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CinemaScore

CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data.

CinemaScore
Company typePrivate
IndustryMarketing research
Founded1979; 45 years ago (1979)
FounderEd Mintz
Headquarters
Las Vegas, Nevada
,
U.S.
ProductsMovies ratings
Websitecinemascore.com

Background

Ed Mintz, who majored in math at the University of Wisconsin-Madison[1] and founded dental billing software company Dentametics,[2] with wife Rona attended The Cheap Detective in June 1978. He had read a positive review by a movie critic but disliked the film despite being a fan of Neil Simon, and heard another disappointed attendee wanting to hear the opinions of ordinary people, not critics. Mintz had not worked with polls or the entertainment industry, but decided to use his math and computer skills for a business surveying the opinions of hundreds of film viewers.[3][4]

A Yom Kippur donation card with tabs inspired the survey cards given to audience members. [3] The company conducts exit polls of audiences who have seen a film in theaters, asking them to rate the film and specifying what drew them to the film. Its results are published in Entertainment Weekly. CinemaScore also conducts surveys to determine audience interest in renting films on video, breaking the demographic down by age and sex and passing along information to video companies such as Fox Video Corporation.[5]

After employees of Mintz's dental company tested the survey cards at theaters, polling began in 1979.[1] CinemaScore at first reported its findings to consumers, including a newspaper column and a radio show. After 20th Century Fox approached the company in 1989, it began selling the data to studios instead.[3][1] By the mid-1980s AMC Theatres used CinemaScore data when choosing films for its locations.[2] A website was launched by CinemaScore in 1999,[6] after three years' delay in which the president sought sponsorship from magazines and video companies. Brad Peppard was president of CinemaScore Online from 1999 to 2002.[7] The website included a database of nearly 2,000 feature films and the audiences' reactions to them. Prior to the launch, CinemaScore results had been published in Las Vegas Review-Journal and Reno Gazette-Journal. CinemaScore's expansion to the Internet included a weekly email subscription for cinephiles to keep up with reports of audience reactions.[8]

In 1999, CinemaScore was rating approximately 140 films a year, including 98–99% of major studio releases. For each film, employees polled 400–500 moviegoers in three of CinemaScore's 15 sites, which included the cities Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, Denver, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Dallas, Atlanta, Tampa, Phoenix, and Coral Springs.[8]

In the summer of 2002, CinemaScore reported that the season had the biggest collective grade since 1995. In the summer of 2000, 25 out of 32 films received either an A or B grade. Twenty-six of the summer of 2001's 30 films got similar grades, while 32 of the summer of 2002's 34 films got similar grades, the latter being the highest ratio in a decade.[9]

Since July 2014, CinemaScore reports its results also on Twitter.[10]

Usually, to maintain comparable sample sizes, only films that open in more than 1,500 screens are polled and reported on CinemaScore's website and social media. The distributor of a film that opens in fewer screens can also contract with CinemaScore for a private survey, whose result would be disclosed only to the client.[11] Some of these privately contracted surveys' results have nevertheless been publicly touted, such as the "A+" ratings for films including Courageous and A Question of Faith (both released by faith-based distributor Pure Flix Entertainment).

Rating

A CinemaScore survey card

CinemaScore describes itself as "the industry leader in measuring movie appeal".[12] There are 35 to 45 teams of CinemaScore representatives present in 25 large cities across North America. Each Friday, representatives in five randomly chosen cities give opening-day audiences a small survey card.[13][14][15] The card asks for age, gender, a grade for the film ("A", "B", "C", "D" or "F"), whether they would rent or buy the film on DVD or Blu-ray, why they chose the film and whether or not they felt the film lined up with its marketing.[14] CinemaScore typically receives about 400 cards per film;[16] the company estimates a 65% response rate and 6% margin of error.[15]

An overall grade of "A+" and "F" is calculated as the average of the grades given by responders. In this case, grades other than "F" are qualified with a plus (high end), minus (low end) or neither (middle). The ratings are divided by gender and age groups (under 21, 21–34, 35 and up).[8] Film studios and other subscribers receive the data at about 11 pm Pacific Time. CinemaScore publishes letter grades to the public on social media and, although the detailed data is proprietary, the grades become widely shared in the media and the industry. Subsequent advertisements for highly ranked films often cite their CinemaScore grades.[16][15][4] Studios use the demographic data when marketing films.[1] A studio might hope that a high grade helps the box office of a film with a disappointing opening weekend,[2] or adjust a future film's marketing based on survey results for one with a similar demographic.[14]

