1995 was the greatest year for movies, according to movie fans

Which year was the greatest ever for movies? The age old debate seems to have been finally settled, with the answer being: 1995.

Research undertaken by online comparison website BingoSites compared the most highly rated movie releases between 1920-2022 and found that 1995 was the year responsible for the largest number of films in the publicly-rated IMDb’s Top 250 movies of all time.

Eight 1995 movies appear in that list: Seven, The Usual Suspects, Toy Story, Braveheart, Heat, Casino, Before Sunrise, and French drama La Haine.

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Other great movies released in 1995 that didn't make the Top 250 include the year's number one film Die Hard With a Vengeance, Trainspotting, Apollo 13, GoldenEye, Pocahontas, Get Shorty, Bad Boys, Leaving Las Vegas and Jumanji.

Mel Gibson's Braveheart won Best Picture and Best Director at the Oscars, while Babe and Sense and Sensibility were among the films honoured by the Golden Globes that year too.

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IMDb ratings are not an exact science however. For example, films from 1994 (including the current number one The Shawshank Redemption) in the Top 250 score a better average rating of 8.7, as do films from 1999, but the results will definitely spark some debate among cineastes.

The second-best year — according to the research — was 1957, with seven titles in the Top 250: 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.

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The third best year, according to IMDb users, also with seven titles — but a slightly lower average rating — was 2019: Parasite, Joker, Avengers: Endgame, 1917, Klaus, Le Mans ‘66, Miracle in Cell No.7.

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.”

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