Concatenation's annual SF & fantasy calculation derived from the UK/European weekly film & video/DVD rental top ten charts. From these we have looked at only the fantastic film entries and so have compiled the overall SF & fantasy fantastic film top ten for each year (to Easter) up to 2007/8. Whether you have missed seeing some of what many consider the best, or are simply looking for a film to rent for the evening, or indeed planning a film programme for an SF convention, these top ten listings and their linked mini-reviews may well help you. (For a more detailed explanation as to how the top ten works see the small print below.)
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Note for the 2004/5 chart below: As per our 2004 editorial we have switched from video/DVDs to film. This makes our top ten more topical than it did prior to 2004, yet not just retains but enhances its utility as a guide to what you might want to rent as it takes about a year for cinema releases to come out as a video or DVD. However because of the year gap between film and DVD release, to maintain continuity this Easter sees us cover both DVDs/video and film below. Two top tens in 2005 below for the price of one. Previous years, even further below, are video only.
Because Easter 2005 sees us switch from top video/DVDs (below) to films (above) and because there is usually about a year gap between such releases, so as to maintain continuity, for this year only we are covering both the top films and, seperately, DVDs of the year. Though due to the narrowing gap between cinematic and DVD/video release there is some overlap in the films within each top ten.
Prior to 1996/7 the print edition of the Science Fact & Fiction Concatenation (since 1987) used to carry film reviews.
The Small Print. -- The aim of this top ten is to give you a good selection of SF and fantastic films to either download, rent or buy. The top ten is calculated by looking at the UK/European weekly film box office (since 2005) and/or DVD/video rental charts (since 1997 up to 2005). SF and fantasy films are then noted within each of the 52 weekly charts between Easter weekends. (Easter being the date of the New Zealand and British SF Eastercons and the US Westercons.) If a film comes number '1' it is given a score of 10. If a film comes number '10' it is given a score of 1, and intermediate ranks are scored appropriately. This may seem like a lot of work - it is - but it is far less work than doing weekly or monthly charts and reviews, besides which there is not the volume of mass market films to warrant a more frequent approach.
Aside from the top-tens being a chart of consumer and not SF fan or fantastic film buff rankings, this way of calculating the film top ten smoothes popularity across the year. Consequently it does not reflect gross box-office or rental revenue. Weekly box office revenues for films released in the run up to Christmas, as well as those in the summer holiday months, tend to be far higher than at other times of the year. Furthermore a film may be taken any time off of cinema general release for DVD/video rental and then again released for TV broadcast and direct DVD/video sales. This limits the time they can make box office sales. Consequently a hugely popular film that has a higher gross box office taking for the year can score lower in our top ten than another film released at a quieter time of year but which stays in the charts for more weeks. Yet again a film coming out in the Spring before Easter will see its box office taking straddle Easter with its points divided between two of our yearly top tens. If this happens we usually mention it in the linked mini-review to explain its apparently anomalous ranking.
Because of this last, and because some films go straight to DVD/video, and not least because some films take a while to permiate public awareness (hence do far better as a DVD than a film), or even because fantastic film buff tastes differ from the average person in the street, we also list 'other possibly more worthy films' at the end of the annual mini-reviews.
This service covering SF films complements The Science Fact & Fiction Concatenation's coverage of Science Fiction books, science & non-fiction SF books, and its seasonal Science Fiction news.