CinemaScore pollster Dede Gilmore reported the trend in 1993, "Most movies get easily a B-plus. I think people come wanting the entertainment. They have high expectations. They're more lenient with their grades. But as (moviegoers) do it more and more, they get to be stronger critics". In 1993, films that were graded with an A included Scent of a Woman, A Few Good Men and Falling Down. Films graded with a B included Sommersby and Untamed Heart. A C-grade film for the year was Body of Evidence.[5] As opening-night audiences are presumably more enthusiastic about a film than ordinary patrons, a "C" grade from them is – according to the Los Angeles Times – "bad news, the equivalent of a failing grade".[14] According to Ed Mintz, "A's generally are good, B's generally are shaky, and C's are terrible. D's and F's, they shouldn't have made the movie, or they promoted it funny and the absolute wrong crowd got into it". Horror films consistently score lower; The Conjuring's "A−" was the first time a horror film scored better than "B+". CinemaScore's Harold Mintz said that "An F in a horror film is equivalent to a B− in a comedy".[17]

An "A+" typically predicts a successful box office. From 1982 to August 2011, only 52 films (about two a year) received the top grade, including seven Academy Award for Best Picture winners.[13] From 2000 to January 2020, there were 53 movies with "A+".[18][19] As of July 15, 2020, about 90 films have received "A+".

From 2004 to 2014, those rated "A+" and "A" had multiples of 4.8 and 3.6, respectively, while C-rated films' total revenue was 2.5 times their opening weekend.[15] Ed Mintz cited Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Cruise as the "two stars, it doesn't matter how bad the film is, they can pull (the projections) up".[3] (DiCaprio's Shutter Island had a 3.1 revenue multiple despite a "C+" grade, and Cruise's Vanilla Sky had a 4 multiple with a "D" grade.)[15]

As of 2020, 22 films have received an "F" grade.[20][6][21][22][23] Vulture wrote that besides horror,[17]

Another type of movie features prominently on the list: let's call it "Misleading Auteurism". These are movies made by prominent, often Oscar-nominated directors that investigate risky and controversial subject matters and receive both praise and pans. But because of how the movie industry works — the name of a director alone not being enough to get most people to go see something — they tend to be marketed as more straight-ahead genre films, resulting in a whole bunch of misled and pissed-off audience members.

Vulture cited as examples of such F-graded films Steven Soderbergh's Solaris with George Clooney, Andrew Dominik's Killing Them Softly with Brad Pitt, and Darren Aronofsky's mother! with Jennifer Lawrence.[17]

In an essay for The Hollywood Reporter, Martin Scorsese strongly criticized this type of approach by writing: "The brutal judgmentalism that has made opening-weekend grosses into a bloodthirsty spectator sport seems to have encouraged an even more brutal approach to film reviewing. I'm talking about market research firms like CinemaScore [...]. They have everything to do with the movie business and absolutely nothing to do with either the creation or the intelligent viewing of film. The filmmaker is reduced to a content manufacturer and the viewer to an unadventurous consumer."[24] Ed Mintz rejected being connected to Rotten Tomatoes, and defended CinemaScore methodology of polling select audiences on the opening night, to see if the film meets the expectations of the people who most want to see it. He further defended the accuracy of their data and the correlation to box office results.[25]

CinemaScore's forecasts for box-office receipts based on the surveys are, according to the Los Angeles Times, "surprisingly accurate" as "most of [the company's] picks...are in the ballpark", in 2009 correctly predicting the success of The Hangover and the failure of Land of the Lost.[14] Hollywood executives are divided on CinemaScore's accuracy. Rob Moore, formerly of Paramount Pictures, said Ed Mintz had an "absolute connection with the pulse of moviegoers".[4] Jeff Goldstein of Warner Bros. described CinemaScore as "essential ... for the entertainment industry",[2] and Dan Fellman of Warner said that the studio discontinued its own exit polling because of CinemaScore.[1] Another Hollywood executive said "It's not always right, but it's a pretty good indicator. I rely on it". A fourth said that competitor PostTrak was "much better...more thorough and in-depth".[15][26]

CinemaScore also conducted surveys for product placements, Anheuser-Busch, and Las Vegas casinos.[2]

List of "A+" films

As of April 2024, a total of 110 films have received an A+ rating from American audiences polled by CinemaScore.

