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Alien

1979 · directed by Ridley Scott · 117 min
27,832 feet · Prominence
25th of 24,106 films scored
The Rewatchables‘Alien’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey →

How this film scores

Draw70

Lifetime worldwide gross $105m, re-releases included; about $477m in 2026 money.

Rank664 of 11,051In 19797 of 64

How Draw works

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

Praise92

Awards claim half the headroom above the critics' score.

Critics91 baseAwards32 signal → +1 lift

Oscars1 won Visual Effects1 nominated Production Design
Golden Globes1 nominated Original Score
BAFTAs1 won Sound3 nominated Actor, Original Music, Editing
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. This film is near critically unanimous and barely registers on awards, so there is little headroom for awards to claim. The score is the critics' verdict, nearly untouched.

Legacy92

Judged directly: Sci-fi horror landmark, endlessly referenced.

Verdict92 of 100IMDb8.5 from 1.1mWikipedia130k views a monthAge47 years

On the listsNational Film RegistrySight & Soundevidence, not an input to the score
Scored beside it · 15 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 92 legacy 92averages 85, placing it at27,832 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

▲ Veronica Cartwright

In these careers — elevation for this film

Sigourney Weaver20,524 ftJohn Hurt19,236 ftIan Holm19,215 ftTom Skerritt18,720 ftHarry Dean Stanton18,640 ftYaphet Kotto18,447 ftVeronica Cartwright18,325 ft