Examining User Rating Demographics on IMDb for All “Star Wars” Films

Now that there are more than 100,000 user ratings for “#StarWars IX: #TheRiseOfSkywalker” on IMDb, we can do a comparison the user rating demographics for all of the live-action “Star Wars” films to see if any patterns emerge. The demographics are illustrated in the chart below.

User Rating Demographics on IMDb for Live-Action “Star Wars” Films

Color Codings

• Overall ratings are color-coded based on the overall score as follows:
  • Green: a score of at least 8.0.
  • Yellow: a score between 7.0 and 7.9.
  • Red: a score that is 6.9 or lower.
• For overall male and female user ratings:
  • Scores marked in blue mean that the overall male score was higher than the overall female score.
  • Scores marked in pink mean that the overall female score was higher than the overall male score.
  • Scores makes in grey mean that the male and female scores are the same.
• For U.S. versus non-U.S. user ratings:
  • Scores marked indigo in either column are the higher of the two scores for each fim.
• For “Demographic Giving Highest Ratings:
  • Blue means that a male demographic gave the highest rating.
  • Pink means that a female demographic gave the highest rating.

Results

The results are quite interesting, as listed below:

• Overall User Ratings:
  • The highest rated film overall from all demographics is “Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back” with an overall user rating of 8.7.
  • The lowest rated film overall from all demographics is “Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace” with an overall user rating of 6.5.
  • The group of films with the highest overall ratings overall is the original trilogy (OT); Episodes IV, V & VI. The average of the 3 overall ratings is 8.53.
  • The group of films with the overall lowest ratings is the prequel trilogy (PT); Episodes I, II & III. The average of the 3 overall ratings is 6.87.
  • Disney’s sequel trilogy (Episodes VII, VIII & IX) have an overall average user rating of 7.33.
• U.S. versus Non-U.S. User Ratings
  • U.S. and Non-U.S. voters disagree on every single “Star Wars” film.
  • The film with the overall highest rating from U.S. voters, as well as Non-U.S. voters, is “Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back” with a U.S. rating of 9.0 and a Non-U.S. voter rating of 8.6.
  • Of the 11 live-action “Star Wars” films, 8 are rated higher by U.S. voters overall than by Non-U.S. voters: the original trilogy (Episodes IV, V & VI), the Disney sequel trilogy (Episodes VII, VIII & IX) and the 2 standalone films (“Rogue One” & “Solo”).
  • The 3 films that Non-U.S. voters gave higher overall ratings than U.S. voters are the three prequels (PT): Episodes I, II and III.
• Male versus Female User Ratings:
  • Three films are preferred by male voters more than female voters: two of the original trilogy films (Episodes IV & V) and the standalone film “Rogue One”.
  • Six films are preferred by female voters more than by male voters: two of the prequel films (Episodes I & II), the Disney sequel trilogy (Episodes VII, VIII & IX) and the standalone film “Solo”.
  • There was agreement between both male and female voters on two films: Episode IV (from the original trilogy) and Episode III (from the prequel trilogy).
  • The two films with the widest margin between male and female ratings are two of the Disney sequel trilogy films: Episodes VIII and IX, which both have discrepancies of 0.6.
  • There is very little overall discrepancy between male and female voters for the six films produced and written by George Lucas (the original trilogy and the prequels): their average difference in overall user ratings is only 0.03, which is only slightly in favor of males.
  • There is a higher overall average discrepancy between male and female voters for the five films produced by Disney (Disney’s sequel trilogy and the 2 standalone films): the overall overage difference in user ratings is 0.3 in favor of female voters.
  • Comparing the overall differences between male & female voters for the films produced by George Lucas and the films produced by Disney, the overall discrepancy between male & female voters for the Disney films is much larger than for the films produced by George Lucas by a factor of 10. This suggests that the films that George Lucas produced had a much broader appeal to both sexes, while the Disney-produced films were intended to appeal more to women.
  • Films that are more popular with female voters tended to have lower overall user ratings:
    • The average overall user ratings for the 3 films preferred by male voters is 8.3.
    • The average overall user ratings for the 6 films preferred by female voters is 7.0.
• Examining the “Demographic Giving Highest Rating” Groups
  • Of the 11 live-action films, only 2 of the films (the two oldest films, Episodes IV and V) had a male demographic giving the highest rating.
  • Of the 11 live-action films, 5 of the films received their highest rating from the females under 18 years old demographic.
  • Of the 9 films that have their highest ratings coming from female voters, 2 of those demographics were from females that are at least 45 years of age or older: “Solo” and Episode IX.

Interpreting the Results

Looking at the breakdown of the demographics for the user ratings for all of the “Star Wars” films, a few interpretations can be drawn, but must be taken within the context of the data that was examined.

• It would appear that Disney has tended to make the films that it has produced more appealing to female viewers than male viewers, while George Lucas appears to have tried to appeal more to both genders.
• Even after 11 live-action films, the original three films remain the most highly rated.
• Overall, the films have tended to be preferred by U.S. viewers more than Non-U.S. viewers.

References

• IMDb Ratings for “Star War IV: A New Hope”
• IMDb Ratings for “Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back”
• IMDb Ratings for “Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi”
• IMDb Ratings for “Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace”
• IMDb Ratings for “Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones”
• IMDb Ratings for “Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith”
• IMDb Ratings for “Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens”
• IMDb Ratings for “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
• IMDb Ratings for “Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi”
• IMDb Ratings for “Solo: A Star Wars Story”
• IMDb Ratings for “Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker”

Mixed Reactions to “Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi”

Reactions to the latest movie entry in the #StarWars franchise, “#StarWarsVIII: #TheLastJedi”, are quite mixed. While the movie received a rating of 93% from movie critics on #RottenTomatoes, the audience score is only 56% (which equates to a rating of 3.3 out of 5 stars). The situation on IMDB.com is somewhat similar as the rating for TLJ has dropped since opening day from an initial rating of 8.1 stars (out of 10) to rating of 7.8 (out of 10 stars), which is similar to the rating on rottentomatoes.com, but slightly higher.

To gain perspective on how fans are reacting to TLJ, it’s a good idea to compare the reactions to the other Star Wars movies in the franchise. We have listed the ratings from both websites in the table below:

Currently, TLJ is in last place for the “Star Wars” franchise with voters on RottenTomatoes, while it’s in roughly 6th place with voters on IMDb. Where voters on the movies are in pretty much total agreement is their 5 top movies: “Empire Strikes Back”, “A New Hope”, “Return of the Jedi”, “The Force Awakens” and “Rogue One”. After that, voters on IMDb prefer TLJ over the prequels, while voters on Rotten Tomatoes prefer the prequels over TLJ.

Either way, “The Last Jedi” is not being received as well by fans as “The Force Awakens”, “Rogue One” or the original trilogy. Perhaps the direction that was taken by director Rian Johnson in TLJ was not the best direction for the film or the franchise, which tends to go along with Mark Hamill’s initial disagreement with the direction of his character, as we had previously posted.

References:

• STAR WARS SAGA > STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) on IMDb.com
• Interview: Mark Hamill Disagrees with the Direction for His Character in “Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi”