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Planes, Trains and Automobiles

1987 · directed by John Hughes · 92 min
25,519 feet · Prominence
349th of 24,106 films scored
The Rewatchables‘Planes, Trains, and Automobiles’ With Bill Simmons and Van Lathan →

How this film scores

Draw58

Lifetime worldwide gross $50m, re-releases included; about $144m in 2026 money.

Rank2,247 of 11,051In 198725 of 162

How Draw works

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

Praise83

Awards claim half the headroom above the critics' score.

Critics83 baseAwards0 signal → +0 lift

No award rows on file, usually missing data rather than missing honours. Wikidata is thin for older and non-English films.

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.

Legacy70

Judged directly: Thanksgiving staple, endlessly quoted Hughes.

Verdict70 of 100IMDb7.6 from 180kWikipedia42k views a monthAge39 years

Scored beside it · 309 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 58 praise 83 legacy 70averages 70, placing it at25,519 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

▲ John Candy▲ Steve Martin

In these careers — elevation for this film

John Candy20,341 ftSteve Martin20,341 ftMichael McKean17,848 ftDylan Baker17,820 ftKevin Bacon17,729 ftLaila Robins17,727 ftMatthew Lawrence17,633 ft