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Risky Business

1983 · directed by Paul Brickman · 98 min
25,862 feet · Prominence
271st of 24,106 films scored
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How this film scores

Draw61

Lifetime worldwide gross $64m, re-releases included; about $211m in 2026 money.

Rank1,656 of 11,051In 198314 of 101

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.

Critics84 baseAwards11 signal → +1 lift

Golden Globes1 nominated Lead acting
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.

Legacy72

Judged directly: Cruise underwear dance endlessly parodied.

Verdict72 of 100IMDb6.8 from 105kWikipedia27k views a monthAge43 years

On the listsCriterion Collectionevidence, not an input to the score
Scored beside it · 252 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 61 praise 85 legacy 72averages 73, placing it at25,862 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

Tom Cruise20,235 ftRebecca De Mornay19,360 ftJoe Pantoliano18,507 ftCurtis Armstrong18,041 ftRichard Masur17,895 ftSean Penn17,667 ftKevin Anderson17,641 ft