Rotten Tomatoes: About

The Tomatometer score – based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics is a trusted measurement of a movie. Back in the days of the open theaters, when a play was particularly atrocious, the audience expressed their dissatisfaction by not only booing and hissing at the stage, but also throwing whatever was at hand – vegetables and fruits included.The Tomatometer score represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show. A Tomatometer score is calculated for a movie or TV show after it receives at least five reviews.

There are 3 types of tomato here,

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. FADED TOMATO When there is no Tomatometer score available, which could be because the title hasn’t released yet or there are not enough ratings to generate a score.

Certified Fresh status is a special distinction awarded to the best-reviewed movies and TV shows. In order to qualify, movies or TV shows must meet the following requirements:

1. A consistent Tomatometer score of 75% or higher.
2. At least five reviews from Top Critics.
3. Films in wide release must have a minimum of 80 reviews. This also applies for films going from limited to wide release.
4. Films in limited release must have a minimum of 40 reviews.
5. Only individual seasons of a TV show are eligible, and each must have a minimum of 20 reviews.

The above requirements for Certified Fresh status are only the bare minimum a film must achieve to qualify for the distinction. A film does not automatically become Certified Fresh when it meets those requirements. The Tomatometer score must be consistent and unlikely to deviate significantly before a film or TV show is marked Certified Fresh.

A Certified Fresh movie or TV season whose score drops and remains consistently below 70% will lose the Certified Fresh designation. The certification removal might not happen as soon as the score drops below 70%; as with CF designation, removal will take place when the score settles.

A movie or TV season that loses Certified Fresh status can regain it by reaching a consistent score of 75% or more and meeting the other minimum requirements.

Rotten Tomatoes has assembled a team of curators whose job it is to read thousands of movie and TV reviews weekly. The team collects movie and TV reviews from Tomatometer-approved critics and publications every day, generating Tomatometer scores. Their curators carefully read these reviews, noting if the reviews are Fresh or Rotten, and choose a representative pull-quote. Tomatometer-approved critics can also self-submit their reviews.

The Audience Score, denoted by a popcorn bucket, represents the percentage of users who have rated a movie or TV show positively. With films for which they can verify users have bought a ticket, the default Audience Score they show is made up of “Verified Ratings,” which represents the percentage of users who have rated a movie or TV show positively who they can verify bought a ticket; it is displayed once enough of those Verified Ratings are in to form a score.

For all other titles, they display an “All Audience Score” that includes ratings from people regardless of whether or not they can currently verify they have seen the movie or show. Titles eligible for Verified Ratings have an All Audience Score, too: To see it, just click on the popcorn bucket and you can toggle between both the Verified Audience Score and the All Audience Score. You can read more about recent changes to the score box HERE.

There are 3 types of popcorn bucket here,

1. FULL POPCORN BUCKET When at least 60% of users give a movie or TV show a star rating of 3.5 or higher, a full popcorn bucket is displayed to indicate its Fresh status.
2. TIPPED OVER POPCORN BUCKET When less than 60% of users give a movie or TV show a star rating of 3.5 or higher, a tipped over popcorn bucket is displayed to indicate its Rotten status.
3. FADED POPCORN BUCKET When there is no Audience Score available, which could be because the Title hasn’t released yet or there are not enough ratings to generate a score.