Rotten Tomatoes uses two different percentage meters. The Tomatometer is the share of reviews from approved professional critics that Rotten Tomatoes classifies as positive (“Fresh”). The Popcornmeter is the share of eligible user ratings that are positive; a user rating of 3.5 stars or higher counts as positive. Neither meter is an average star rating, and the two percentages should not be treated as interchangeable.
A title is Fresh at 60% or higher and Rotten below 60%. A gray or faded meter means the title is unreleased or does not yet have enough qualifying reviews or ratings to display a score. The details below explain who gets counted, how verification works, why badges have extra rules, and why a score can move after release.
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The two scores answer different questions
| Meter | Who supplies the input | What counts as positive | What the percentage means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tomatometer | Tomatometer-approved professional critics and publications | A review classified Fresh by Rotten Tomatoes | Percentage of counted critic reviews classified Fresh |
| Popcornmeter | Eligible user ratings; Verified Ratings are shown separately when ticket purchase is confirmed | A rating of 3.5 stars or higher | Percentage of counted audience ratings that are positive |
The critic meter measures the direction of professional reviews, not how many stars critics awarded on average. The audience meter measures the proportion of users who liked a title under Rotten Tomatoes’ star threshold. A film can therefore have a high Tomatometer and a lower Popcornmeter, or the reverse, without either number being calculated incorrectly.
How the Tomatometer is calculated
1. Rotten Tomatoes builds an eligible review pool
Only reviews from critics or publications approved for the Tomatometer enter the calculation. Rotten Tomatoes says approval depends on its eligibility guidelines and curation process. It retains the right to approve, reject, include, exclude, or remove a critic or review on a case-by-case basis. A widely read review is not automatically eligible merely because it appears online; the author or outlet must be in the approved pool.
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2. Each review is labeled Fresh or Rotten
Rotten Tomatoes evaluates the overall recommendation expressed by each eligible review. A positive review is marked Fresh and a negative one Rotten. The site can classify a review even when the critic does not use stars, points, or a letter grade. Curators may contact the critic or publication when the recommendation is unclear.
3. The Fresh reviews are divided by all counted reviews
The published Tomatometer is:
Fresh reviews ÷ total eligible reviews × 100
For example, if 42 of 60 approved reviews are Fresh, the displayed score is 70%. Every counted review contributes one Fresh-or-Rotten result in this percentage. Rotten Tomatoes does not publish a universal formula that converts every critic’s particular star scale or letter grade into a weighted numerical contribution to the Tomatometer. The official score is the binary classification percentage.
What the Tomatometer does not measure
- It is not the average number of stars or points awarded by critics.
- It does not give extra mathematical weight to a longer review, a more famous publication, or a larger outlet audience in the published formula.
- User reviews and user ratings do not enter the Tomatometer.
- A review’s numerical grade is not required for it to count as Fresh or Rotten.
Why a critic’s star rating and the Tomatometer can look different
Rotten Tomatoes separately reports an Average of Rated Reviews. This is an average out of 10 made only from reviews that include a numerical rating or letter grade that can be converted to that scale. Unrated reviews are excluded from that average, even though they can still contribute a Fresh or Rotten result to the Tomatometer.
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How the Popcornmeter (audience score) is calculated
The 3.5-star rule
For audience ratings, Rotten Tomatoes defines positive as 3.5 stars or higher. It calculates the Popcornmeter as the percentage of eligible user ratings meeting that threshold. At 60% positive, the popcorn bucket is full; below 60%, it is tipped over.
A 3.5-star rating is therefore counted as positive, while a 3-star rating is not. The meter does not average the stars into a single mean. It counts how many ratings clear the threshold and divides by the total number included in the selected audience view.
Verified Ratings and the All score
Rotten Tomatoes now presents Verified Ratings by default for titles where it can confirm that users bought a ticket. A checkmark identifies a verified review. The site also keeps an All audience score, which includes other eligible user ratings whether or not a ticket purchase could be confirmed; readers can switch between the views.
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How to interpret a gap between Verified and All
The Verified view is limited to ratings with a confirmed purchase, while All can contain eligible ratings without that confirmation. The two percentages can differ because their pools are different sizes and contain different users. When comparing titles, make sure the same audience view is selected; comparing one film’s Verified score with another film’s All score is not an apples-to-apples comparison.
