Yeah, "most popular" is usually a really bad metric. Often the top listed are items that nobody dislikes, but also nobody really loves. If you surveyed the most popular food in San Francisco, you would probably just get "salad" instead of hearing about the Jewish-style fried artichoke dish at Locanda on Valencia.
It needs a different dataset, but I'd be more interested in developing a metric of how much people disagree on a movie (or any non-average). With the same food metaphor-- the flavor of a dish is not always supposed to be sugary pleasant, but it's supposed to make you feel something and surprise your palette. I actually think this method of evaluation is what sets apart the great critics of any art. They focus on experience rather than simple emotion.
> but I'd be more interested in developing a metric of how much people disagree on a movie
That's actually a really interesting idea. Some of my favorite movies do not have universal appeal, in fact, they fall under that polarising category. An example of this is There Will be Blood. To me, it is quite possibly the most interesting piece of film I've ever seen. But it exists as one of those love or hate movies. Just about everyone I know found the movie insufferable, while I've happily watched it at least 10- 15 times. A way of of sorting that favored love it or hate it movies could probably yield some really interesting results.
It needs a different dataset, but I'd be more interested in developing a metric of how much people disagree on a movie (or any non-average). With the same food metaphor-- the flavor of a dish is not always supposed to be sugary pleasant, but it's supposed to make you feel something and surprise your palette. I actually think this method of evaluation is what sets apart the great critics of any art. They focus on experience rather than simple emotion.