2024 has produced a few movies which critics and audiences can’t seem to agree on, and their Rotten Tomatoes scores highlight the way they have split opinion. Rotten Tomatoes gives two scores to a movie. The “Tomatometer” score measures critical opinions based on published reviews, while the newly-revamped “Popcornmeter” score offers a way for audiences to log their own opinions. It’s often the case that these two scores are very close to one another, but a few movies break the system.
More often that not, if there’s a big difference between a Tomatomer score and a Popcornmeter score, it’s because a movie is a simple crowdpleaser that critics don’t care for. Critics are more focused on the craft of a movie and the ideas behind it. Many people also think like this, of course, but the majority of the public rate a movie based on how entertaining it is. Movies likeVenom: The Last DanceandIt Ends With Ushave exposed the gap between critics and audiences in 2024.
Venom: The Last Dancehas a huge gulf between its Tomatometer score and its Popcornmeter score, but Sony wouldn’t have been worried about the poor reviews. EveryVenommovie so far has had a similar opinion gap between the critics and the audience, starting with the 50% difference of 2018’sVenom.Critics and audiences never see eye-to-eye on Tom Hardy’sVenommovies, so it’s apt that the trilogy’s final movie continues this trend.
30%
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58%
84%
41%
81%
Venom: The Last Dancedelivers more exciting symbiote action scenes, and it also revives the oddly charming dynamic between Eddie Brock and Venom. Tom Hardy’s performance is key to most of the movie’s positives. Critics may have turned their noses up at the unrefined nature of theVenomtrilogy, butVenom: The Last Dancesets up the futureof Sony’s Spider-Man universe with hope that it can turn things around.
As soon as the first trailer was released,Madame Webbecame the target of online ridicule, with clunky expository dialogue like"He was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died"getting the meme treatment on social media.Madame Websoon sunk to a dismal 11% Tomatometer score, showing how critics poked holes in the plot, the characters and the action scenes.
While nobody is claiming thatMadame Webis a masterpiece, critics may have been overly harsh.
Madame Web’s big divide between critics and audiences is interesting, because there’s a difference of over 40%, but neither group rates the movie as fresh. The only takeaway is thataudiences decided thatMadame Webwasn’t quite as bad as many people prepared themselves for.While nobody is claiming that it’s a masterpiece, critics may have been overly harsh, not allowing themselves to appreciate the movie’s good qualities.
Straight off the back of his Oscar-nominated sci-fi moviePoor Things, Yorgos Lanthimos teamed up with Emma Stone once again forKinds of Kindness,a comedy anthology movie that’s soaked in Lanthimos' quirky, surreal style. It hasn’t earned reviews on par withPoor Things,or Lanthimos' other big hits,The FavoriteandThe Lobster,but it’s still rated as fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences, on the other hand, have given it a rotten rating.
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Yorgos Lanthimos has made several successful movies over the years, though his distinct style means that some were received better than others.
It’s often the case that audiences are more forgiving of movies, soit’s relatively rare to see a Popcornmeter score much lower than a Tomatometer score.Kinds of Kindness,like most anthology movies, is a little uneven in its execution. Critics are more likely to appreciate the ideas behind it, however. The low Popcornmeter score proves that audiences have been less forgiving of Lanthimos' experimental style on this occasion.
Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson’s retro romcom received mixed reviews from critics, but audiences offered a much kinder assessment. From the 1960s charms to the breezy humor,Fly Me to the Moonis a precision-engineered crowdpleaser. It helps that it’s fronted by two of the most charismatic movie stars in the business. Its 90% Popcornmeter score marks it as one of the year’s most popular comedies.
It isn’t too much of a surprise to seeFly Me to the Moonscoring highly with audiences, considering that romantic comedies often win over the public.Fly Me to the Moonalso benefits from the fact that there have been so few lighthearted romcoms in recent years that even pass the basic standards of watchability. In this way,Fly Me to the Moonis a throwback to the style of the 2000s, despite its 1960s setting.
Until 2024’sDespicable Me 4,critics and audiences seemed to be aligned in their opinions on theDespicable Memovies. However,Despicable Mehas a huge split, giving it the lowest Tomatometer score of the franchise and the highest Popcornmeter score of the franchise, excluding theMinionsspinoffs.Depending on who you ask,Despicable Meis either the very best or the very worst movie so far.
