Yearly Reviews 1925-2025

67 thoughts on “Yearly Reviews 1925-2025”

1. Hi,
   I’m interested in how you calculate your Domestic Box Office data. Why are your numbers different from, for example, IMDb and Wikipedia?

   Why do I care? I’m involved in a series of podcasts about horror films under Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror brand, specifically The Classic Era (1969 and before), the 1970s, and the 1980s. For every film we discuss, we include whatever box office numbers we can find. Most of the time, the dollar value you supply is different (usually larger) than what I can find on IMDb or Wikipedia. I frequently plug your website when providing these numbers to our listeners and would also like to explain why UMR’s numbers are different or more accurate than other sources.

   I have a suspicion as to why there is a difference, but I would rather hear it directly from the figurative horse’s mouth.

   THANK YOU for any information you might provide!
   Jeff

   Reply

   1. Hey Jeff. Thanks for the visit and thanks for the shout outs on your podcasts. On pre-1969 movies, Wikipedia and IMDb show “box office rentals” versus “box office grosses”. Rentals are what the studio got back, while grosses are the box receipts at the ticket window. Our calculations take the rental figure and calculate the gross (this based on 1000s of movies and many years). Once we have a gross we calculate what that number means in 2020 dollars. It is an exact science? Of course not….but hopefully our numbers are close to the number that really occured….but that is question that will never be answered…as those numbers are like tears in the rain…gone forever. Hope that helps. Thanks again.

      Reply

2. HI BRUCE: As you know for better and sometimes for worse I can’t resist annoying guys like Steve by “telling it as [I think] it is” so my sincerest and warmest congratulations on the completion of this mammoth task. It marks a bitter-sweet juncture in the development of this site: sweet because we now have so much more additional information at our fingertips, and ‘bitter’ because henceforth we will have to wait a year between the appearances of further Cogerson annual reviews-for stats fans like me it will be like Martin Scorsese and what he said was his impatient wait for the release of a possible new Brando film each year!

   What makes your achievement so amazing is that you have been able to execute it on top of other multi major tasks and duties, on and away from the site, and also be a role model for the undertaking of family responsibilities. If I wished to complete an exercise like that I would need to seclude myself on a desert island for about 10 years and work on nothing else – with just the occasional break to watch the latest Steve video and maybe the odd treat of a “mushy” movie!

   I have mentioned before an interview in which Jim Mitchum praised the powerful on-camera presence of his brother Bob. He gave as an example Howard Hawks’ allowing him to watch Big Bob and The Duke filming together El Dorado in 1967. Jim Mitchum said in the interview something like “I sat behind the camera with Howard, and as Brother Robert and Wayne came walking down the street site by side towards us I had the impression I was watching 3 men instead of just 2!” I am beginning to wonder if you are more than even 3 men and whether I should have nicknamed you “The Work HorseS”!

   In Last of the Dinosaurs [episode12 of Series 3 of the TV series Quincy, first aired on 16 Dec 77] Quincy’s assistant Sam jokingly teases him with “Was that the movie in which your cowboy idol Will Presstin [a Duke type megastar in the episode] dug the Panama Canal with his own two bare hands?” With the possible exception of Steve I don’t think that anyone on this site would believe that even Jason Statham could have dug the Panama Canal all by himself – but I am beginning to think that possibly YOU could have done so! Take care WH[s].

   Reply

   1. Hey Bob….well thank you for the kind words. I have to give credit to WoC…without her computer knowledge these pages would not exist…..and if I had to do each one manually (typing all the information in) then we would have probably stopped with 1939 (the second classic year we did) and the new pages.

      Time challenges are always an issue here at UMR. This summer has been filled with trips……that includes one coming this weekend….and then later next month…Disney and a trip to Niagra Falls are scheduled….trying to jam everything in during a 12 week break from school is fun….but we have still produced 26 pages so far this summer vacation.

      Thanks again for the very kind words.

      Reply

      1. HI BRUCE

         It is of course the trips etc on top of your professional job[s] that make (1) you such an admirable “family man” in my view (2) it so amazing that you have achieved so much on this site. In fact if I didn’t know about you social and domestic commitments /activities I would presume you spent ALL your time working on this site when you were not at school and I would probably say to W o Bob at some stage “This is all great stuff but this guy should on occasions get a life!”

         We are all of course conscious of W o C ‘s massive influence on and contribution to the site and indeed “behind every great man there’s a great” woman is more than a cliche on this an occasion. Anyway take care.

         Reply

3. Doing a tally of movies in each decade…that have an UMR Score

   2010-2019 – 2,530 movies *2019 is adding new movies every week
   2000-2009 – 3,437 movies
   1990-1999 – 2,490 movies
   1980-1989 – 1,921 movies
   1970-1979 – 1,406 movies
   1960-1969 – 1,294 movies
   1950-1959 – 1,812 movies
   1940-1949 – 1,632 movies
   1930-1939 – 1,566 movies
   1928-1929 – 173 movies
   1902-1927 – 270 movies

   Reply

4. Hey Dan….epic post. I have his annual movie review books for most of these years. Many of the movies listed in the comments….were seen by me….because of the stellar reviews he gave the movie. Sometimes it was a wonderful movie experience…other times I was left questioning his thought process. My breakdown.

