## Metadata - Author: [[Daniel Frank]] - Full Title:: The 80th Percentile Displacement: Why Russ Roberts (And You) Hates Modern Popular Movies - Category:: #🗞️Articles - URL:: https://notnottalmud.substack.com/p/the-80th-percentile-displacement?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email - Read date:: [[2026-01-06]] ## Highlights > In the 90s, the prestige curve was aligned with what appealed to the 80th-percentile movie fan as the best (and most prestigious) there was. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01ke9csghvxsygpks78mcjbmze)) > platforms like Letterboxd have made the 95th-percentile cohort legible. There is now a class of movie fans who congregate online, rate everything, and have decided that the Peter Luger of movies isn’t “good enough.” They want movies to appeal to the 95th percentile of movie nerdom: people who value cinematography, the subversion of tropes, and “vibe” over plot or dialogue. > Directors started making movies to appeal to this legible, loud group, and fans online judge movies against this new standard. Because this is now where the status and “buzz” come from, when there is buzz about a great movie, it’s going to be the 5-star 95th-percentile movie, not the 5-star 80th-percentile movie. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01ke9ctxmbk8bb8ebsfbfgzhz1)) > This leaves the modern movie fan with a hollowed-out middle. > If the film studio wants a massive audience, they make the “5-star version” of a movie designed to appeal to the 50th-percentile of movie interest (eg the Marvel Cinematic Universe). If they want status and critical acclaim, they make the 95th-percentile “vibe” movie. > The highest quality version of the 80th-percentile movie (the movie Russ Roberts considers “perfect”) is no longer something the industry is interested in producing. It is no longer at the top of the prestige hierarchy. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01ke9cvwg2jrxbs2vywhf9dpnm))