Analyzing the Riker Scale Top 50 Movie List

Earlier this year, I released a list of my 50 favorite movies, called the Riker Scale. Each movie on the list was also given a value from 1-100 as a rating. If you haven’t checked it out, you can find the full list in the Movies tab.

Going through the list, multiple interesting trends and tendencies emerged. Here are some of the most intriguing fun facts of the Riker Scale.

Best Director is, By Far, Steven Spielberg

With three movies in the top 12 and five flicks on the list, Spielberg is found early and often on the list. No other director has more than two movies on the list. Jurassic Park is the best of the bunch at No. 2, while Jaws and Tin-Tin score above 96. The famed director has another film coming out in December 2017, Ready Player One, that is based off one of my favorite books and has top-five potential.

Star Wars Rules the Riker Scale

The Harry Potter and superhero series place several films on the list, but no saga rivals the Star Wars epics. Empire Strikes Back is the number two movie on the list with a score of 98, Force Awakens and New Hope finished sixth and seventh, and Revenge of the Sith, one of the infamous prequels, sneaked into the nine spot. That is the sign of a true Star Wars fanatic.

Movie Ratings Split Between PG and PG-13

On the list, only four movies are rated G and none are R or NC-17. To be fair, three of the top 15 movies are rated G, and I haven’t had the opportunity to watch many R-rated films. The leader, with 21 movies, is… a tie. There is an equal amount of PG and PG-13 movies, both with just over 20 movies. In the future, I’d expect PG-13 to take the lead, with the number of R ratings increasing. Note: four movies have no rating- mostly Poirot mysteries that were classified as movies due to the length of production.

Majority of Movies From 21st Century

Nearly 2/3rds of the movies on the list are from 2000 onwards, with the current number at 32. The breakdown by decade- 13 from the 2010s, 19 from the 2000s, four from the 1990s, five from the 1980s, three from the 1970s, three from the 1960s, none from the 1950s, and two from the 1940s. With the 2010s just past the halfway mark, it is on pace to eclipse the 20-movie mark.

Superhero Stackup

Eight superhero movies made the cut and they represent six different superheroes (or superfamilies). But instead of Spiderman, Batman, or Superman, the highest honor easily goes to the Incredibles. Yes, my favorite superheroes are the Incredibles. Of all of the movies that I’ve ever watched, The Incredibles is the only film I’ve seen more than five times, and today I saw it for the eighth time. I wasn’t even allowed to see it until first grade due to the PG rating, so I never saw it in theaters. The Incredibles 2 can’t come soon enough.

Sports Movie Genre a Diverse Lineup

Baseball, football, cross country, track- it’s all on the top list. Starting with my favorite sports movie, the Sandlot, at the fourth spot, six movies (including the recent addition Race) made the list. Of those six, four different sports are represented. Those statistics don’t take into account the many sports movies that barely missed the cut, such as the Perfect Game, Pistol Pete and Hoosiers.

Star Wars Actors Jackson, Jones, Star in Top Ten

With so many Star Wars installments in the top-ten, it is no surprise that a couple of the actors in those movies show up a lot on this list. But the two leaders, Samuel L. Jackson and James Earl Jones, go beyond the galaxy far, far, away. Jackson plays key roles in Jurassic Park (2) as Ray Arnold, in the Incredibles (5) as Frozone/Lucius, and in Revenge of the Sith (9) as Jedi Master Mace Windu. Jones, famous for being the voice actor of Darth Vader, is credited in Empire Strikes Back (3) and New Hope (7) and also appears in the end of The Sandlot (4).

Full List