Critics lose more ground as Rotten Tomatoes adds audience-generated "Popcornmeter" badge
Films can now be "Verified Hot" on the review aggregator's Popcornmeter
Photo: Robin Marchant/Getty Images
The war on professional journalism that gave us TikTokers singing at celebrities on the red carpet (not to mention thousands of layoffs) has now spread to Rotten Tomatoes. The review aggregator just added another vector to its infamous fresh-rotten spectrum, which was previously calculated exclusively from certified critics’ scores. The site’s new, popcorn-themed scale will instead be aggregated from audience ratings, with “Stale” at one end and “Verified Hot” at the other. (The food metaphors are getting a bit unwieldy, but at least angry audiences who wanted to see Hugh Jackman take his shirt off even more in Deadpool & Wolverine aren’t being given tomatoes to throw.)
According to The Hollywood Reporter, for a film to receive an official Verified Hot badge, it needs to receive a “Verified Audience Score of 90 percent or higher” on the Popcornmeter. Movies that score at least 3.5 (out of 5 stars) in 60% of their audience reviews will earn a general “Hot” badge, with films falling below that threshold being marked “Stale.”