CinemaScore
 | |
Type | Private company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Marketing research |
| Founded | 1979 (1979) |
| Founder | Ed Mintz |
| Headquarters | Las Vegas , U.S. |
| Products | Movies ratings |
| Website | www.cinemascore.com |
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 based on the data.
Contents
1 Background
2 Rating
2.1 List of A+ films
2.2 List of F films
3 References
4 External links
Background
Ed Mintz founded CinemaScore in 1979 after disliking The Cheap Detective despite being a fan of Neil Simon, and hearing another disappointed attendee wanting to hear the opinions of ordinary people instead of critics. A Yom Kippur donation card with tabs inspired the survey cards given to audience members.[1] The company conducts surveys to 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.[2]
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.[2]
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.[1] A website was launched by CinemaScore in 1999, 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.[3] 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.[4]
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.[4]
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.[5]
Since July 2014, CinemaScore reports its results also on Twitter,[6] and from January 16, 2016, it began with Collateral Beauty to use for each of them an image with the movie poster on the left and the grade obtained on the right.[7]
Usually, 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 optionally contract with CinemaScore for a private survey, whose result would be disclosed only to the client.[8]
Rating
A CinemaScore survey card
CinemaScore describes itself as "the industry leader in measuring movie appeal".[9] Thirty-five to 45 teams of CinemaScore representatives are present in 25 large cities across North America. Each Friday, representatives in five randomly chosen cities give opening-day audiences a small survey card.[10][11][12] 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, and why they chose the film.[11] CinemaScore typically receives about 400 cards per film;[13] the company estimates a 65% response rate and 6% margin of error.[12]
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).[4] Film studios and other subscribers receive the data at about 11 p.m. 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.[11][13][12]
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".[11] 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".[14]
An A+ grade from CinemaScore for a film 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.[10] From 2000 to February 2018, there were 44 movies with A+.[15] As of April 5, 2018[update], 77 films have received A+.[16]
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.[12] 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".[1] (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.)[12]
As of 2018[update] nineteen films have received an F grade from CinemaScore.[17][14]Vulture wrote that besides horror,[14]
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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.[14]
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.[11] Hollywood executives are divided on CinemaScore's accuracy. One told Deadline Hollywood "It's not always right, but it's a pretty good indicator. I rely on it", while another said that competitor PostTrak was "much better...more thorough and in-depth".[12][18]
List of A+ films
| No. | Year | Title | Director |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1982 | E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial[10] | Steven Spielberg |
| 2 | 1982 | Gandhi[10] | Richard Attenborough |
| 3 | 1982 | Rocky III[10] | Sylvester Stallone |
| 4 | 1986 | Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home[10] | Leonard Nimoy |
| 5 | 1987 | The Princess Bride[10] | Rob Reiner |
| 6 | 1988 | Die Hard[10] | John McTiernan |
| 7 | 1989 | Dead Poets Society[10] | Peter Weir |
| 8 | 1989 | Driving Miss Daisy[10] | Bruce Beresford |
| 9 | 1989 | A Dry White Season[10] | Euzhan Palcy |
| 10 | 1989 | Lean on Me[10] | John G. Avildsen |
| 11 | 1989 | Lethal Weapon 2[10] | Richard Donner |
| 12 | 1989 | When Harry Met Sally...[10] | Rob Reiner |
| 13 | 1990 | Dances with Wolves[10] | Kevin Costner |
| 14 | 1991 | Beauty and the Beast[10] |
|
| 15 | 1991 | Terminator 2: Judgment Day[10] | James Cameron |
| 16 | 1992 | Aladdin[10] |
|
| 17 | 1992 | A Few Good Men[10] | Rob Reiner |
| 18 | 1993 | The Fugitive[10] | Andrew Davis |
| 19 | 1993 | Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey[10] | Duwayne Dunham |
| 20 | 1993 | The Joy Luck Club[10] | Wayne Wang |
