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Purple Rain

1984 · directed by Albert Magnoli · 111 min
25,220 feet · Prominence
430th of 24,106 films scored
The Rewatchables‘Purple Rain’ With Bill Simmons and Wesley Morris →

How this film scores

Draw62

Lifetime worldwide gross $68m, re-releases included; about $217m in 2026 money.

Rank1,597 of 11,051In 198413 of 112

How Draw works

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

Praise67

Awards claim half the headroom above the critics' score.

Critics65 baseAwards12 signal → +2 lift

Oscars1 won Original Song Score
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.

Legacy74

Judged directly: Prince landmark, album and film immortal.

Verdict74 of 100IMDb6.5 from 26kWikipedia25k views a monthAge42 years

On the listsNational Film Registryevidence, not an input to the score
Scored beside it · 223 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 62 praise 67 legacy 74averages 68, placing it at25,220 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.

Whose apex this is

▲ Apollonia Kotero

In these careers — elevation for this film

Prince19,929 ftApollonia Kotero18,213 ftMorris Day18,182 ftJerome Benton18,014 ft