# The Number 1 Movie at the Box Office is the 24th Worst Movie Ever Made **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 26, 2007, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-number-1-movie-at-the-box-office-is-the-24th-worst-movie-ever-made/389515 "2007-01-26T02:40:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-number-1-movie-at-the-box-office-is-the-24th-worst-movie-ever-made/389515/21 "2007-01-26T16:17:04Z")
It got a 25% tomato rating at rotten tomaotes while certainly not good, herdly ranks it in the all-time worst. There are many examples of movies with lower tomato ratings that heve been gognzo at the box office. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-number-1-movie-at-the-box-office-is-the-24th-worst-movie-ever-made/389515/22 "2007-01-26T16:47:24Z")
The question in the OP is similar to one I had - “Why did Pirates #2 make over billion at the box office when no critics liked it and no one in real life admits they enjoyed it.” The disconnect was striking, I thought. Note - I agree with previous comments regarding the IMDB. It’s a good site for data on movies; for opinions or discussion, not a good place. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-number-1-movie-at-the-box-office-is-the-24th-worst-movie-ever-made/389515/23 "2007-01-26T17:59:19Z")
[QUOTE=well he’s back] The question in the OP is similar to one I had - “Why did Pirates #2 make over billion at the box office when no critics liked it and no one in real life admits they enjoyed it.” The disconnect was striking, I thought. [/QUOTE] I can answer for at least part of that. You see, I went to a pirate-themed party right beforehand, and copious amounts of rum were consumed by all, but especially by me. By the time we got to the theater, I was ready to stand up on stage and lead the audience in “A Pirate’s Life For Me”, which I did in full pirate costume, false parrot tied to my shoulder, stabbing with my plastic sword as though it were a conductors baton. And there was more rum amongst us in the seats. At the end, I was so drunk that I couldn’t even walk home, but the theater’s only a few blocks from work, so I slept on the sofa for a few hours before going home. I remembered almost nothing of the movie, so I had to see it again. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-number-1-movie-at-the-box-office-is-the-24th-worst-movie-ever-made/389515/24 "2007-01-26T18:55:39Z")
[QUOTE=Wolfian] Moreover, is IMDB really the best place to draw data from? Its’ a great website if you want to know who does the voice of Kairi from Kingdom Hearts\*, but its’ members aren’t exactly Ebert and Roper. Have you seen its’ messageboards? Gamefaqs makes it look rational. Beyond all that, how many of the members actually saw the movie before voting? How many just saw the ads, said this looks dumb, and downvoted? [/QUOTE] I agree. Every time I visit their message boards, I run screaming back here within minutes. > [@Trion](#): > > And, presumably, lots of people need to see it to vote on it. Not a safe presumption, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-number-1-movie-at-the-box-office-is-the-24th-worst-movie-ever-made/389515/25 "2007-01-26T19:44:04Z")
[QUOTE=Wolfian] \*Hayden Pantierre, better known as the cheerleader from Heroes. [/QUOTE] Save her. ---
**Author:** ![MilTan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@MilTan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MilTan)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-number-1-movie-at-the-box-office-is-the-24th-worst-movie-ever-made/389515/26 "2007-01-26T19:59:10Z")
[QUOTE=JThunder] Save her. [/QUOTE] For me. … What? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-number-1-movie-at-the-box-office-is-the-24th-worst-movie-ever-made/389515/27 "2007-01-26T20:02:54Z")
I haven’t seen Stomp the Yard, but I’d bet a lot of money I could find 25 worse flicks. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2007, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-number-1-movie-at-the-box-office-is-the-24th-worst-movie-ever-made/389515/28 "2007-01-27T03:56:05Z")
> [@](#): > > And, presumably, lots of people need to see it to vote on it. Not quite true, but close. Better to say that a lot of people need to have heard of it. In all likelihood, if one were to exhaustively compile a list of all of the movies ever, rate all of them, and pick the 100 worst, nobody here would have heard of any of them. But in order to make the list at IMDb, the movie has to have had a lot of publicity. And unsurprisingly, a lot of publicity will also tend to make a movie more successful at the box office. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2007, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-number-1-movie-at-the-box-office-is-the-24th-worst-movie-ever-made/389515/29 "2007-01-27T04:13:26Z")
