Rotten Tomatoes has introduced a new badge that will give more power to moviegoers.
The review aggregator website has unveiled a Verified Hot badge set to reflect the average audience's opinions. Announced today (August 21), the new designation will require a movie to earn a Verified Audience Score of 90% or higher on its Popcornmeter to be assigned, as well as comply with more eligibility requirements.
Only reviews from users who have purchased a ticket to a specific film via Fandango — also owned by Rotten Tomatoes' parent company, Comcast — will count towards that title's Verified Hot rating.
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Rotten Tomatoes has already bestowed the new badge upon recent flicks, including Marvel's Deadpool & Wolverine, Twisters, Inside Out 2 and It Ends With Us, with more than 200 titles to receive the badge retroactively.
The new Verified Hot title will be assigned automatically to all movies that qualify and were released in or after May 2019, when the Audience Score was first introduced.
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The website has also launched a general Hot badge to be given when 60% of reviews for a certain film have earned a rating of at least 3.5 stars out of 5, and a Stale badge for those movies that fall below the 60% threshold.
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But these are just some of the updates that Rotten Tomatoes has added to its rating system. The website has clarified the numbers of reviews needed for a movie's audience and critics' scores to appear.
The threshold hinges on domestic box office projections from an independent source. Movies that are projected to earn more than $120 million will need 40 reviews for a Tomatometer score to appear, and 500 for a Popcornmeter score. The number of critics' reviews goes down to 20 and 10 for films projected to gross between $60-120 million and less than $60 million respectively.
This tweak will change the game for films that have their debuts at festivals, with these titles now needing 10 reviews before being assigned a Tomatometer score.
Reporter, Digital Spy
Stefania is a freelance writer specialising in TV and movies. After graduating from City University, London, she covered LGBTQ+ news and pursued a career in entertainment journalism, with her work appearing in outlets including Little White Lies, The Skinny, Radio Times and Digital Spy.
Her beats are horror films and period dramas, especially if fronted by queer women. She can argue why Scream is the best slasher in four languages (and a half).
