Rotten Tomatoes Adds New ‘Popcornmeter’ Rating For Reviewers Who Purchased Tickets

Movie and TV show review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes has introduced a new audience-generated “Popcornmeter” rating that is only available for verified movie ticket purchasers.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, a movie must receive a verified audience score of 90% or higher on the Popcornmeter to receive an official Verified Hot badge. The movie must have a minimum of Verified Ratings for films in wide release and a minimum of 250 Verified Ratings for limited releases to qualify for the Popcornmeter.

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Movies that earn a score of at least 3.5 out of 5 stars in 60% of their audience reviews will receive a “full popcorn bucket”, while films with scores under that will receive a “tipped over popcorn bucket.” 

Verified ratings must come from users who have purchased movie tickets through Fandango, the sister site of Rotten Tomatoes. 

Newer releases that earned the “Verified Hot” badge so far include “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” “Fly Me to the Moon,” “Deadpool & Wolverine,” “Twisters,” “It Ends With Us,” and others. Older films, including “Top Gun: Maverick,” “The Color Purple,” “Parasite,” “Oppenheimer,” “Dune: Part Two,” and others are having the badge retroactively applied.

Another change on the site is updating the minimum number of critic reviews that must be submitted before the Tomatometer score is calculated. If a movie debuts at a film festival or is projected to earn $60 million or less at the box office, it needs 10 reviews to get a score. Any film projected to earn between $60 million and $120 million needs 20 reviews, and any projected to receive over $120 million needs 40 reviews, per THR.

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This change is being seen in the industry as an attempt to combat the effects of “review bombing,” or the practice of users intentionally driving down the score of an entertainment project. 

“On Rotten Tomatoes, fans love to consult our verified audience score, in addition to the Tomatometer critics’ score, when discovering new movies and deciding what they want to watch next,” Amanda Norvell, senior VP of direct-to-consumer services at Fandango, said of the site update. 

“With the addition of Verified Hot, we are excited to celebrate and shine a spotlight on the theatrical films that fans have unanimously embraced and have taken the time to share their incredible moviegoing experience with other fans,” she added.