IMDb has a Top 250 list that is constantly evolving. You can rate every movie that is listed on IMDb from one to 10, and the Top 250 is a collection of the highest-rated films across the entire website. This differs from Rotten Tomatoes, which features both critic and audience scores; IMDb’s list is purely based on regular audience ratings. The more people that see and enjoy the film, and the higher they rate it, the higher it ranks on the Top 250.
The lowest-rated movie on the list, “Cool Hand Luke,” has a rating of 8.0 while the highest-rated movie, “The Shawshank Redemption,” has a 9.3. Back in the good old days when IMDb was more of a community and had message boards, the Top 250 was a hotly-debated topic. There was constant arguments about what deserved to be on the list, what didn’t, and what should have the coveted number one spot.
There are many movie franchises out there, but it’s difficult to have a franchise sustain its high-quality and watchability, much less have everyone unanimously agree that any sequels, spin-offs, or other additions also deserve a high rating. Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” films might be magical masterpieces, but his “Hobbit” trilogy is a huge mess and Kenji Kamiyama’s animated “Lord of the Rings” prequel “War of the Rohirrim” earned a tepid critical response before flopping at the box office. Elsewhere, “Alien” and “Aliens” are both on the IMDb Top 250, although the franchise suffered from the release of Ridley Scott’s polarizing, brooding slogs “Prometheus” and “Alien: Covenant.” The recent “Alien: Romulus,” however, brought some life back into the property financially, even though many critics felt Fede Álvarez’s “Alien” sequel relied too much on nostalgia.
So, which franchise has the most entries on the IMDB Top 250? The answer is a collection of superhero movies and comic book adaptations, which is unsurprising given that both have dominated cinema for the past two decades.