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Putting theMinionsmovies to one side, theDespicable Mefranchisehas been steadily slipping down the Tomatometer ever since its first entry. However, the audience response tells a completely different story. While reviews have targetedDespicable Me 4’s overstuffed plot, weak villain and lack of emotional development, audiences seem satisfied by the cartoonish physical comedy of the minions and Steve Carell’s expressive voice acting.
It Ends With Usis the first movie adaptation of one of Colleen Hoover’s novels. Hoover has developed a huge following in recent years, partly owing to her popularity on BookTok, so a movie adaptation of hers was only a matter of time.It Ends With Usearrned close to $350 million at the box office on a budget of just $25 million, which highlights the extent of Hoover’s influence.
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With the box office success of It Ends With Us, production companies should look to these 10 books by the Colleen Hoover for movie adaptations.
The types of people who are more likely to watchIt Ends With Usand review it online are those who are already familiar with the story, so it’s not a shock to see it with such a high score on the Popcornmeter. Fans have praised the faithful adaptation, as well as Blake Lively’s performance in the lead role.Movie critics are less likely to hold such affection for the source material, so their reviews have been more mixed.
Dwayne Johnson’s movies are usually designed to appeal more to audiences than movie critics, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise to see thatRed Oneis much more popular with the general public. This continues a trend that can be seen in some of his other big blockbusters.Black AdamandRed Noticealso have terrible Tomatometer scores and outstanding Popcornmeter scores, and these are just some of his movies from the last few years.
Black AdamandRed Noticealso have terrible Tomatometer scores and outstanding Popcornmeter scores, and these are just some of Dwayne Johnson’s movies from the last few years.
The real surprise aboutRed Oneisn’t that it has been derided by critics, but thatit has so far struggled at the box office. The gargantuan $250 million budget was always going to cause problems, butRed Onewas still expected to get off to a stronger start, considering the combined star power of Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans. It could still improve as Christmas draws nearer, but its critical response will remain rotten.
Don’t Moveis another movie that critics were more fond of than audiences. The Netflix horror movie follows a woman trying to escape from a serial killer while a paralytic agent slowly shuts down her body. It’s an interesting premise, but critics and audiences mostly disagreed on the execution.Don’t Movereceived some positive reviews praising the atmosphere of tension, and the performances by Kelsey Asbille and Finn Wittrock.
Don’t Move Review: Expansive Spaces Make Way For Claustrophobic Terror In Sam Raimi-Produced Horror
Don’t Move creates a beautiful parallel between the vast expanse of the outdoors and the claustrophobia of a woman trapped in her own body.
Audiences were overall less positive aboutDon’t Move,giving it a rotten score of just 38%.What critics saw as tension, audiences saw as tedium, and what critics saw as an intriguing concept, audiences saw as a missed opportunity.Don’t Moveis by no means universally disliked among audiences, and it’s worth watching for fans of the horror genre who want to make up their own mind.
Harold and the Purple Crayoncaught a lot of flak before it was even released, thanks to the decision to turn the main character from Crockett Johnson’s children’s book into a fully-grown adult.Shazamstar Zachary Levi plays a grown-up Harold in a mix of live-action and animation that critics gave a resounding thumbs down to.Harold and the Purple Crayonwas also a box office bomb, failing to recoup its $40 million budget.
Harold and the Purple Crayonis an adaptation of a children’s book from 1955, so it isn’t exactly the most zeitgeisty material for a new movie. However, despite its poor box office performance and its woeful reviews,Harold and the Purple Crayonhas a healthy score on the Popcornmeter.It’s also been a hit on streaming platforms lately, suggesting that audiences are much more enthusiastic about it than critics.
TheBad Boysfranchisehas never been hugely popular with critics, but the last two movies have at least avoided the beating that the originals got over 20 years ago.Bad BoysandBad Boys IIwere both rotten, although they were a hit with audiences, both reaching 78% on the Popcornmeter. Since the franchise has been resurrected by Adil El Arbi and Bilal Fallah in place of Michael Bay, it has improved its reputation with both critics and audiences.
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78%
24%
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96%
Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024)
65%
AlthoughBad Boys: Ride or Diemay score higher on the Tomatometer than Michael Bay’s first two movies, it’s still much more popular with audiences. While it received middling reviews,audiences rated it as one of the best action movies of 2024, above the likes ofDune: Part Two, Monkey ManandThe Beekeeper.Will Smith and Martin Lawrence’s comedic chemistry is as delightful as ever, and the plot allows for some creative action sequences, like the shootout at the alligator-themed amusement park.
