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.
Hi Bruce, still missing a few widgets here at UMR, notably the edit button. Any chance of getting that back on board?
Hey Steve…..I will see if I can get the “comment” edit button back. During our vacation last week…WoC was looking at possible “new website provider”…..but it was going to be way more expensive….like $15,000 a year…..so I think we will keep dealing with the constant frustrations of this current provider…..they constantly say the widgets are causing the issues….even with us now having their “best” and way more costly plan we are in a contract plan now. Thanks for letting me know that comment box was not working.
Although a supporting role Greenstreet’s Maltese Falcon performance was such a tour-de-force and so influential in its own way that it has had many subsequent imitations usually by lesser performers.
Among major stars the nearest I’ve seen getting to Sydney’s Kasper Gutman has been [at least in terms of menace and authority – and bulk!] Brando in 1980’s The Formula and [his own final movie] 2001’s The Score. However, Marlon’s two characters in those films didn’t have Kasper’s flowing-honey tones and in the fact in The Score he swore profusely.
I mean for that movie they were paying him $3 million*** [about $4.5 million in todays’ money] for just a couple of short scenes with DeNiro so he was keen to do the flick [“money for old rope” as the saying goes – eat your heart out Joel!] and I think that it was a cast-iron rule in the Hollywood of back then that you didn’t get into a DeNiro [or a Willis] movie unless you were prepared to swear your head off!!!
***ADDITIONAL TRIVIA -WIKIPEDIA EXTRACT
Even toward the end of his life, when most of his contemporaries other than Paul Newman were no longer stars (Tony Curtis’ asking price reportedly had dropped to $50,000 in the early 1990s) and could no longer command big money (Newman was the exception in that the financially secure superstar did not ASK for big money), Brando could still command a $3-million salary for a supporting role in The Score (2001).
Even though he’s been dead for nearly 20 years his estate today is still said to be worth $130 million in 2021 dollars [according to calculations done by Celebrity Net Worth site] from ongoing drip-drip-drip of % participations; the sale of his island and other real estate; auctions of memorabilia etc; and a remaining stakeholder’s interest in such products from his heyday as the leather jackets from The Wild One.
Cunningly though he pretended to be broke in the final years of his life in order to dodge debts – reportedly a standard Hollywood ruse and indeed allegedly that of many wealthy people in all walks of life! – and to maintain that illusion he even went as far as making social security financial claims.
After his death in 2004 it was found that whilst most of his wealth was in his properties he had in fact all the time while pleading poverty a secret cash store of $23 million dollars in actual money. In the post Godfather era when he had virtually a licence to print money his fees and profit participations had been enormous and are said to amount to [pre-tax] $95 million in today’ money from 3 blockbuster hits, a modest hit and a flop.
Hey Bob
1. We agree 100% on the greatness of Sydney in The Maltese Falcon.
2, Good trivia on Mr. Brando…we almost watched the score last weekend. It is one of the Brando movies we own.
3. Speaking of fees going down… I suspect that Bruce Willis’ fee is going even lower than Tony Curtis’ fee
4. I would imagine it would be hard to plead poverty when you own an entire island.
Good stuff as always.
Yeah school is out, but training continues. Ah the joys of being a teacher.
“ARE YOU THERE BRUCE?” asks Steve today.
Ground Control to Major Tom
Ground Control to Major Tom
Take your protein pills and put your helmet on
This is Ground Control to Major Tom
You’ve really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now it’s time to leave the capsule if you dare
“This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I’m stepping through the door
And I’m floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today
For here
Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there’s nothing I can do.
Major Tom to Ground Control.
[From “Space Oddity” sung by David Bowie in 1969]
Hey anonymous…..still here…..just dealing with lots of Cogerson family issues and lots of school work……but the summer is here…which leaves more time for UMR.
HIGHLY PRESTIGIOUS TOP MOVIE STAR
“I loved Annie Hall, Hannah and Her Sisters, and Manhattan was witty clever and gorgeous. So I’d love to topline that proposed movie you mention. But I’m simply plagued with scripts. Heck Hanks and Day-Lewis get my leftovers and I’m told that Pacino fights with DeNiro over the ones that neither Tom, Danny-Day nor I want at the heels of the hunt.
Do you know that the other day I returned to my apartment block dog-tired and couldn’t immediately gain access because the steps into the building were piled high with scrips left there for me by directors and other hopeful colleagues in this business.
I’m told that used to happen all the time to Monty Clift before his tragic accident ruined his career – HIS leftovers often went to Spence, Cary, Greg or Marlon and I’m told that Joan Crawford even wanted to play as women some of the roles Monty turned down. Its a tired old cliche but there are simply not enough hours in the day for me it is without taking on any more work. Sorry!”
NEW YORK GENIUS ALLAN STEWART KONINGSBERG [Around Aug 2000]
“Look I appreciate all that. I really do get it. But you’ve listed the movies of mine that you really like and they were all successful commercially and critically. Obviously you admire my work if I do say so myself. So I want you to think about the part. I guarantee that Tony Hopkins or Mike Caine will stalk you for weeks hoping you throw the script out.
I’m told that you pay hefty fees to your psychaitrist – don’t we all so don’t get up tight! I am sure that he would be the first to advise you that it is a psychological fact of the human makeup that we always make time for the tihings that have a sincere prioity with us no matter how busy we otherwise are. Goodness I’ve made in my sleep projects that I couldn’t get round to in my waking hours – and there are many of those!”
The Bob, great song. i just saw troop zero an okay childrens movie with great meaning and “space oddity”. featuring viola davis and allison janney. i hope you are well.
HI BOB
Thanks for your well-wishing and it’s always good t hear from you. I like David Bowie’s voice.
It is always a good day when the both Bobs are talking to each other.
“I’m a man who likes talking to a man who likes to talk!”
[Kasper Gutman – The Maltese Falcon 1941]
Hey Bob….it is hard not to picture Sydney Greenstreet whenever I see “I’m a man who likes talking to a man who likes to talk!” – Happy Wednesday
Bruce, any updates on what’s happening to the UMR? Is the site still on autopilot?
Some features have gone missing and the Forum is not updating properly, which means if someone posts comments on a variety of pages no one in the world will ever know. Those beautifully composed words of wisdom will go unread for all eternity… [Stop it Steve!]
Are you there Bruce? [waves frantically]
Hey Steve….we had yet another website meltdown a few weeks ago….it has taken me a few weeks to get everything back in order. I think….all the broken items are back to normal now. So those beautifully composed words of wisdom are safe. Sorry for the confusion. We are looking at making some drastic changes the next time our contract comes up for renewal. For as much as my provider now charges me, I should not be having these problems. Thanks for the headsup.