← Apex Mountain

Grease

1978 · directed by Randal Kleiser · 110 min
27,042 feet · Prominence
77th of 15,261 films scored
The Rewatchables‘Grease’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Amanda Dobbins

How this film scores

Draw85

$396m worldwide in 1978 — $1.68bn in today's money.

As released$396mIn 2026 money$1.68bnRank40 of 8,589In 19781 of 59

How Draw works

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

Praise68

Critics 68, awards 5. Half each, so Praise lands at 68.

Critics68 → 34Awards5 → 2

Oscars1 nominated Original Song
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.

Legacy88

Judged directly: Enduring musical, endlessly quoted and sung.

Verdict88 of 100IMDb7.2 from 324kWikipedia69k views a monthAge48 years

On the listsNational Film Registryevidence, not an input to the score
Scored beside it · 43 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 85 praise 68 legacy 88averages 80, which places it at27,042 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 Travolta

In these careers — elevation for this film

John Travolta23,214 ft