This Was the Best Ever Year For Movies, Research Reveals

1995 was the best ever year for movies, new research has revealed.

Online comparison website BingoSites compared the most highly rated movie releases between 1920-2022 and found that 1995 produced the largest number of films that appear in IMDb’s Top 250 movies of all time – as rated by the public.

1995 saw the release of eight films which made it into IMDb’s Top 250 movies, as rated by regular users. The year offered lots of variety with; Seven, The Usual Suspects, Toy Story, Braveheart, Heat, Casino, Before Sunrise and La Haine. The highest rated films of 1995 gave an average rating of 8.3 out of 10 according to regular IMDb users.

The second-best year was 1957, which released seven titles, one less than 1995’s selection, averaging 8.3 out of 10. These included 12 Angry Men, Paths of Glory, Witness for the Prosecution, The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, The Bridge on the River Kwai and Nights of Cabiria. The Bridge on the River Kwai went on to win 30 awards in the following year, including an Oscar for Best Picture and a BAFTA for Best Film.

The third best year was 2019, saw the release of seven films in the top 250, averaging a slightly lower but still impressive 8.2 rating out of 10. This year saw the release of top seven titles including Parasite, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, as well as Hollywood blockbusters, Joker, Avengers: Endgame and 1917.

The fourth best year was 1997, which saw six top releases averaging 8.3 out of 10.

The six top releases included Italian comedy-drama Life is Beautiful, animated Japanese fantasy Princess Mononoke and coming-of-age drama Good Will Hunting. Outside of the top 250, popular films of the year also included Titanic and Men in Black.

The fifth best year was 2000 with a total of six top releases averaging 8.2 out of 10.

The top six releases of 2000 included historical epic Gladiator which became the highest rated film of that year, as well as mind bending thriller Memento and the more harrowing, Requiem for a Dream. Outside of the top 250, the year saw audiences’ recoil during the release of cult classic American Psycho and then count their blessings during the release of Cast Away.

A spokesperson for BingoSites commented on the findings: “1995 was an excellent year for movies and it appears to be the go-to year for well written crime thrillers – with five of the eight top releases falling into this genre.

It is clear that 27 years later, these titles have stood the test of time, with audiences continuing to enjoy them despite the abundance to new releases.

The data suggests that while the mid 90s came out on top, the fact that 1957 ranked in second place, shows that audiences still have a strong appreciation for earlier classic pieces of cinema.”