Rotten Tomatoes has been around for a long time (more than 25 years now!), and the core of what we do has always revolved around critics and the reviews they publish. But we’ve also been lucky enough to attract a passionate fan base of movie and TV lovers who enjoy sharing their opinions and engaging in meaningful discussion. Their user ratings and reviews help power the Popcornmeter and add nuance to the way fans discover new movies and TV shows.
Well, we thought it was about time to elevate that discussion, and to that end, we’re proud to announce the launch of Verified Hot, a brand new elevated designation and badge honoring theatrical films with the highest-rated Verified Audience Scores on the Popcornmeter.
We assume you’re already familiar with our Certified Fresh Tomatometer badge; if not, you can read all about it here. Verified Hot will serve as a complement to Certified Fresh, allowing movie fans to identify not only the films that were widely praised by critics, but also the ones that were beloved by audiences. It’s a win-win on all fronts!
But how does a film become Verified Hot? In order to qualify for it, it has to earn a Verified Audience Score of 90% or higher on the Popcornmeter and meet a set of eligibility requirements, which you can read about here. If a film earns Verified Hot status, but its Popcornmeter subsequently drops below 80%, it will lose the Verified Hot designation. This goes into effect for all movies that have qualified for it since May of 2019, when we originally introduced Verified Audience Reviews. Some of the most recent Verified Hot movies include Deadpool & Wolverine, Twisters, Inside Out 2, and Bad Boys: Ride or Die, but you can see the full list of current Verified Hot films here.
In addition to Verified Hot, we’re also enhancing the way we reference the Popcornmeter in general. Starting today, when 60% or more of the audience rates a title at 3.5 stars or higher, you’ll see a full red popcorn bucket with a “Hot” label; a Popcornmeter of less than 60%, on the other hand, will earn the title a “Stale” green tipped-over popcorn bucket.
Lastly, to provide our users a more accurate reflection of audience and critical sentiment, we’ve also updated the criteria that dictates when a Popcornmeter or Tomatometer score will show up for films. Since we know that the number of reviews for a given title can change dramatically during its theatrical run, the threshold for when a Popcornmeter or Tomatometer score will display is now based on domestic box office projections as provided by an independent outside source. Let’s start with the Tomatometer:
In other words, if a film is forecasted to earn $120 million or more during its entire theatrical run, according to third-party box office analysts, then its Tomatometer score will not populate until it has 40 reviews. If it’s forecasted to earn $60 million during its theatrical run, you won’t see a Tomatometer until we have 20 reviews. If it’s expected to earn less than $60 million, or there is no box office forecast for it, or it’s debuting at a film festival, then that threshold drops to 10 reviews.
Now, let’s look at the new Popcornmeter thresholds:
The Popcornmeter thresholds operate in a similar manner to the Tomatometer thresholds. So, if a film falls into the $120M+ bucket, the Popcornmeter won’t display until we have 500 Verified Audience Reviews. If it falls into the $60M – $120M bucket, you won’t see a Popcornmeter until we have 300 reviews, and so on.
The reason for breaking things out in this way is because, for example, a film that’s forecasted to make more than $120 million during its theatrical run is inevitably going to be a giant tentpole title with a super wide release that will likely earn hundreds of critic reviews and thousands of audience reviews, while a film that isn’t expected to crack $5 million is going to be a small feature in limited release that may not be widely available to critics and audiences everywhere. With this kind of variation, we felt that a one-size-fits-all approach to Tomatometer and Popcornmeter scores across all films wasn’t ideal, so we took steps to improve it.
Here at Rotten Tomatoes, we pride ourselves on delivering the most trusted entertainment recommendations possible to audiences across the world, and we’re constantly looking for ways to improve that experience. We think these changes will help guide more fans to the movies and TV shows they love and help them to discover new favorites. The Popcornmeter wouldn’t be nearly as useful without the contributions from those of you who continue to leave user ratings and reviews, so be sure to leave plenty of them, and your fellow movie and TV lovers will thank you for it!
