The fascination with comparison: IMDB

Lists have always fascinated me. They provide clear rankings and represent a strong opinion. Any list at a particular time gives a clear idea on what the people are thinking. And they have been around for years now. My Facebook feed is filled up with top 10s, top 15s of random things. 

Lists also are also a good source of data analysis. If you can compare it over the years, it tells the rate of change.

One fine day, a gentleman came and talked about a few companies about which no one had heard of. Those companies were once in the top 500 Forbes list. He talked about change and how you have to keep growing and blah blah blah. Sitting there, as usually is the case, I was lost in my own fantasy world. But the important point was not missed. I wanted to get a better understanding about comparison of films.

Comparison of films is very often done by critics. One can spot a lot of Reddit or Quora posts about DC vs Marvel or even LOTR vs HP. But these are very limited in scope and are fan favored. 

To have a broader look, I needed to look at what is thrown around every where when movie buffs discuss. The IMDB top 250.

Two particular things about IMDB Top 250 list are to be noted: 

1. It is flawed. Its rankings basically represent personal opinions from movie fans around the world, even though it claims only regular voters votes count. No one knows what regular means. And the list never seems to agree with the Academy. Contradictions with rotten tomatoes are common. 

2. Yet is the most comprehensive list available and has been a good representative of movies which are under appreciated by general public (who make superhero movies a big business success). It has been since at least 1996. 20 years can be mid sized data for analysis. The ranking calculation is also clear, and given as 

weighted rating (WR) = (v ÷ (v+m)) × R + (m ÷ (v+m)) × 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 25,000)
C = the mean vote across the whole report

(http://www.imdb.com/help/show_leaf?votestopfaq)

So I found some time to do this pointless but interesting thing. Lists on 31^st Decembers of years 2001-2015 and 1996 were available on the internet.

Some interesting things observed are:

1. Since 1996 to 2015, 40.8% (102) movies have featured in the top 250 list. The Shawshank Redemption and Schindler’s List are the only 2 movies to feature in the top 250 for 1996 and 2015.

2. From 2008 to 2015, The Shawshank Redemption has been the #1 movie in the list. From 2002 to 2007, The Godfather (I) was the #1 movie. In 2001, it was The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring.  In 1996, #1 movie was Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope.

3. New movies enter every year and some leave every year. For example: New movies to enter into the list in 2015 – a total of 17

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015; J.J. Abrams)

Whiplash (2014; Damien Chazelle)

Inside Out (2015; Pete Docter, Ronnie Del Carmen)

Ransom (1996; Ron Howard)

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927; F.W. Murnau)

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015; George Miller)

The Martian (2015; Ridley Scott)

Wild Tales [Relatos salvajes] (2014; Damián Szifrón)

Throne of Blood [Kumonosu]

The Imitation Game (2014; Morten Tyldum)

Creed (2015; Ryan Coogler)

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring [Bom yeoreum gaeul gyeoul geurigo bom] (2003;)

Anatomy of a Murder (1959; Otto Preminger)

Catch Me If You Can (2002; Steven Spielberg) 10/28

Solaris [Solyaris](1972; Andrei Tarkovsky)

The Killing (1956; Stanley Kubrick)

Interestingly, not all movies released that year are the entrants. Some movies which get out of the list often make it back while some old movies become big TV hits based on butterfly effects. 

4. Still the number of changes made in the list from previous year represents a good picture of how that year has been for the world film industry or the impact of a single critical hit.

For example in 2011 only 9 movies made their way in the list. For that year The Artist won the best movie Academy along with 4 other awards. The Artist doesn’t feature in the final 2011 list. It is there in 2012 list and since then has moved out of the list. So the dip does represent the brilliance and flaws of the list and public opinion.

A lot can be done with so much data points, like directors or actors/actresses which have the most movies (http://www.imdb.com/list/ls000739004/), across the years.

The number of movies of a particular year in the list would be the ultimate barometer for a successful year for the industry.

Further analysis is most welcome. I will email the excel sheet if one wants it.