The Exorcist

1973 · directed by William Friedkin · 122 min

28,125 feet · Prominence

14th of 24,106 films scored

The Rewatchables‘The Exorcist’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan →

How this film scores

Draw95

Lifetime worldwide gross $431m, re-releases included; about $3.20bn in 2026 money.

Rank4 of 11,051In 19731 of 48

How Draw works

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

Praise90

Awards claim half the headroom above the critics' score.

Critics81 baseAwards95 signal → +9 lift

Oscars2 won Adapted Screenplay, Sound8 nominated Picture, Director, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Cinematography, Production Design, Film Editing

Golden Globes4 won Motion Picture, Director, Supporting Actress, Screenplay2 nominated Lead acting, Supporting acting

BAFTAs1 nominated Sound

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.

Legacy88

Judged directly: Redefined horror, still the benchmark.

Verdict88 of 100IMDb8.1 from 496kWikipedia76k views a monthAge53 years

On the listsNational Film Registryevidence, not an input to the score

Scored beside it · 30 of 4,039 films judged

89The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

89Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

89Annie Hall (1977)

88The Lion King (1994)

88Saving Private Ryan (1998)

88The Godfather Part II (1974)

88The Exorcist (1973)

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 95 praise 90 legacy 88averages 91, placing it at28,125 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

▲ Jason Miller

In these careers — elevation for this film

Ellen Burstyn20,453 ft Linda Blair20,177 ft Max von Sydow19,007 ft Jason Miller18,937 ft