   Seen 18 of the 2002 movies. No real favorites. It took me a couple of tries to finish Russian Ark. The concept was awesome….one long shot…but the subject bored me to tears.

   Only 11 of the 2003 movies…once again no favorites…many of the movies on his list…were slow moving dark movies…Mystic River, Owning Mahoney and House of Sand and Fog.

   Seen 14 of the 2004 movies. I really liked Sideways. I have tried to get WoC to watch that one….but she gets bored with it very quickly.

   Seen 15 of the 2005 movies. Sin City is easily my favorite of the movies.

   And finally 16 of the 2006 movies. Children on Men and Casino Royale would be my favorites.

   Great comment….thanks for taking the time to put all of this together.

   Reply

5. Roger Ebert gave 28 2002 films 4 stars.

   24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE
   ADAPTATION
   ALL OR NOTHING
   AUTO FOCUS
   BLACK HAWK DOWN
   CHANGING LANES
   FAR FROM HEAVEN
   FAST RUNNER
   FEMME FATALE
   FRAILTY
   GOSFORD PARK
   GREY ZONE
   HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS
   INVINCIBLE
   IVANS XTC
   LOVELY AND AMAZING
   MAN FROM ELYSIAN FIELDS
   METROPOLIS
   MINORITY REPORT
   MONSTER’S BALL
   MOONLIGHT MILE
   RIVERS & TIDES: ANDY GOLDWORTHY WORKING WITH TIME
   RUSSIAN ARK
   SIGNS
   SPIRITED AWAY
   TALK TO HER
   THIRTEEN CONVERSATIONS ABOUT ONE THING
   Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN

   He gave 27 2003 films 4 stars.

   ALL THE REAL GIRLS
   AMERICAN SPLENDOR
   BARBARIAN INVASIONS
   BETTER LUCK TOMORROW
   CITY OF GOD
   ELEPHANT
   FINDING NEMO
   GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING
   GREY AUTOMOBILE (1919)
   HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG
   IN AMERICA
   KILL BILL: VOLUME 1
   LOST IN TRANSLATION
   MAN ON THE TRAIN
   MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD
   MATCHSTICK MEN
   MAY
   MYSTIC RIVER
   NORTHFORK
   NOWHERE IN AFRICA
   OWNING MAHONEY
   QUIET AMERICAN
   SAFE CONDUCT
   SCHOOL OF ROCK
   SON, THE
   SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER, AND SPRING
   WHALE RIDER

   He gave 26 4 star films in 2004 (he is generous isn’t he).

   AVIATOR, THE
   BAADASSSSS!
   CLOSER
   DREAMERS, THE
   FOG OF WAR
   HOTEL RWANDA
   HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS
   KILL BILL: VOLUME 2
   KINSEY
   MILLION DOLLAR BABY
   MONSTER
   MOOLAADE
   PASSION OF THE CHRIST
   POLAR EXPRESS
   RAY
   SIDEWAYS
   SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW
   SPARTAN
   SPIDER-MAN 2
   TARNATION
   TOUCHING THE VOID
   TWILIGHT SAMURAI
   UNDERTOW
   VANITY FAIR
   VERA DRAKE
   WHEN WILL I BE LOVED

   But wait in 2005 he deemed 30 films were 4 star worthy.

   49 UP
   BATMAN BEGINS
   BEE SEASON
   BEST OF YOUTH
   BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
   BROKEN FLOWERS
   CAPOTE
   CONSTANT GARDNER
   CRASH
   DOWNFALL
   GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK
   GRIZZLY MEN
   JUNEBUG
   KING KONG
   LAST DAYS
   ME AND EVERYONE YOU KNOW
   MILLIONS
   MUNICH
   MURDERBALL
   NO DIRECTION HOME: BOB DYLAN
   NORTH COUNTRY
   OLDBOY
   PRIDE & PREJUDICE
   PROOF
   SARABAND
   SIN CITY
   SYRIANA
   TURTLES CAN FLY
   UPSIDE OF ANGER
   YES

   27 more in 2006 (more than I would give in 3 or 4 years)

   AKEELAH AND THE BEE
   AWAY FROM HER
   BABEL
   BUBBLE
   CACHE
   CASINO ROYALE
   CHILDREN OF MEN
   DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU
   DEPARTED, THE
   INCONVENIENT TRUTH
   L’ENFANT
   LIVES OF OTHERS
   MAN PUSH CART
   MARIE ANTIONETTE
   MATCH POINT
   NEW WORLD
   PAN’S LABYRINTH
   PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION
   PROPOSITION, THE
   QUEEN, THE
   THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA
   THREE TIMES
   TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY
   TSOTSI
   UNITED 93
   VANAJA
   VOLVER

   He averaged in that period like 1 every 2 weeks.

   Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.