[QUOTE=saoirse] That was funny. Seriously, though, how many of those movies are in general release, and how many are at arthouses? A lot of people wants to see a movie, so they go the octoplex and pick one. If everything there sucks, they pick the one that suckes the least, or is shortest. [/QUOTE] I don’t understand comments like these because _all_ these films are available at my local [GooglePlexes](http://imdb.com/showtimes/location/37922/20m). Knoxville, TN isn’t exactly the worlds movie capital, but every time somebody makes this comment, it’s about a film that played within walking distance of my house. And I live in the suburbs. The movie in question was #1 because it was a new release and it had a built-in audience. To be honest, without seeing it I still have doubts that it is the 24th worst film ever made: that 60% sounds like a lot of score-killing going on. This sort of thing goes on all the time at IMDB. I mean, [6% of the voters gave _The Godfather_ a ‘1’](http://imdb.com/title/tt0068646/ratings), while 16% gave a ‘10’ for [_Little Man_](http://imdb.com/title/tt0430304/ratings). 10% of the people who saw [_Titanic_](http://imdb.com/title/tt0120338/ratings) said it was a ‘1’, an amazing amount of dislike for a film that grossed $1.8 billion dollars its first go-around. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2007, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-number-1-movie-at-the-box-office-is-the-24th-worst-movie-ever-made/389515/30 "2007-01-27T13:39:33Z")
[QUOTE=JohnT] I mean, [6% of the voters gave _The Godfather_ a ‘1’](http://imdb.com/title/tt0068646/ratings) [/QUOTE] I did not care for that movie. It insists upon itself. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2007, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-number-1-movie-at-the-box-office-is-the-24th-worst-movie-ever-made/389515/31 "2007-01-27T16:56:54Z")
[QUOTE=Slacker] I’m sure The Queen has its merits, but I just don’t have any interest in stories from that time period. [/QUOTE] I really don’t think they could have done a worse job of marketing The Queen. Most people think it’s an English historical drama, when it’s actually about Princess Diana’s death and has Tony Blair as a main character. I suppose it doesn’t help that Helen Mirren was also in a different movie this year where she also played a queen and that was an English historical drama. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2007, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-number-1-movie-at-the-box-office-is-the-24th-worst-movie-ever-made/389515/32 "2007-01-27T17:32:19Z")
[QUOTE=Trunk] I have no idea why you lend credence to the views of one set of completely anonymous individuals, i.e. the raters at IMDB over the views of another set of completely anonymous individuals, i.e. the movie-goers. The movie is no more crap because IMDB says it is than it is good because people are going to see it. [/QUOTE] Well, the real answer is that I meant my OP more flippantly than it apparently reads. I don’t literally think that this is the 24th worst movie ever made just because IMDB users voted it so. Having said that, I do give more credence to IMDB user ratings than you do. It’s the biggest, most comprehensive movie website, and in my experience its ratings are usually ballpark indicative of the quality of a movie, even if I (or the critics for that matter) wouldn’t agree with the list rankings it produces. (The Lord of the Rings movies among the top ten ever made? Not a chance.) ---
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2007, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-number-1-movie-at-the-box-office-is-the-24th-worst-movie-ever-made/389515/33 "2007-01-27T22:41:02Z")
[QUOTE=SmackFu] I really don’t think they could have done a worse job of marketing The Queen. Most people think it’s an English historical drama, when it’s actually about Princess Diana’s death and has Tony Blair as a main character. I suppose it doesn’t help that Helen Mirren was also in a different movie this year where she also played a queen and that was an English historical drama. [/QUOTE] Good point about the marketing cause you’re right, I had no idea. :eek: I’ll check out a trailer. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2007, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-number-1-movie-at-the-box-office-is-the-24th-worst-movie-ever-made/389515/34 "2007-01-27T22:58:09Z")
[QUOTE=Trion] Well, it’s not going to get voted the 24th worst movie ever made without a lot of votes. And, presumably, lots of people need to see it to vote on it. Sounds like simple math to me. [/QUOTE] Not necessarily; it’s based on ratings, not numbers. If only 10 people voted, but they all gave it one star, it’s gonna be there at the bottom of the list. This is why new movies always get a spike: you’ll often find brand new movies up in the top ten, with all the gushing first-nighters rushing home to vote on IMDB. The ratings tend to average out over time. I suspect we’re seeing the same kind of negative spike in this place, and this movie will probably not remain at the very bottom for very long. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2007, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-number-1-movie-at-the-box-office-is-the-24th-worst-movie-ever-made/389515/35 "2007-01-27T23:05:32Z")
