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Film

Simon Pegg's highest-rated films keep familiar company

A fresh IMDb snapshot finds 12 films from three recurring Simon Pegg teams averaging 7.43, against 6.09 for the other 21 eligible movies.

22 September 2026 3 minute read
Editorial stencil-style illustration on a light-grey background showing three film worlds—spy missions, space travel and British pub comedy—converging on a central anonymous cinema figure, with a single muted-red accent and loose film frames around the edges.

Cornetto pubs. Starships. Impossible missions.

Simon Pegg’s film career has spent two decades moving between very different worlds. Yet a fresh look at his IMDb ratings produces a surprisingly consistent pattern: his highest-rated eligible films keep returning to familiar company.

The peaks keep familiar company

Start with the full picture. This snapshot contains 33 released movies from Pegg’s IMDb principal-actor credits, each with at least 1,000 votes.

The highest-rated titles repeatedly include the same three groups: Mission: Impossible, Star Trek and films directed by Edgar Wright.

Timeline scatter plot of IMDb ratings for 33 eligible Simon Pegg principal-actor movies from 2004 to 2025. Films in the three recurring partnership groups are highlighted against the remaining eligible movies.
Across 33 eligible movies, the strongest-rated titles repeatedly include Mission: Impossible, Star Trek and Edgar Wright collaborations.

That visual pattern becomes much clearer once the films are grouped.

Familiar teams rate a point higher

The 12 films in those three recurring groups average 7.43 on IMDb.

The other 21 eligible movies average 6.09.

That is a 1.34-point gap.

Ranked dot plot comparing mean IMDb ratings for four mutually exclusive groups: Star Trek at 7.53 across three films, Edgar Wright at 7.50 across three, Mission: Impossible at 7.35 across six, and the other 21 eligible movies at 6.09.
Star Trek averages 7.53, Edgar Wright 7.50 and Mission: Impossible 7.35, versus 6.09 for the other 21 eligible movies.

The closeness of the three partnership averages is the interesting bit. Star Trek sits at 7.53, Edgar Wright at 7.50, and Mission: Impossible at 7.35.

This is descriptive rather than causal. Two of the groups contain only three films, and an IMDb rating belongs to the title—not to Pegg’s individual performance. Still, the pattern is hard to miss.

Mission: Impossible is the long game

The film-by-film sequences add some texture.

Edgar Wright begins with Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz at 7.8 before The World’s End lands at 6.9. Star Trek steps from 7.9 to 7.7 to 7.0.

Then there is Mission: Impossible.

Connected-dot chart showing film-by-film IMDb ratings for three finite Simon Pegg partnership sequences: six Mission: Impossible films, three Star Trek films and three films directed by Edgar Wright.
Mission: Impossible spans six eligible films from 2006 to 2025 and averages 7.35, while the three-film Star Trek and Edgar Wright sequences show their own distinct shapes.

Pegg’s six eligible Mission: Impossible films stretch from 2006 to 2025 and average 7.35. After the first film at 6.9, the next four sit between 7.4 and 7.7 before The Final Reckoning lands at 7.1.

It is not a continuous trend line; it is six films across 19 years. But as a career thread, it is unusually durable.

TLDR

Across 33 eligible Simon Pegg movies in this IMDb snapshot, the 12 films belonging to three recurring groups—Mission: Impossible, Star Trek and Edgar Wright—average 7.43. The other 21 average 6.09. Familiar company does not prove causation, but it is where the strongest title ratings keep clustering.

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