Katherine Ross, Johnny Weissmuller (only Tarzan and Jungle Jim), Pat Boone, Frankie Avalon and Annette. Eddie Murphy gets a lifetime of 4.00 with just 2 films. The whole crew of Monty Python is listed , Matt Dillon with 5 films, The Beatles (really), Leo G. Carroll, Colin Clive etc. I complain too much.
Hey Dan. First of all…glad you have gotten the book twice….even if you ditched it once….lol. I am on my 4th book….with my 5th book already purchased and ready to go. I sent the third to Bob, covered in M & M duct tape, which kept the book together. I figure I will offer the 4th book to Flora.
As for your thoughts on the book….I agree with many of your issues. All the ones your listed have not gotten UMR pages yet (ok Katherine Ross does). Ben Kingsley joins Eddie Murphy with a 4.00 rating which tops the charts …and like Murphy he only had two movies when the book was written. Good stuff. Thanks for scratching that itch and letting me know.
Hi Mr. Cogerson,
If you have another copy, I would greatly be interested in having one also.
Please let me know.
Thx
Mike