Depending on who you listen to, Rotten Tomatoes is out to destroy the world.
Fine, that might be a slight exaggeration. But the produce-themed movie review site has taken some flak in recent years — some felt the site unfairly sabotaged DC’s “Batman v Superman” in 2016 — and if your financial well-being is directly tied to annual box office receipts, Rotten Tomatoes could be a sore spot.
The basic argument is that even though Rotten Tomatoes is meant to be a reflection of critical and audience reaction, the site is having a pre-emptive effect on ticket sales.
Of course, promoters are more than happy to use the site when it serves their purposes. All kinds of well-reviewed movies will incorporate certified “fresh” scores into their advertising. It’s only when a movie stinks that the complaints come along. I think the bigger issue — if you can call it that — is that most people don’t understand how Rotten Tomatoes works.
When we see a percentage score out of 100, we naturally associate the results with the grades we got in school. Scores in the 90s were A’s, B’s were in the 80s and so on. So when a movie such as “Black Panther” gets a certified “fresh” 97 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, we interpret it as a film that is near perfection, while a film such as last year’s “The Emoji Movie” that lands around 9 percent, must be a steaming pile of garbage.
Now, most of the movies that score that low are steaming piles of garbage. But things get tricky around the 50-60 percent area (anything below 60 percent is considered “rotten”), where a percentage that might merit a D or an F in high school could mean something else entirely online.
This is because the Rotten Tomatoes score turns whatever metric the critic is using (stars, letter grades, thumbs) into a simple pass/fail. It doesn’t represent how much critics liked it or how much they hated it. It merely separates all the likes from all the dislikes.
In that light, a film that scores 98 percent might not be all that far from one at 59 percent. It just means the 98 percent movie got mostly positive reviews — not necessarily glowing reviews — where the 59 percent of critics who liked the second film might think it’s the best movie in the last decade.
Going back to the “Black Panther” example, I gave it 3 stars out of 4, which is my way of saying it was a good, solid movie, nothing wonderful. But my positive gets counted the same as every other positive, which in this case added up to 97 percent. I certainly wouldn’t give it an “A” in that sense, but I would recommend it.
It’s always interesting to see how Rotten Tomatoes interprets the reviews I feel a bit more divided on. If I wind up giving a movie 2½ stars, it’s because there’s something I clearly don’t like about it but can’t completely condemn it for. For example, “15:17 to Paris” had a great finish but stumbled quite a bit to get there, so I gave it 2½ out of 4.
To their credit, often the Rotten Tomatoes reps will email me to double-check before they make a decision on one of my more ambiguous reviews, and once you factor in the “audience score” and the “average rating,” there’s more than enough information to get a clear consensus.
None of this addresses the question of whether seeing that aggregate is going to pre-emptively steer audiences from “bad” movies, but isn’t that kind of what the site is supposed to do? My guess is the people who don’t like Rotten Tomatoes are probably the same people who don’t think much of critics anyway, and that’s fine. It’s your 10 bucks — just don’t say I didn’t try to warn you.
FAQs
Fresh red tomato. When at least 60% of reviews for a movie or TV show are positive, a red tomato is displayed to indicate its Fresh status. Green splat tomato. When less than 60% of reviews for a movie or TV show are positive, a green splat is displayed to indicate its Rotten status. Faded tomato.
What does fresh mean on Rotten Tomatoes? ›
The score that Rotten Tomatoes assigns to a film corresponds to the percentage of critics who've judged the film to be “fresh,” meaning their opinion of it is more positive than negative. The idea is to quickly offer moviegoers a sense of critical consensus.
What are certified fresh Rotten Tomatoes? ›
Rotten Tomatoes awards the Certified Fresh™ accolade to films and TV programs that have a steady Tomatometer® of 75% or higher after a set amount of reviews (80 for films in wide release, 40 for films in limited release, 20 for TV shows), including 5 reviews from Top Critics.
What does it mean to be 100% on Rotten Tomatoes? ›
The percentage is based on the film's reviews aggregated by the website and assessed as positive or negative, and when all aggregated reviews are positive, the film has a 100% rating.
What percent is certified fresh? ›
Certified Fresh
A steady rating score of 75% or higher. At least five reviews from Top Critics. At least 80 reviews for films in wide release. At least 40 reviews for films in limited release.
What is fresh rated? ›
What is a good Rotten Tomatoes score? ›
If 60% of reviews are positive, the movie is given a “Fresh” status, but if positive reviews fall below that benchmark, it is deemed “Rotten.” A popular piece of media will typically fall between the 70-90% range, but rarely, a project will receive a 100% score.
What movie has the lowest Rotten tomato score? ›
Rotten Tomatoes releases the 100 worst movies of all time The films all scored 6% or less on the Tomatometer. Topping the list — all with a 0% rating: Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever, One Missed Call and Left Behind.
What is 100% rating Rotten tomato? ›
On the film review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, films that have exclusively positive reviews and have been reviewed by at least five critics have a 100% approval rating.
What Netflix movies have 100% on Rotten Tomatoes? ›
5 Netflix Movies With 100% Score on Rotten Tomatoes
- They Cloned Tyrone (2023) ...
- The Rat Catcher (2023) ...
- The Battered Bastards of Baseball (2014) ...
- Mixed by Erry (2023) ...
- The Saint of Second Chances (2023) ...
- 7 Most-Watched Netflix Films Of All Time.
Citizen Kane (1941) stood at number 1 for five consecutive polls, with 22 votes in 1962, 32 votes in 1972, 45 votes in 1982, 43 votes in 1992, and 46 votes in 2002. It also topped the first two directors' polls, with 30 votes in 1992 and 42 votes in 2002.
Is a higher percentage on Rotten Tomatoes better or worse? ›
If the positive reviews make up 60% or more, the film is considered "fresh". If the positive reviews are less than 60%, the film is considered "rotten". An average score on a 0 to 10 scale is also calculated.
What is the popcorn on Rotten Tomatoes? ›
The Audience Score, denoted by a popcorn bucket, represents the percentage of users who have rated a movie or TV show positively.
Does Disney own Rotten Tomatoes? ›
Rotten Tomatoes, owned by Warner Bros.
Is Rotten Tomatoes or IMDb better? ›
The study found that there was a 13% difference in accuracy and reliability between the ratings reported on Rotten Tomatoes compared to those on IMDb, with the latter also reporting up to a 33% lower score for some films than the other databases.
Is a 97% good on Rotten Tomatoes? ›
So when a movie such as “Black Panther” gets a certified “fresh” 97 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, we interpret it as a film that is near perfection, while a film such as last year's “The Emoji Movie” that lands around 9 percent, must be a steaming pile of garbage.
Does higher Rotten Tomatoes mean better? ›
The website keeps track of all the reviews counted for each film and calculates the percentage of positive reviews. If the positive reviews make up 60% or more, the film is considered "fresh". If the positive reviews are less than 60%, the film is considered "rotten".
Are Rotten Tomatoes good to eat? ›
Eating rotten tomatoes does not immediately affect you, but they contain a fungus called Aspergillus and Aflatoxins. These microorganisms cause cancer. The toxins slowly lower your immune system leading to organ failures such as liver and kidney.
What does perfect Rotten Tomatoes mean? ›
Welcome to the 100% Club, where every movie isn't necessarily perfect, but their Tomatometers are. A place where all the critic reviews are Fresh, as far as the eye can see, without a Rotten mark to disrupt all the 1s and their attendant 0s in the percentage scores.
