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Paris Is Burning

1991 · directed by Jennie Livingston · 78 min
24,954 feet · Prominence
508th of 15,261 films scored
Not coveredNo Rewatchables episode on file.

How this film scores

Draw37

$4m worldwide in 1991 — $9m in today's money.

As released$4mIn 2026 money$9mRank5,956 of 8,589In 1991102 of 146

How Draw works

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

Praise91

Critics 91, awards 0. Half each, so Praise lands at 91.

Critics91 → 45Awards0 → 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.

Legacy72

Judged directly: Gave mainstream its drag and voguing vocabulary.

Verdict72 of 100IMDb8.2 from 19kWikipedia20k views a monthAge35 years

On the listsNational Film RegistryCriterion CollectionSight & Soundevidence, not an input to the score
Scored beside it · 260 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 37 praise 91 legacy 72averages 67, which places it at24,954 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: Pepper LaBeija, Octavia St. Laurent, Venus Xtravaganza, Dorian Corey.