TOP 100 MOVIES OF 2000-24

Rating Methodology

Ranking Scope

Each yearly ranking lists the Top 50 films released in that specific year.

The 2000–24 ranking includes a Top 100, selecting the highest-rated films across the entire period. The larger size reflects the broader competition and allows for a more representative selection of standout titles. Limiting it to just 50 would exclude many high-scoring films.

The films considered in these rankings are those labeled as "movie" on IMDb. The year of the film is based on the year listed on IMDb, which may differ from its public release date. A film might premiere at festivals in one year (as listed on IMDb) but be released to the general public months later. Therefore, it is possible for two films in the same year to both have the "Oscar Best Picture" icon, while in the following year no film might have this distinction. This is because the rankings are strictly based on IMDb's listed year.

Score Calculation

The overall score is determined in two steps:

1. Adjustment of platform ratings, based on:

• The original rating
• The number of votes the movie received on that platform
• The average number of votes across all movies on that platform

2. Equal averaging of all adjusted ratings to produce the final score.

This two-step process ensures that:

• Within each platform, movies with more votes are treated as having more reliable averages.
• Each platform contributes equally to the final score, regardless of the size of its user base.

For example, a movie with 100,000 votes will have a more stable average than one with only 1,000 votes. Its adjusted score will stay closer to the platform's true average, assuming the typical vote count is also near 100,000.

The formula balances these factors to favor reliability while preventing films with very few votes from having undue influence. As a result, a movie's score becomes more robust as the number of votes increases, yet remains grounded by the typical voting behavior on each platform.

Tie-breaking System

Adjusted scores are displayed with two decimal places, but internally they are stored with up to six decimal places. This makes it very unlikely for two films to truly tie, even when their displayed scores appear identical.

In the rare case that two films have exactly the same score down to all six decimal places, the film with the higher total number of votes across all platforms is ranked higher.

Color-Coding System

The color-coding method differs between the 2000–24 Top 100 and the yearly rankings:

• Yearly rankings: colors reflect percentile rankings within each column. This is necessary because each platform has its own typical rating range, scale, and tendencies. Therefore, the same numerical score might appear in different colors across platforms — what matters is how that score compares to other movies on the same platform.
• 2000–24 Top 100: colors are based on absolute values rather than percentiles. These films represent the top-rated titles across multiple years, so their scores are consistently high. Using percentiles here would exaggerate minimal differences, making a 9.9 appear weaker than a 10, despite both being essentially at the same level of excellence.

This dual approach ensures that color coding meaningfully reflects both relative performance (within a year) and absolute quality (across the 2000–24 period).

Conclusion

In short, this methodology combines statistical adjustment and cross-platform balance to deliver rankings that are both fair and transparent. It reduces the influence of low vote counts and accounts for the varying rating systems across different platforms, resulting in a more balanced and reliable evaluation of each film.