The IMDb Top 250 has achieved a certain level of fame (or infamy depending on who you ask) since its creation back in 1996. Anyone with an IMDb account can rate movies on a scale from 1 to 10, and quite simply, the IMDb shows the top 250 highest rated based on those votes. This makes the IMDb Top 250 the most famous movie-related list online that isn't voted on by film critics; rather, it's everyday film fans who collectively decide what goes on there, through their ratings.While most film watchers online are familiar with the up-to-date, always changing, current IMDb Top 250, the website also allows users to go back and see what the IMDb Top 250 looked like back in 1996, and every year following. It's interesting to go back and see what films have remained on the list throughout the 25 plus years of its existence, as well as some of the oddities and unexpected films that were once there, but aren't anymore. These changes are a good indicator of the trends of years past.
'Shakespeare in Love' (1998)
Infamously regarded by some as the film that may have cost Saving Private Ryan a Best Picture win, this lavish and sentimental historical romantic comedy clearly had enough fans back in the year of its release to temporarily hold a spot in the IMDb Top 250.
Between that and its Oscar wins, it seems clear that at the time, there clearly was excitement around Shakespeare in Love that hasn't persisted so strongly in the years since. Perhaps there was a backlash to the aggressive awards campaign; maybe it just didn't stick with enough people. It still finds itself with a respectable 7.1/10 score on IMDb, but considering a film needs a rating of at least 8.0/10 to come close to the Top 250, its days on the list are well behind it.
'The Wrong Trousers' (1993)
The Wrong Trousers is a beloved early Wallace & Gromit short that forms a sort of loose trilogy with A Grand Day Out and A Close Shave. Those other two found themselves in the Top 250 too, but The Wrong Trousers always enjoyed the highest rating of the three, maybe owing to its zany mash-up of science-fiction, comedy, and crime, as well as its surprisingly menacing penguin villain.
The reason The Wrong Trousers and the other Wallace & Gromit shorts no longer find themselves on the list is simple: nowadays, films have to be feature-length to qualify. With its half-hour runtime, The Wrong Trousers is too short to be included, but if shorts were still allowed, its 8.3/10 rating would still probably ensure it a spot, even today.
'Rumble in the Bronx' (1995)
Rumble in the Bronx is a solid but far from amazing Jackie Chan film, which makes its position on the Top 250 in the past unusual. Nowadays, it sits at a 6.7/10, with many of his earlier Hong Kong action films (and even a couple of his later Hollywood ones) faring better.
But Rumble in the Bronx was likely a huge deal at the time, as its New York helped ensure it was his first American hit. Due to introducing American audiences to Jackie Chan's amazing stunt work and onscreen charisma, it's understandable why viewers at the time regarded it so highly. However, as time has gone on, action fans have discovered better, more exciting films from the martial arts star.
'Bad Taste' (1987)
Before making the iconic Lord of the Rings Trilogy, filmmaker Peter Jackson got his start making gory, low-budget horror comedies in New Zealand. The zombie film Braindead might be the best known, but Bad Taste predates it, depicting a small-scale science-fiction/horror movie with gross aliens, over-the-top violence, and plenty of slapstick.
Despite never reaching nearly the same level of popularity as The Lord of the Rings, Jackson seemed to have a decent enough fanbase back in the late 1990s, as Bad Taste used to be on IMDb's Top 250. It's rare to find a movie made for so little money with such crude, gross-out humor on the same list today, highlighting another way the site's most famous list has changed.
'Delicatessen' (1991)
Jean-Pierre Jeunet has always been a well-regarded arthouse director, with his visually distinct, offbeat style. Amelie has had enough mainstream appeal to still have a spot in IMDb's Top 250 today, but the weirder, far more disturbing Delicatessen no longer is.
Full of unusual colors, characters, sights, and sounds, it's a film that shows the list may have been more open to "weirder" films back in its early days. With a still solid 7.6/10 rating, it's clear Delicatessen is still appreciated, even if it's not regarded quite as well anymore.
'Koyaanisqatsi' (1983)
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Koyaanisqatsi is a documentary with no interviews, narration, or even dialogue. It presents various images edited with a hypnotic score by composer Philip Glass, and while it's broadly about humanity's impact on the planet, and nature versus civilization, it leaves a good deal up to an individual viewer's interpretation.
With a current rating of 8.2/10, Koyaanisqatsi would likely still be in the Top 250 if not for one change made to the list since its inception: documentaries can no longer qualify. The site recognizes the genre as a different medium to feature films, and ranks the highest-rated documentaries in a different list instead.
'Romeo + Juliet' (1996)
One of Baz Luhrmann's most well-known films, this modernized, very 1990s take on Romeo and Juliet found itself in the IMDb Top 250 around the time of its release, though in the years since, it's fallen to the point it now sits at about a 6.8/10.
Given no other Luhrmann film finds itself in the current Top 250, it's a little strange that Romeo + Juliet once did. It's hard to say what made it more loved at the time, compared to now. It is still a good film and stands as one of the most interesting takes on the iconic play, but it doesn't feel like the sort of movie IMDb users truly love, or at least love enough to vote it into the Top 250. One thing's for sure though: Baz Lurhmann seeing his film parting from the list would have been such sweet sorrow.
'A Bug's Life' (1998)
Pixar's second feature-length film after Toy Story, A Bug's Life takes the basic story from Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai and makes it about bugs, quite simply. It's got all the humor and imagination and colorful visuals one would expect from the studio, but doesn't have the same emotional impact as their most beloved films.
While a good kid's film in its own right, that lack of love for A Bug's Life compared to other Pixar classics does make its inclusion on the list in the past surprising. It may be that in hindsight, enthusiasm for A Bug's Life has dimmed, because while it's solid, it now gets compared to the animated masterpieces Pixar released after it, like Toy Story 2, Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles. Perhaps it can't help but suffer a little in comparison.
'Dogma' (1999)
Regardless of its quality or consistency, Dogma does have to be appreciated for being Kevin Smith's most ambitious film. With its apocalyptic plot that satirizes religion and much of society as a whole, it's quite a far cry from his earlier films like Clerks and Mallrats, even if the style of humor is sometimes similar.
Dogma feels like the kind of cult film that would have its devoted fans, but not enough to get it to crack the IMDb Top 250... but clearly, that's wrong. This uncompromising and strange mashup of fantasy and crude comedy once had a high enough rating to have a spot in there, which may demonstrate the wider variety and less predictable nature of the list way back in the late 1990s.