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Heaven Can Wait

1978 · directed by Warren Beatty and Buck Henry · 101 min
23,072 feet · Prominence
1,370th of 24,106 films scored
The Rewatchables‘Heaven Can Wait’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan →

How this film scores

Draw70

Lifetime worldwide gross $99m, re-releases included; about $500m in 2026 money.

Rank617 of 11,051In 19785 of 58

How Draw works

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

Praise87

Awards claim half the headroom above the critics' score.

Critics77 baseAwards88 signal → +10 lift

Oscars1 won Production Design8 nominated Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Original Score
Golden Globes3 won Best Picture, Lead acting, Supporting acting
How Praise works

Critics set the score; a tiered award record, Picture and Directing carrying the most weight, claims half the headroom above it. Praise is the verdict at the time; Legacy is the verdict since.

Legacy32

Judged directly: Largely forgotten outside its Oscar year.

Verdict32 of 100IMDb6.9 from 25kWikipedia14k views a monthAge48 years

Scored beside it · 2,297 of 4,039 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 70 praise 87 legacy 32averages 63, placing it at23,072 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

Warren Beatty20,159 ftJack Warden18,995 ftDyan Cannon18,969 ftJulie Christie18,872 ftCharles Grodin18,704 ftJames Mason18,494 ftVincent Gardenia18,061 ftJohn Randolph17,633 ftWilliam Sylvester17,628 ft