← Apex Mountain

Once Were Warriors

1994 · directed by Lee Tamahori · 99 min
23,893 feet · Prominence
922nd of 24,106 films scored
Not coveredNo Rewatchables episode on file.

How this film scores

Draw40

Lifetime worldwide gross $7m, re-releases included; about $15m in 2026 money.

Rank6,440 of 11,051In 1994120 of 178

How Draw works

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

Praise85

Awards claim half the headroom above the critics' score.

Critics85 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. 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.

Legacy55

Judged directly: Landmark New Zealand film, enduring impact.

Verdict55 of 100IMDb7.9 from 38kWikipedia17k views a monthAge32 years

Scored beside it · 828 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 40 praise 85 legacy 55averages 60, placing it at23,893 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

▲ Mamaengaroa Kerr-Bell▲ Rena Owen▲ Julian Arahanga

In these careers — elevation for this film

Temuera Morrison18,621 ftMamaengaroa Kerr-Bell18,442 ftRena Owen18,362 ftCliff Curtis18,052 ftJulian Arahanga17,879 ft