← Apex Mountain

Raiders of the Lost Ark

1981 · directed by Steven Spielberg · 115 min
28,012 feet · Prominence
16th of 15,261 films scored
The Rewatchables‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey

How this film scores

Draw81

$390m worldwide in 1981 — $1.21bn in today's money.

As released$390mIn 2026 money$1.21bnRank112 of 8,589In 19811 of 76

How Draw works

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

Praise93

Critics 90, awards 66. Half each, so Praise lands at 93.

Critics90 → 45Awards66 → 33

Oscars4 won Production Design, Film Editing, Visual Effects, Sound4 nominated Picture, Director, Cinematography, Original Score
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.

Legacy90

Judged directly: Indiana Jones, timeless adventure icon.

Verdict90 of 100IMDb8.4 from 1.1mWikipedia97k views a monthAge45 years

On the listsNational Film RegistryAFI 100Sight & Soundevidence, not an input to the score
Scored beside it · 19 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 81 praise 93 legacy 90averages 88, which places it at28,012 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

Harrison Ford

In these careers — elevation for this film

Harrison Ford24,078 ft