What is the cutoff for you for when films can be considered classics?

[Mister Mets]

I had a discussion with my brother on older movies, and one question that came up was how old films have to be in order to be considered classics?

This is a bit of a shifting target, because at some point today's best movies will be classics.

But at this point in 2024, where would you place the cutoff?

I was thinking about the advent of the blockbuster era as multiplexes led to shifting habits around 1980 (Peter Biskind's book Easy Riders and Raging Bulls places that as the end of) before settling on just before the indie boom in 1989/ 1990 (Sex Lies and Videotape, Metropolitan, Slacker, Do the Right Thing, etc.) The actors and directors are generally still relevant, and there were some game-changing innovations (Terminator 2 and Jurassic Park used CGI, Batman Returns was the first Dolby digital film, Dick Tracy has a digital soundtrack.)

My brother wanted to go a little bit later when CGI became more common.

Where do you see it?

[Nods]

I think it's generational and cultural...I think the main factor in classic status is what has happened in the period of time since those films came out. The best example for me would be comedies...we don't have great comedy films anymore so the last generation of comedies are now classics because you can look back at a time period and see Shaun of the Dead (2004), Anchorman (2004), 40 year old virgin (2005), Tropic Thunder (2008), and The Hangover (2009). While that works for comedies Iron Man wouldn't be a classic because films like Iron Man are still coming out films aren't classics in the genre is still in vogue.

[DrNewGod]

It's a moving target. I would never deny that Oppenheimer will soon be a classic film.However, I make distinction between "old" and "classic."

To me, Classic Films are those that a preponderance can agree are important (or, at least, entertaining) long after the moment in time in which they were made They don't have to escape every criticism future generations have to level, but there has to be something that can reach us across time and change.

[Frobisher]

I think it might be as few as five years. It has to be long enough to be able to tell that a film has longevity beyond being flavour of the month, like how Fargo and The Shawshank Redemption really endured from among the mid-nineties, or Lord Of The Rings, Fury Road and Inception from this century.

[Gray Lensman]

I think it might be as few as five years. It has to be long enough to be able to tell that a film has longevity beyond being flavour of the month, like how Fargo and The Shawshank Redemption really endured from among the mid-nineties, or Lord Of The Rings, Fury Road and Inception from this century.

This is probably the best answer I can think of.

[Mace Dolex]

My rule of thumb is probably that a movie has to be at least past the 10 years for it to considered classic, but like another post said there's a distinction between "classic' and "old", if a movie is still talked about and revered then it's a classic but if it's an old forgotten movie that nobody remember obviously it's old.

[BeastieRunner]

As long as it does something significantly noteworthy in filmmaking and makes a cultural impact
... The years don't matter.

Years can impact things like cult classics but even then, there are varying degrees.

[Android 17]

As long as it does something significantly noteworthy in filmmaking and makes a cultural impact
... The years don't matter.

Years can impact things like cult classics but even then, there are varying degrees.

You took the words right out of my mouth.

And just IMO, a classic movie is also a feeling you get. Kinda like knowing when you’re in love. You just know it, balls to bones (if I may loosely quote the Oracle).

[Angilasman]

Feel like a certain amount of time has to elapse, like two decades to get a sense if it's set in?

But even that might be expediated; LotR frequently reaired on TV, often in holiday marathons, and became such a touchstone for people I feel it ascended to classic status pretty quickly. Also, the tragic deaths of young actors like James Dean and Bruce Lee gave the classic aura to their films early because we weren't gonna get anything else from them.

[Powerboy]

My rule of thumb is probably that a movie has to be at least past the 10 years for it to considered classic, but like another post said there's a distinction between "classic' and "old", if a movie is still talked about and revered then it's a classic but if it's an old forgotten movie that nobody remember obviously it's old.

I'd also think at least ten years and maybe twenty. There are plenty of movies from ninety years ago that were extremely popular in their time but then faded. Maybe twenty years is enough to be sure it isn't just super popular right now but has longevity. Of course this all assumes that we mean remembered by people who can appreciate something that wasn't just made in the last few years.

[Grunty]

When a movie is clearly and noticable a product of a certain time period and standard of cinematography but managed (or even achieved) to remain well regarded, referenced and/or enjoyed by at least a generation or more born after it has been released (or a generation that was too young to watch it when it was released).

For example, when a 16 year old fan of vampire movies watches Nosferatu for the first time and thinks "oh i get it, that's why they loved it"

[Catlady in training]

Isn't a term "instant classic" used for new movies that we already now to be significant to the industry?

[Mister Mets]

I'd also think at least ten years and maybe twenty. There are plenty of movies from ninety years ago that were extremely popular in their time but then faded. Maybe twenty years is enough to be sure it isn't just super popular right now but has longevity. Of course this all assumes that we mean remembered by people who can appreciate something that wasn't just made in the last few years.

It's not just a question of what films will hold up as consistent entries into Top 100 lists or something.

What films would not seem out of place if sold in a box set of classics, if played on a movie classics channel or featured in a Classics sidebar on a streaming service.

I've got a box set of John Ford's 24 films at Fox. Some of them are absolute bangers (Grapes of Wrath, My Darling Clementine, Young Mr. Lincoln, How Green Was My Valley.) Some were not (the third best Ford/ Will Rogers collaboration.) I'm not going to mind all of them being listed as classics.

This may get to another nuance, that perhaps older films still need some kind of connection to acknowledged classics to be classic-adjacent. So someone might consider any film with Boris Karloff as Frankenstein to be a classic, because Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein so obviously were.

Feel like a certain amount of time has to elapse, like two decades to get a sense if it's set in?

But even that might be expediated; LotR frequently reaired on TV, often in holiday marathons, and became such a touchstone for people I feel it ascended to classic status pretty quickly. Also, the tragic deaths of young actors like James Dean and Bruce Lee gave the classic aura to their films early because we weren't gonna get anything else from them.

That's a fair point that some movies are seen as classics faster than others. Quality can be one factor. The death of a rising star can be another, since it means the actor belongs to the ages just as much as Humphrey Bogart or Marilyn Monroe.

Another one may be the extent to which it reads as building on history. I really liked The Social Network, but especially at the time it would be interpreted as something newer, with a younger cast, a modern setting (it was about a company that recently became big- Zuckerberg wasn't even 30 when the film about him came out), as well as a writer and director who were in their prime. Lord of the Rings was based on books that were massive hits for generations, and featured some older actors.

[BeastieRunner]

Isn't a term "instant classic" used for new movies that we already now to be significant to the industry?

Yes but it's over used IMHO.

Oppenheimer and Godzilla Minus One heralded the return of practical and economic effects.

Barbie showed us movies for women by women can make bank.

And about a dozen other movies last year called themselves instant classics but not those three.

[krazijoe]

Anything 20 years or older. So anything before 1990...