Buzz
There’s no surefire way to declare a film as universally good or bad. However, there are numerous rating systems that can shed light on whether a movie generally resonated with its viewers or not. One of the most well-known is Rotten Tomatoes, which gives each movie two separate scores: one from critics and another from the general public. (It’s safe to say the two groups don’t always see eye to eye.)
Another popular metric is CinemaScore, which exclusively collects feedback from theatergoers. On opening night, CinemaScore’s team sends pollsters to cinemas in cities across the U.S. and Canada. As moviegoers exit the theater, they are given a survey asking about their demographics, reasons for attending, and whether they would buy or rent the movie (or neither). They’re also asked to grade the film: A, B, C, D, or F.
The resulting grade is called CinemaScore. While it doesn’t provide a deep dive into the film’s overall quality, it does offer a quick answer to the crucial question most of us ask before seeing a movie: Did the audience who watched this in the theater enjoy it?
It’s hardly surprising that the CinemaScores of major blockbusters tend to be high. Films like Top Gun: Maverick (2022), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Titanic (1997) each received an A+, while Avatar (2009) and its sequel both earned A grades. However, there are some unexpected results on the flip side. According to The Wrap, in the 45 years of CinemaScore’s existence, only 21 films have ever scored Fs—and not all of them are universally regarded as bad movies. For example, the 2012 Brad Pitt-led crime drama Killing Them Softly has a solid 74 percent rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes (although the audience score is much lower at 44 percent). Similarly, 66 percent of RT’s critics gave a positive review to Steven Soderbergh’s Solaris (2002).
But it seems that most viewers who watched these films on opening weekend were less than impressed with their choices. So, which other movies left similar impressions? Check out the list of other CinemaScore failures below, presented in chronological order, along with their trailers.
