Are you tired of Rotten Tomatoes ratings not aligning with your own views on a movie? You’re in luck: the audience score is about to receive a significant increase.
Ever since Rotten Tomatoes gained popularity on the internet in the early 2000s, the same story has played out time and time again: audiences fall in love with a new movie, while critics express disdain, leading to accusations of reviewers being out of touch.
These are a few instances that demonstrate the discrepancy between critics’ ratings and audience ratings. For instance, Tom Holland’s Uncharted movie received a low 40% score on the Tomatometer, but a high 90% rating from the audience. Similarly, Venom only earned a 30% score, but audiences gave it a much more positive 80% rating. Godzilla: King of the Monsters, despite its 42% score, was well-received by everyday moviegoers who gave it a respectable 83% rating.
The balance of power on Rotten Tomatoes is set to change as it prepares to introduce an “elevated designation”for films with the top verified audience ratings.
Rotten Tomatoes is adding the ‘VERIFIED HOT’ badge, which will indicate that films have high audience scores Films will receive the badge with a Verified Audience Score of 90% or higher on the Popcornmeter pic.twitter.com/u2XRIkzzYM
— ScreenTime (@screentime) August 21, 2024
The website announced the addition of a new designation, “Verified Hot,”to our Verified Audience Score. This new distinction will work alongside our Certified Fresh rating, allowing moviegoers to not only find highly-praised films by critics, but also discover those beloved by audiences. It’s a win-win situation.
In order for a film to be considered as a Verified Hot, it must obtain a 90% audience score (or higher) on the Popcornmeter and have at least 500 verified ratings (if it is a limited release, the minimum requirement is lowered to 250 verified ratings).
The feature launch will include the awarding of the Verified Hot label to over 200 movies, such as Deadpool & Wolverine, It Ends with Us, and Godzilla Minus One.
The Potential Issue with Rotten Tomatoes’ Verified Hot Score
Rotten Tomatoes audience ratings, similar to IMDb scores, are frequently misused in review-bombing campaigns. Encouraging higher ratings could potentially fuel this harmful behavior.
Despite receiving a 78% score from critics, The Acolyte only received an 18% score on the Popcornmeter. While everyone is entitled to their own opinion, the low audience rating does not accurately reflect the overall sentiment towards the series. In comparison, The Last Jedi, a much more controversial installment in the Star Wars franchise, has a higher audience rating of 41%.
Y’all know the chuds are openly talking about review bombing the Acolyte, right? This isn’t some secret operation — they’re boasting. pic.twitter.com/h5jADdYzfA
— jere🦆my (@jere7my) June 23, 2024
Similar situations have occurred with other films; following Brie Larson’s remarks about desiring a more diverse group of film critics, Captain Marvel received a 45% audience rating.
Despite being seemingly dismissed by critics, there’s a flip side – audiences can now rally even harder for movies. This is especially noticeable in the filmography of Zack Snyder, as all of his directed movies, with the exception of Sucker Punch and Rebel Moon Parts 1 & 2 in their original versions, have received positive ratings from audiences. In contrast, eight out of the 14 movies have been deemed as rotten by critics.
One user reacted on X/Twitter, suggesting that Rotten Tomatoes should address the issue of harassment and review-bombing by fixing their broken user reviews. Another user
Congrats to the Comcast exec who’s responsible for Rotten Tomatoes. Didn’t think there was a way to make the site worse… but you did it. Way to go! https://t.co/lSlhEOeMfc
— Jeff Sneider (@TheInSneider) August 21, 2024
A third person tweeted, “Congratulations to the Comcast executive responsible for Rotten Tomatoes. I didn’t think it could get any worse…but you managed to do it. Good job.”A fourth person wrote, “Rotten Tomatoes is becoming more like IMDb. Also, please go away.”
Nevertheless, there are those who are ecstatic about the announcement, with a large number of individuals placing more trust in audience ratings rather than the opinions of critics (whether they were positive, negative, or neutral). “This is fantastic and has been long overdue,”one user expressed.
“There are often instances where highly acclaimed films that are loved by audiences receive low Rotten Tomatoes scores. Implementing this change will help level the playing field and address the issue of inconsistent scores.”
“It is widely accepted that the audience scores hold more accuracy compared to the critics!!! I am thrilled with this addition,”another commented.
Meanwhile, take a look at this month’s TV shows that you should add to your watch list for streaming.
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