Rotten Tomatoes ranks 2024's Will & Harper, then rewrites the meaning of “queer classic”

Rotten Tomatoes’ “The Best LGBTQ+ Movies of All Time” is not just a feel-good roundup. It is a credibility machine with a clear point: every movie on the list is Certified Fresh, and the criteria are built around how LGBTQ+ stories are represented, not merely whether they exist. The lineup stretches back 90 years to Mädelchen in Uniform (1931), a German film that was later banned by the Nazis, and it moves across continents, cultures, and genres.

Start at the top and you get the theme immediately. The list opens with #1 “Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street” (2019), a Certified Fresh reexamination of “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge” that draws directly on actor Mark Patton’s personal journey as he was a closeted gay man while starring in the film. From there, Rotten Tomatoes keeps stacking Certified Fresh credibility on stories that range from the intensely political to the deeply intimate: #2 “Welcome to Chechnya” (2020) portrays the mass persecution of LGBTQ+ people in the Chechen Republic, with activists risking their lives as they confront Russian leader Ramzan Kadyrov and his government-directed campaign to detain, torture and execute LGBTQ Chechens.

What makes this list operationally interesting for executives is how it defines “success” in film terms that map cleanly to decision-making in media. Rotten Tomatoes says movies on the list prominently feature gay, lesbian, trans, or queer characters; centralize LGBTQ+ themes; present LGBTQ+ characters “in a fair and realistic light”; and/or act as touchpoints in the evolution of queer cinema. That is not a vague vibe. It is a framework for evaluation that suggests what gets repeated across audiences, what survives algorithmic filtering, and what tends to become “library value” rather than disposable content.

This is also a global sourcing story, not just a Western canon refresh. The list includes artful Korean crime drama “The Handmaiden” (mentioned in the description), groundbreaking indie “Tangerine,” landmark documentary “Paris Is Burning,” and recent additions like Netflix’s “The Old Guard,” described as rare because it shows a same-sex relationship between two of its heroes. It then expands further into documentary and international activism with “Welcome to Chechnya,” plus titles like “KOKOMO CITY” (2023), where filmmaker D. Smith passes the mic to four Black transgender sex workers in Atlanta, and “Flee” (2021), an animated documentary memoir centered on Amin Nawabi and a painful secret kept hidden for 20 years.

Rotten Tomatoes is also explicitly acknowledging the “representation risk” that boards and content teams worry about, even when the debate stays cultural. It says some films in the list may “re-ignite healthy debates” that have long existed around LGBTQ+ films, including whether straight actors play gay characters, whether cis actors play trans characters, and how white male perspectives have historically dominated. Importantly, the publication does not hide from the controversy; it encourages respectful debate in the comments. For decision-makers, that signals something practical: controversy is not necessarily the enemy of brand or audience. The real enemy is unearned credibility. This list is trying to anchor the conversation in critical consensus, with a consistent “Certified Fresh” standard.

The market implication is that “queer cinema” is increasingly treated as both cultural infrastructure and risk-managed content. Consider the variety in this specific ranking: “Shiva, Baby” (mentioned as a recent addition) is described as Certified Fresh; “My Name Is Pauli Murray” (2021) lands at 94% with the stated focus on a largely unsung but important individual, and “A Secret Love” (2020) reaches 100% Critics Consensus, centered on a lesbian relationship kept secret from family for seven decades. On the more mainstream side of visibility, the list includes “Moonlight” (2016) at 98%, with a synopsis that follows Chiron through three defining chapters in Miami. On the genre-flexing side, it includes “God’s Own Country” (2017), a directorial debut described as a quiet rumination on loneliness and newfound intimacy.

Even the list’s #10 and #12 entries show how different formats are converging. “KOKOMO CITY” (99%) is a rousing docu effort focused on trans lives and optimism within adverse circumstance. “Flee” (98%) uses vivid animation to push documentary boundaries while delivering a moving memoir of self-discovery. And “We Were Here” (2011) focuses on crises facing the gay community in the early 1980s and revisits San Francisco as a safe haven. Put together, the subgenre mix matters to strategy: if your organization is making or commissioning content, you can see a clear pattern of what performs as “decision-proof” stories, meaning stories that remain compelling across format, language, and historical context.

The second-order stake is simple. Lists like this influence what gets funded, what gets marketed, and what gets renewed, because Certified Fresh signals reduce guesswork. When an entertainment brand pairs global queer representation with a consistency standard, it shapes the expectations of audiences and partners. For executives deciding where to allocate budget, attention, and distribution, the takeaway is that LGBTQ+ storytelling is not being treated as a niche lane. Rotten Tomatoes is presenting it as cinema history, with clear evaluation criteria and enough cultural candor to keep the conversation honest. That is exactly why peers should pay attention: what gets validated as “classic” today becomes the inventory that platforms and creators rely on tomorrow.