As you all know, IMDb is the place to go whenever you need to look up a director, a quote, a review, actor names and so on. It is heaven for film lovers and provides crucial information for and of the entertainment industry.
Short history: IMDb was launched in 1987 by English film enthusiast Col Needham; first post talked about actresses with beautiful eyes. It later started forming the data base and encouraged the users to contribute- in late 1990 it already had 10.000 movies and television series. Bought in 1998 by Amazon, IMDb faced an interesting challenge last year, as it was sued by an unknown actress for more then 1 million $ for revealing her age(40).
Yesterday, I stumbled upon an interesting article about IMDb: they have just released its top 10 most viewed actors, film, TV shows and in production movies of the last decade* and there are some surprises.
Top 10 Stars of the Last 10 Years*
- Johnny Depp
- Brad Pitt
- Angelina Jolie
- Tom Cruise
- Natalie Portman
- Christian Bale
- Scarlett Johansson
- Jennifer Aniston
- Keira Knightley
- Emma Watson
*Highest average IMDbPro STARmeter ranking over the last 10 years.
Ok, I can complete understand the top 3, but Tom Cruise on the 4th position? Besides his reappereance in 2011 with Mission:Impossible 4, the man has been MIA for at least 4 or 5 years before that, not having any big, influential parts! Maybe I am wrong! Continuing, we have an undeserving number 5 for Natalie Portman, but justifiable 6 and 7 for Bale and Johansson, but number 8 for Jennifer Aniston? Again, it's beyond me why this woman is still famous- her career choices in the last 5-6 years have been horrible. 9 and 10 are also normal, considering the love that Pirates and HP got in the last decade.
Where are Robert Downey Jr, George Clooney, even Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart?- I was sure either one of them would make the top 10.
Top 10 Films of the Last 10 Years*
- The Dark Knight
- Donnie Darko
- Pulp Fiction
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Twilight
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- The Godfather
*Highest average IMDbPro MOVIEmeter ranking over the last 10 years.
1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 are understandable choices, but Donnie Darko? On the second position? Am I missing something this huge, should I see it right way?
Top 10 TV Series of the Last 10 Years*
- Lost
- House M.D.
- Grey’s Anatomy
- Heroes
- How I Met Your Mother
- 24
- Glee
- True Blood
- Dexter
- Gossip Girl
*Highest average ranking over the last 10 years.
Lost, Grey's Anatomy, How I met your mother, 24, Glee, True Blood- all obvious choices, but I am a little bit surprised to see Heroes so high up on the list; maybe it's due to the fact that it was a huge international success and continues to be one of the most illegally downloaded TV series out there.
Top 10 Most Anticipated In-Production Movies*
- The Dark Knight Rises
- Men in Black III
- The Dictator
- G.I. Joe: Retaliation
- The Expendables 2
- Battleship
- The Avengers
- Rock of Ages
- The Hunger Games
- Prometheus
*Highest average IMDbPRo MOVIEmeter rank of all films currently in production.
First and foremost- where is The Hobbit? Other than that, why is The Dictator on 3rd position and Avengers on 7th- it should be the other way around, considering the large fanbase. Also, are people really that desperate to see Battleship and Rock of Ages? Why?
Top 10 Highest Rated Films of the Last 10 Years*
- The Dark Knight (8.8) – All-Time Ranking: 8
- The Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King (8.8) - All-Time Ranking: 10
- Inception (8.8) - All-Time Ranking: 13
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (8.7) – All-Time Ranking: 15
- City of God (8.7) – All-Time Ranking: 18
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (8.6) – All-Time Ranking: 29
- Memento (8.6) – All-Time Ranking: 31
- Toy Story 3 (8.5) – All-Time Ranking: 42
- Spirited Away (8.5) – All-Time Ranking: 45
- Amelie (8.5) – All-Time Ranking: 51
*Highest average rating /10 as voted for by IMDb’s most regular voters.
Only surprise for me was Spirited Away (again, a movie I haven't seen and don't know too much about it), and I am kind of sad to see all of the Lord of the Rings movies on the list- I am sure there are better films that could have occupied at least 1 or 2 of those spots.
What do you think about the list?
Good lord, whenever I see either Dark Knight or Inception or any highest-rated list I die a little inside :) It's a good thing at least Prometheus got in to the most anticipated list. Donnie Darko may be that popular because of Gyllenhaal and many people looking for answers about this movie on the message boards.
ReplyDeletehehe I want to know who the actress was!! I NEED to know
ReplyDelete@Sati: Right, that might be it, I will try to get Donnie Darko soon, it keeps popping up everywhere!
ReplyDelete@Scott: I think they already published her name, you can look it up- it's an asian actress, not very known
I barely pay attention to these kinds of Top 10, especially the Starmeter, as I usually disagree with most on that list. Same w/ the anticipated list... G.I. Joe: Retaliation?? The Expendables 2?? Battleship?? Huh?? I'd never see any of those even if you pay me.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, I'm puzzled by Aniston's popularity but it seems like whenever there's Jolie's name, she's not far behind, maybe it's just people's obsession about their rivalry?? Who knows.
@Ruth: When it comes to Aniston, yes, it might be the rivalry, but why would you check her IMDb page for gossip? you can always use Google for that. Anyway, weird list, indeed!
ReplyDeleteNatalie Portman I think is because she was in these Star Wars which are obviously very fan-boy heavy.
ReplyDeleteAs for Donnie Darko, I think it's due to the somewhat enigmatic plot and how folks like to theorize and talk about it in the forums?
And you must see Spirited Away, probably one of the two or three best animations of all-time.
Donnie Darko isn't that good. At All. You aren't missing much by not having seen it. It left me non-pulsed. I actually said 'That's it?' when it was over.
ReplyDelete@Castor: I understand the presence of Natalie Portman in the top, because you are right about Star Wars plus she had Black Swan. Also, I added Spirited Away to my very long To See list, thanks! :)
ReplyDelete@Max: Yeah, I heard it is pretty controversial and the story is weird! Still, it is on my list! Thanks for dropping by!
I've been on IMDB since 1997. What you have to understand about the site is that it is used far more by males than by females. In the last five years or so, that has skewed even more to teen males. (The Top 250 list dominated by movies that appeal to this segment - Fight Club, Dark Knight, etc. - is one proof of this.)
ReplyDeleteSome people seem to be misunderstanding what these lists are. They are not "best of" lists; they are "most viewed" lists. In other words, these are the top 10 people, movies, etc that IMDB users looked up.
Males in general, and teen males in particular, would probably cut off a finger rather than search IMDB for Robert Pattinson, so him not being on the list is not a surprise. Downey, Jr. and Clooney appeal to a little bit older demographic.
Donnie Darko is a good movie, that received a lot of it's attention from the fact that it appeared on the IMDB Top 250 list years ago, which was the first most people had ever heard of it. This caused them to look into it more, which caused it to be the second most searched for movie on the site.
For all the other lists, also see them through the prism of young males and the lists make sense.
Spirited Away is a very good film. I would definitely recommend it.
Thanks for the lists. I had not run across these yet.
Thank you Chris, for taking the time to comment and to explain. I understand what you're saying and you are right, but still, some choice are odd even for teenagers. And you are right, yet again, to say it is the most viewed list, I think it is explained in the article, as well!
ReplyDelete