Ranking the Best
A leaderboard is a scoring system, originating in arcade games, that publicly ranks players according to their performance. Whether it’s the highest score, the fastest time, or the most wins, the leaderboard turns a potentially solitary activity into a public competition, giving the best players bragging rights and a goal for others to strive for.
While the concept is most directly associated with gaming, the underlying principle of competitive ranking is present throughout the film world and its surrounding culture.
Leaderboards in the Film World
- Box Office Rankings: The most prominent leaderboard in the film industry is the box office. Trade publications and fan sites meticulously track and display rankings for the highest-grossing films of the weekend, the year, and of all time. This public ranking creates a competitive narrative between studios, franchises, and even individual films.
- In-Movie Narratives: Films set within a competitive framework often use a leaderboard as a central plot device to track the protagonist’s progress. In Ready Player One, the main characters are constantly checking their position on the OASIS leaderboard in their hunt for the Easter egg. In The Hunger Games, the decreasing number of living tributes is a grim form of leaderboard.
- Fan Apps and Websites: Platforms for film lovers, like Letterboxd, incorporate leaderboard-like features. Users can track and compare stats with their friends, such as the total number of films watched in a year, creating a friendly competition among cinephiles.