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This Is Spinal Tap

1984 · directed by Rob Reiner · 82 min
26,171 feet · Prominence
219th of 15,261 films scored
Not coveredThe 219th highest film on the mountain, and The Rewatchables has never done it.

How this film scores

Draw42

$6m worldwide in 1984 — $19m in today's money.

As released$6mIn 2026 money$19mRank5,222 of 8,589In 198473 of 93

How Draw works

Inflation-adjusted worldwide box office, on one global curve, and nothing else. It does not know whether a film was good.

Praise95

Critics 95, awards 0. Half each, so Praise lands at 95.

Critics95 → 48Awards0 → 0

No award rows on file. The awards pass reads Wikidata, which is thin for older and non-English films, so an empty ledger is usually missing data rather than an absence of honours.

How Praise works

Half critics, half a tiered award record where Picture and Directing carry most of the weight. Praise is the verdict at the time; Legacy is the verdict since. This film is near critically unanimous and barely registers on awards, so the awards half halves it — which penalises it for the Academy's rules rather than its quality.

Legacy85

Judged directly: Invented mockumentary; 'goes to eleven' permanent idiom.

Verdict85 of 100IMDb7.9 from 154kWikipedia109k views a monthAge42 years

On the listsNational Film RegistryCriterion Collectionevidence, not an input to the score
Scored beside it · 74 of 3,430 films judged

If it does not belong in this company, the number is wrong.

How Legacy works

Legacy is a judgment, not a formula. A film can be adored by critics and culturally quiet, or lightly reviewed and permanently lodged in the culture, and no arithmetic over IMDb numbers tells the difference. Every signal behind it keeps updating.

draw 42 praise 95 legacy 85averages 74, which places it at26,171 ft
How the three become one number

Added, not multiplied, so a film transcendent on one pillar and weak on another is not zeroed out. A compression curve then squeezes the top, because the seven greatest films ever made should not be four thousand feet apart.

In these careers — elevation for this film

No scored career runs through this film yet. The people-side engine currently covers 108careers, and this film’s cast sits outside them. Top billing: Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Rob Reiner.