Be sure to sort by "List Order".



This list is based on a weighted score of domestic box office earnings 25%, IMDB's Metascore 15%, and Cinemascore of 60%. Domestic box office earnings are used because this list is for the U.S. market.



Cinemascore is used, as opposed to IMDB or Rotten Tomatoes, because their results are from actual movie-goers. However, when a Cinemascore was not available, the average score of IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes was used.



Box office earnings are only weighted 25% because of these factors: 1) Earnings are dependent on how many theaters a movie is shown in. 2) The movie's rating (R, PG-13, etc.) affects ticket sales in general. 3) Ticket sales can be affected by how much marketing is spent on promoting the film. 4) Earnings don't reflect profitability (A film that earned $300M but only made a profit of $50M may not be considered as successful as a film that earned $150M but made a profit of $100M).



The box office earnings score is calculated based on other movies in the same category. In other words, for action movies, only the earnings of other action movies are used. The top earning film in a category gets 100 points. The earnings of the rest of the films in a category are then divided by the earnings of the top earner to get their score. Only movies that earned at least $30M at the box office are included in the rankings.



Metascore is only weighted 15% because critics aren't the target audience and their views are not necessarily reflected by the masses, who are the target audience. However, because they have probably seen a lot more films than the general population, their views are given some weight. Since the general population is the target audience, Cinemascore is given a weight of 60%.