CountTitleDirectorYear
1E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial[13][19]Steven Spielberg1982
2Gandhi[13][19]Richard Attenborough
3Rocky III[13][19]Sylvester Stallone
4Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home[13][19]Leonard Nimoy1986
5The Princess Bride[13]Rob Reiner1987
6Die Hard[13]John McTiernan1988
7Dead Poets Society[13]Peter Weir1989
8Driving Miss Daisy[13]Bruce Beresford
9A Dry White Season[13]Euzhan Palcy
10Lean on Me[13]John G. Avildsen
11Lethal Weapon 2[13][19]Richard Donner
12When Harry Met Sally...[13][19]Rob Reiner
13Dances with Wolves[13][19]Kevin Costner1990
14Beauty and the Beast[13][19]
1991
15Terminator 2: Judgment Day[13][19]James Cameron
16Aladdin[13][19]
1992
17A Few Good Men[13][19]Rob Reiner
18The Fugitive[13][19]Andrew Davis1993
19Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey[13]Duwayne Dunham
20The Joy Luck Club[13]Wayne Wang
21Schindler's List[13]Steven Spielberg
22Forrest Gump[13][19]Robert Zemeckis1994
23Iron Will[13]Charles Haid
24The Lion King[13][19]
25Mr. Holland's Opus[13]Stephen Herek1995
26Soul Food[13]George Tillman Jr.1997
27Star Wars (1997 re-release)[13][19]George Lucas
28Titanic[13]James Cameron
29Mulan[13][19]
1998
30Music of the Heart[13]Wes Craven1999
31Toy Story 2[13][19]John Lasseter
32Finding Forrester[13][18]Gus Van Sant2000
33Remember the Titans[13][18]Boaz Yakin
34Monsters, Inc.[13][18][19]Pete Docter2001
35Antwone Fisher[18]Denzel Washington2002
36Drumline[13][18]Charles Stone III
37Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets[13][18][19]Chris Columbus
38Finding Nemo[18][19]Andrew Stanton2003
39The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King[18][19]Peter Jackson
40The Passion of the Christ[13][18][19]Mel Gibson2004
41The Incredibles[13][18][19]Brad Bird
42The Polar Express[13][18]Robert Zemeckis
43Ray[13][18]Taylor Hackford
44Dreamer[13][18]John Gatins2005
45Diary of a Mad Black Woman[13][18]Darren Grant
46Cinderella Man[13][18][19]Ron Howard
47The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe[13][18][19]Andrew Adamson
48Akeelah and the Bee[13][18]Doug Atchison2006
49Why Did I Get Married?[13][18]Tyler Perry2007
50Up[13][18][19]Pete Docter2009
51The Blind Side[13][18]John Lee Hancock
52The King's Speech[13][18]Tom Hooper2010
53Tangled[13][18][19]
54Soul Surfer[13][18]Sean McNamara2011
55Courageous[18][19]Alex Kendrick
56Dolphin Tale[18]Charles Martin Smith
57The Help[13][18]Tate Taylor
58The Avengers[18][19]Joss Whedon2012
59Argo[18][19]Ben Affleck
6042[18][19]Brian Helgeland2013
61Instructions Not Included[18][19]Eugenio Derbez
62The Best Man Holiday[18]Malcolm D. Lee
63Frozen[18][19]
64Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom[27]Justin Chadwick
65Lone Survivor[18][19]Peter Berg
66America: Imagine the World Without Her[28]
2014
67The Good Lie[29]Philippe Falardeau
68The Imitation Game[30]Morten Tyldum
69Selma[18][19]Ava DuVernay
70American Sniper[18][19]Clint Eastwood
71War Room[19][31]Alex Kendrick2015
72Un gallo con muchos huevos[32]
  • Gabriel Riva Palacio Alatriste
  • Rodolfo Riva Palacio Alatriste
73Woodlawn[18][19]Erwin Brothers
74Miracles from Heaven[18][19]Patricia Riggen2016
75Queen of Katwe[18][19]Mira Nair
76Hidden Figures[18][19][33]Theodore Melfi
77Patriots Day[18][19][34]Peter Berg
78The Case for Christ[35]Jon Gunn2017
79Girls Trip[18][19][36]Malcolm D. Lee
80A Question of Faith[37]Kevan Otto
81Wonder[18][38]Stephen Chbosky
82Coco[18][19][39]Lee Unkrich
83Black Panther[18][19][40]Ryan Coogler2018
84I Can Only Imagine[18][19][41]Erwin Brothers
85Love, Simon[18][19][42]Greg Berlanti
86Incredibles 2[18][19][43]Brad Bird
87The Hate U Give[19][44]George Tillman Jr.
88Green Book[19][45]Peter Farrelly
89Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse[18][19][46][47]
90Unplanned[19][48][49]
  • Chuck Konzelman
  • Cary Solomon
2019
91Avengers: Endgame[18][19][50]
92The Peanut Butter Falcon[51]
  • Tyler Nilson
  • Michael Schwartz
93Overcomer[18][52][53]Alex Kendrick
94Harriet[18][54][55]Kasi Lemmons
95Ford v Ferrari[18][56][57]James Mangold
96Just Mercy[18][58][59]Destin Daniel Cretton
97Summer of Soul[60]Questlove2021
98Show Me the Father[61]Rick Altizer
99Spider-Man: No Way Home[62]Jon Watts
100Sing 2[63]Garth Jennings
101American UnderdogErwin Brothers
102Top Gun: Maverick[64]Joseph Kosinski2022
103The Woman King[65]Gina Prince-Bythewood
104Till[66]Chinonye Chukwu
105Jesus Revolution[67]Jon Erwin
Brent McCorkle		2023
106Sound of FreedomAlejandro Monteverde
107Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour[68]Sam Wrench
108Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé[69]Beyoncé
109Ordinary AngelsJon Gunn2024
110Unsung Hero