Fresh, Rotten, gray icons, and the badges
Fresh and Rotten labels
The 60% cutoff applies to both meters, but the inputs remain separate: 60% or more Fresh critic reviews gives a Fresh Tomatometer, and 60% or more positive audience ratings gives a Fresh Popcornmeter. A value under that cutoff receives the Rotten or tipped-over designation for the relevant meter.
Why a title may have no percentage yet
A gray or faded icon indicates that the title is unreleased or lacks enough qualifying reviews or ratings to populate a score. “No score” is not the same as 0%; it means the required pool has not produced a displayable percentage.
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Certified Fresh for films and television
Certified Fresh is not awarded merely because a title reaches 75%. It requires at least a 75% Tomatometer plus review-volume and Top Critic conditions:
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| Release type | Additional minimum listed by Rotten Tomatoes |
|---|---|
| Wide-release film | At least 80 reviews |
| Limited-release or streaming film | At least 40 reviews |
| Television season | At least 20 critics, including five Top Critics |
| All qualifying cases | At least 75% Tomatometer; the applicable volume and Top Critic rules must also be met |
Because the volume requirement depends on release type, a 75% score on a small early review pool does not by itself establish Certified Fresh status.
Verified Hot
Verified Hot is an audience designation separate from Certified Fresh. Rotten Tomatoes lists a Verified Audience Score of at least 90% plus minimum verified-rating counts that vary by release scale: 500 or more for wide releases, 250 or more for limited releases, and 500 for eligible repertory titles. The badge therefore combines a percentage threshold with a defined volume of confirmed-ticket ratings.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How television scores work
Television can have three related Tomatometers, each describing a different aggregation level.
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A season and an individual episode each need at least five reviews to populate a score. Episode reviews can therefore produce a score even when a complete season-level review pool is not yet available.
Series score
A Series Tomatometer appears when at least half of a show’s seasons have scores. The series figure is averaged from the seasons that have scores; it is not a simple count of every episode review across the entire run.
When season and episode scores coexist
When both season-level and episodic scores exist, Rotten Tomatoes averages the season and episode scores. If only episodic scores exist, it averages those episode scores. These rules mean that a series, season, and episode percentage can legitimately differ because they summarize different review sets and levels of the program.
Why a Rotten Tomatoes score changes
The Tomatometer is fluid because the review count can change. New eligible reviews may be added after a premiere, and Rotten Tomatoes may update a classification or remove a review when eligibility or interpretation changes. Since the percentage is recalculated from the current pool, one additional Fresh or Rotten review can move the displayed number, especially when the title has relatively few reviews.
The same principle applies to audience views: as more eligible ratings arrive, the positive share can rise or fall. Switching between Verified and All can also change the displayed percentage because the selected pool changes.
Adjusted Tomatometer is not the title-page score
Rotten Tomatoes uses an Adjusted Tomatometer mainly in editorial lists. That separate comparison metric accounts for review count, release year, and the average Tomatometer scores of films released around the same time. It is designed for cross-title editorial comparisons; it is not the official Tomatometer shown on an individual movie or television page.
Quick Recap
A practical way to read both meters
- Identify the meter. Confirm whether you are looking at Tomatometer, Verified Popcornmeter, or All audience score.
- Check the review or rating count. A percentage based on a small pool can move more when another review or rating arrives.
- Look for the icon status. Gray means no populated score yet, not a zero rating.
- Check the aggregation level for television. Series, season, and episode scores are not interchangeable.
- Separate badges from percentages. Certified Fresh and Verified Hot require minimum volumes and other conditions beyond the headline number.
- Use the Average of Rated Reviews for a numeric critic average. It excludes unrated reviews and answers a different question from the Tomatometer.
Common misunderstandings
- “A 90% Tomatometer means critics gave 9/10.” No. It means 90% of counted critic reviews were classified Fresh.
- “Verified audience ratings are critic reviews.” No. Verification concerns a confirmed ticket purchase; those ratings feed the Popcornmeter.
- “No score means the movie scored zero.” No. A gray icon means the title is unreleased or lacks enough qualifying input.
- “Any 75% title is Certified Fresh.” No. The badge also requires the applicable review-volume and Top Critic conditions.
- “The adjusted score replaces the official score.” No. Adjusted Tomatometer is a separate editorial comparison measure.
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