I mean, look at the page: a full third of the bottom 20 are from 2006–the bottomest three are all relatively new. Surely that won’t remain that way, unless 2006 really is the very worst year in the history of movies. Which, OK maybe you’re right. Anyway, only the truly bad films from previous years hold on in their fight to remain on the bottom of the pile. I don’t see all these 2006 movies permanently knocking \*Manos \*and \*Glitter \*out of the bottom 20. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2007, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-number-1-movie-at-the-box-office-is-the-24th-worst-movie-ever-made/389515/36 "2007-01-28T00:40:03Z")
Slacker writes: \> 1. Stomp the Yard (2007) \> 2. Night at the Museum (2006) - Saw all the funny parts in the preview already. \> 3. Dreamgirls (2006) - Musical + Oscar buzz = who cares \> 4. The Hitcher (2007) - Not in the mood for a spare horror flick \> 5. The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) - Annoyed by typo in title \> 6. Freedom Writers (2007) - If I want to see a whitey-saving-the-hood movie I’ll \> rent one of the 14 others available \> 7. Laberinto del Fauno, El (2006) - The what of the huh? \> 8. Children of Men (2006) - If the title by itself makes me think, I’m scared to \> see it \> 9. The Queen (2006) - Never heard of it \> 10. Arthur et les Minimoys (2006) - Can’t pronounce the title to ask for a ticket If your point is that someone who has been going out of their way to not watch any movie advertisement, not to watch any of the entertainment programs, and not to read any movie reviews might react this way, you might have a point. Perhaps that’s true for some people, but I would think that it would take a lot of work to avoid all those things. You’re inconsistent though. How could you know that _Freedom Writers_ is a “whitey-saving-the-hood movie” but not know that _The Queen_ is about the current queen? I can still understand that some people might prefer to see _Stomp the Yard_. There are some people for whom the setting in a black fraternity is all that matters. Could you explain to me why, though, you have so little knowledge of current film? (I don’t mean deep knowledge. I mean not seeing any TV ads or anything else.) And could you explain how you might still know that _Freedom Writers_ is a “whitey-saving-the-hood movie” and that _Children of Men_ is a movie that might make you think? ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2007, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-number-1-movie-at-the-box-office-is-the-24th-worst-movie-ever-made/389515/37 "2007-01-28T06:58:10Z")
[QUOTE=Wendell Wagner] If your point is that someone who has been going out of their way to not watch any movie advertisement, not to watch any of the entertainment programs, and not to read any movie reviews might react this way, you might have a point. [/QUOTE] I read it as a joke about what someone’s thought process might be in order to get them to see Stomp the Yard instead of all the other movies. Stomp the Yard is a surprise because there are some demographics that Hollywood tends to ignore. When something hits that demographic and makes a lot of money everyone becomes surprised. The success of Larry the Cable Guy is a good example. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingDragonFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@FlyingDragonFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingDragonFan)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2007, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-number-1-movie-at-the-box-office-is-the-24th-worst-movie-ever-made/389515/38 "2007-01-28T16:44:00Z")
[QUOTE=JohnT] I don’t understand comments like these because _all_ these films are available at my local [GooglePlexes](http://imdb.com/showtimes/location/37922/20m). Knoxville, TN isn’t exactly the worlds movie capital, but every time somebody makes this comment, it’s about a film that played within walking distance of my house. And I live in the suburbs. [/QUOTE] Not to jump on you specifically, but you might be lucky in this regard. In the county of which Fort Lauderdale is the major city, _Pan’s Labyrinth_ was playing in exactly one theater, the artsy-fartsy one. Luckily I live 5 minutes away from that, but there are still plenty of people who easily live 30 miles away, and are STILL in a major urban area. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-number-1-movie-at-the-box-office-is-the-24th-worst-movie-ever-made/389515.md?page=1)