As of April 2024, the only director to make the list four times is Jon Erwin: thrice with his brother (2015, 2018, and 2021) and once with Brent McCorkle (2023). Three directors have made the list three times: Rob Reiner (1987, 1989, 1992), Alex Kendrick (2011, 2015, 2019), and Andrew Erwin (2015, 2018, 2021). The following directors have appeared on the list twice: Steven Spielberg (1982, 1993), James Cameron (1991, 1997), Robert Zemeckis (1994, 2004), Pete Docter (2001, 2009), Malcolm D. Lee (2013, 2017), Peter Berg (2013, 2016), Brad Bird (2004, 2018), George Tillman Jr. (1997, 2018), and Jon Gunn (2017, 2024).

List of "F" films

As of April 2024, a total of 22 films have received an F rating from American audiences polled by CinemaScore.

No.TitleDirectorYear
1Bolero[70][71][72]John Derek1984
2Eye of the Beholder[6][17][21][22][23]Stephan Elliott1999
3Dr. T and the Women[6][17][21][22][23]Robert Altman2000
4Lost Souls[6][17][21][22][23]Janusz Kamiński
5Lucky Numbers[17][6][21][22][23]Nora Ephron
6Darkness[6][17][21][22][23]Jaume Balagueró2002
7Fear Dot Com[6][17][21][22][23]William Malone
8Solaris[6][17][21][22][23]Steven Soderbergh
9In the Cut[6][17][21][22][23]Jane Campion2003
10Alone in the Dark[6][17][21][22][23]Uwe Boll2005
11Wolf Creek[6][17][21][22][23]Greg McLean
12Bug[6][17][21][22][23]William Friedkin2006
13The Wicker Man[6][17][21][22][23]Neil LaBute
14I Know Who Killed Me[6][17][21][22][23]Chris Sivertson2007
15Disaster Movie[6][17][21][22][23]Jason Friedberg
Aaron Seltzer		2008
16The Box[6][17][21][22][23]Richard Kelly2009
17Silent House[6][17][21][22][23]Chris Kentis
Laura Lau		2011
18Killing Them Softly[6][17][21][22][23]Andrew Dominik2012
19The Devil Inside[6][17][21][22][23]William Brent Bell
20mother![6][17][21][22][23][73]Darren Aronofsky2017
21The Grudge[6][21][22][23][74]Nicolas Pesce2020
22The Turning[6][21][22][23][75]Floria Sigismondi

References

External links

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