Years pass, everything we know is changing one by one, but we always see The Shawshank Redemption movie, which is at the top of the IMDb Top 250 list. How is it that 1994’s The Price of Bondage still stands at the top of IMDb when hundreds of new movies are shot around the world every year? Let’s take a closer look at this issue.
IMDb is a website where you can find detailed information about movies and vote for movies after signing up. The ranking in the Top 250 list determined by user votes changes every year, except for the summit. At the top of the list for many years The Shawshank Redemption There is a movie. Considering that those who were born when the movie was released today have children. The Price of Bondage What does the film owe its success to?
The Price of Bondage topped IMDb’s list The site voting system, the story of the film, its competitors and the spirit of the period it came out have all contributed to its finding. So the movie is not something that can be said to be very good. There are even many who criticize whether its high score would make a good movie. The Price of Bondage Let’s take a closer look at the movie and the secrets behind its years-long IMDb title, we can say that what we will see will be a little surprising.
The Price of Bondage had returned empty-handed from Oscar:
Famous American horror writer Stephen King Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption of the short story movie adaptation Frank Darabont is the director of The Shawshank Redemption and The Redemption of Bondage is the producer company of Castle Rock Entertainment studios.
The movie, which was released in 1994, grossed only $16 million at the country box office, although it was shot with a budget of $25 million. Starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman The movie, which was disappointed at the box office, was nominated for Oscar awards in 7 categories that year, but returned empty-handed from every branch.
In the movie, despite the fact that a banker named Andy Dufresne claims to be innocent. for murdering his wife and her lover We watch him get into prison, make friends with Ellis Boyd Redding, alias Red, in prison, and later help the prison warden with money laundering.
Despite its strong rivals, it maintains its first place:
The current IMDb score of The Price of Bondage is 9.3, and with this score, it is in the IMDb Top 250 list. is at its peak. The Rotten Tomatoes score of the movie is also 91%. The film, which occasionally exceeds the IMDb score of 9.3, has managed to rank first in the Top 250 list for many years, no matter what.
In the IMDb Top 250 list, The Godfather is second with 9.1 points, The Godfather II is third with 9.0 points, The Dark Knight is fourth with 9.0 points and 12 Angry Men is fifth with 8.9 points. Pulp Fiction, which was released in the same year as The Price of Bondage, ranks eighth with 8.8 points. well The rivals of the film are quite strong productions. So, how is it that it still maintains its place at the top among so many strong competitors?
In fact, IMDb’s scoring system also works quite suspiciously:
While the 2019 movie Joker could not get enough of the praise at the Venice Film Festival, some people were saying that its IMDb score went up to 9.8. However The Joker movie never made it to the top of the Top 250 and currently has 8.4 points. Although more than 1 million people voted for the movie, it failed to place it at the top.
There are more than 2.3 million users who voted for The Price of Bondage. Anyway, IMDb is asking for a movie to be considered evaluable. that at least 25,000 votes have been cast it stipulates. However, not all site members are considered as voters, and not everyone’s vote is of equal value.
According to the system visible from the outside, anyone can become a member of IMDb and vote. However everyone is accepted as a voter and their votes are not taken into consideration. So, what are the criteria for being a voter? We don’t know. Because IMDb says it deliberately did not reveal the criteria for being a voter.
The Redemption of Bondage is known not on the internet or in movie theaters as it is today, but on VHS tapes and television:
The Price of Bondage is the director’s first film and its production studio is not a well-known company. master lead Even the performance of the actors did not achieve the necessary box office success for the movie. The film, which suffered a loss at the country’s box office, managed to save the capital with its world box office. We can say that the spirit of the 90s was influential in the film’s arrival to this point, which did not get what it expected at the Oscar Awards.
Released in 1994, the movie sold 300,000 VHS cassette copies in 1995. This figure is the VHS tape record of that year. Two years later, Castle Rock Entertainment, Acquired by the television channel TNT. Thus, the movie The Price of Bondage began to meet with the audience via cable broadcast.
The movie included in the New Classics series, according to a 2013 study Published over 150 hours. Considering the cable broadcasting curiosity of the US society, it is possible to understand how much the movie was watched. In other words, television broadcasting has a great role in the popularity of The Price of Bondage.
Let’s face it, though, The Price of Bondage has a story that gives people hope:
While not ignoring the dubious IMDb scoring system and the influence of television broadcasts, the film should not be taken for granted. The Price of Bondage, Although it does not present a very strong story compared to its period and its competitors, manages to touch people’s hearts. The reason for this is that it successfully meets the secret need of hope that has been in everyone’s soul since humanity existed.
The Price of Bondage actually tells the audience that they must not give up no matter what. As in Nazım Hikmet’s poem On Living The movie talks about living as if you will never die. Wherever you live, no matter what. Considering that things have not been going well since 1994, when the movie was released, we can see how much people need the hope that the movie The Price of Bondage gives.
Even the footage, music, actors, shooting location and sound system of the movie. among the factors that strengthen the story. Maybe that’s why he’s been so successful on television. Imagine how impressive it would be to come across such a production while sitting at home alone and watching TV. Some movies like to be watched in the middle of the night in a room lit only by the television light.
The Shawshank Redemption We examined the reasons for the IMDb winner of The Price of Bondage and we told the story behind such a success. Does the movie really deserve first place? You can share your thoughts in the comments.