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The Dark Knight

2008 · directed by Christopher Nolan · 152 min
28,232 feet · Prominence
8th of 24,106 films scored
The Rewatchables'The Dark Knight' With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Jason Concepcion →

How this film scores

Draw84

Lifetime worldwide gross $1.00bn, re-releases included; about $1.54bn in 2026 money.

Rank59 of 11,051In 20081 of 300

How Draw works

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

Praise93

Awards claim half the headroom above the critics' score.

Critics90 baseAwards70 signal → +4 lift

Oscars2 won Supporting Actor, Sound Editing6 nominated Cinematography, Production Design, Film Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup and Hairstyling, Sound
Golden Globes1 won Supporting Actor
BAFTAs1 won Actor1 nominated Craft and other
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.

Legacy92

Judged directly: Ledger's Joker, genre-defining, endlessly referenced.

Verdict92 of 100IMDb9.1 from 3.2mWikipedia139k views a monthAge18 years

On the listsNational Film Registryevidence, not an input to the score
Scored beside it · 11 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 84 praise 93 legacy 92averages 90, placing it at28,232 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

▲ Heath Ledger▲ Christian Bale

In these careers — elevation for this film

Heath Ledger21,089 ftChristian Bale20,443 ftAaron Eckhart19,736 ftGary Oldman19,316 ftMichael Caine18,786 ftMorgan Freeman18,642 ftMaggie Gyllenhaal18,491 ftCillian Murphy17,680 ftAnthony Michael Hall17,677 ftEric Roberts17,675 ftMichael Jai White17,673 ft