| 21 | 1993 | Schindler's List[10] | Steven Spielberg |
| 22 | 1994 | Forrest Gump[10] | Robert Zemeckis |
| 23 | 1994 | Iron Will[10] | Charles Haid |
| 24 | 1994 | The Lion King[10] |
|
| 25 | 1995 | Mr. Holland's Opus[10] | Stephen Herek |
| 26 | 1997 | Soul Food[10] | George Tillman Jr. |
| 27 | 1997 | Titanic[10] | James Cameron |
| 28 | 1998 | Mulan[10] |
|
| 29 | 1999 | Music of the Heart[10] | Wes Craven |
| 30 | 1997 | Star Wars (1997 re-release)[10] | George Lucas |
| 31 | 1999 | Toy Story 2[10] | John Lasseter |
| 32 | 2000 | Finding Forrester[10][15] | Gus Van Sant |
| 33 | 2000 | Remember the Titans[10][15] | Boaz Yakin |
| 34 | 2001 | Monsters, Inc.[10][15] | Pete Docter |
| 35 | 2002 | Antwone Fisher[15] | Denzel Washington |
| 36 | 2002 | Drumline[10][15] | Charles Stone III |
| 37 | 2002 | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets[10][15] | Chris Columbus |
| 38 | 2003 | Finding Nemo[15] | Andrew Stanton |
| 39 | 2003 | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King[15] | Peter Jackson |
| 40 | 2004 | The Passion of the Christ[10][15] | Mel Gibson |
| 41 | 2004 | The Incredibles[10][15] | Brad Bird |
| 42 | 2004 | The Polar Express[10][15] | Robert Zemeckis |
| 43 | 2004 | Ray[10][15] | Taylor Hackford |
| 44 | 2005 | Dreamer[10][15] | John Gatins |
| 45 | 2005 | Diary of a Mad Black Woman[10][15] | Darren Grant |
| 46 | 2005 | Cinderella Man[10][15] | Ron Howard |
| 47 | 2005 | The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe[10][15] | Andrew Adamson |
| 48 | 2006 | Akeelah and the Bee[10][15] | Doug Atchison |
| 49 | 2007 | Why Did I Get Married?[10][15] | Tyler Perry |
| 50 | 2009 | Up[10][15] | Pete Docter |
| 51 | 2009 | The Blind Side[10][15] | John Lee Hancock |
| 52 | 2010 | The King's Speech[10][15] | Tom Hooper |
| 53 | 2010 | Tangled[10][15] |
|
| 54 | 2011 | Soul Surfer[10][15] | Sean McNamara |
| 55 | 2011 | Courageous[15] | Alex Kendrick |
| 56 | 2011 | Dolphin Tale[15] | Charles Martin Smith |
| 57 | 2011 | The Help[10][15] | Tate Taylor |
| 58 | 2012 | The Avengers[15] | Joss Whedon |
| 59 | 2012 | Argo[15] | Ben Affleck |
| 60 | 2013 | 42[15] | Brian Helgeland |
| 61 | 2013 | Instructions Not Included[15] | Eugenio Derbez |
| 62 | 2013 | The Best Man Holiday[15] | Malcolm D. Lee |
| 63 | 2013 | Frozen[15] |
|
| 64 | 2013 | Lone Survivor[15] | Peter Berg |
| 65 | 2014 | Selma[15] | Ava DuVernay |
| 66 | 2014 | American Sniper[15] | Clint Eastwood |
| 67 | 2015 | Woodlawn[15] | Erwin Brothers |
| 68 | 2016 | Miracles from Heaven[15] | Patricia Riggen |
| 69 | 2016 | Queen of Katwe[15] | Mira Nair |
| 70 | 2016 | Hidden Figures[15][19] | Theodore Melfi |
| 71 | 2016 | Patriots Day[15][20] | Peter Berg |
| 72 | 2017 | Girls Trip[15][21] | Malcolm D. Lee |
| 73 | 2017 | Wonder[15][22] | Stephen Chbosky |
| 74 | 2017 | Coco[15][23] | Lee Unkrich |
| 75 | 2018 | Black Panther[15][24] | Ryan Coogler |
| 76 | 2018 | I Can Only Imagine[25] | Erwin Brothers |
| 77 | 2018 | Love, Simon[26] | Greg Berlanti |
| 78 | 2018 | Incredibles 2[27] | Brad Bird |
| 79 | 2018 | The Hate U Give[28] | George Tillman Jr. |
| 80 | 2018 | Green Book[29] | Peter Farrelly |
| 81 | 2018 | Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse[30][31] |
|
So far in the list the following directors occur 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), Erwin Brothers (2015, 2018), Brad Bird (2004, 2018) & George Tillman Jr. (1997, 2018). Only Rob Reiner occurs three times (1987, 1989, 1992).
List of F films
| No. | Year | Title | Director |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1999 | Eye of the Beholder[17][14] | Stephan Elliott |
| 2 | 2000 | Dr. T and the Women[17][14] | Robert Altman |
| 3 | 2000 | Lost Souls[17][14] | Janusz Kamiński |
| 4 | 2000 | Lucky Numbers[17][14] | Nora Ephron |
| 5 | 2002 | Darkness[17][14] | Jaume Balagueró |
| 6 | 2002 | Fear Dot Com[17][14] | William Malone |
| 7 | 2002 | Solaris[17][14] | Steven Soderbergh |
| 8 | 2003 | In the Cut[17][14] | Jane Campion |
| 9 | 2005 | Alone in the Dark[17][14] | Uwe Boll |
| 10 | 2005 | Wolf Creek[17][14] | Greg McLean |
| 11 | 2006 | Bug[17][14] | William Friedkin |
| 12 | 2006 | The Wicker Man[17][14] | Neil LaBute |
| 13 | 2007 | I Know Who Killed Me[17][14] | Chris Sivertson |
| 14 | 2008 | Disaster Movie[17][14] | Jason Friedberg |
Aaron Seltzer | |||
| 15 | 2009 | The Box[17][14] | Richard Kelly |
| 16 | 2011 | Silent House[17][14] | Chris Kentis |
Laura Lau | |||
| 17 | 2012 | Killing Them Softly[17][14] | Andrew Dominik |
| 18 | 2012 | The Devil Inside[17][14] | William Brent Bell |
| 19 | 2017 | Mother![17][14][32] | Darren Aronofsky |
References
^ abc Lawrence, Christopher (2016-08-30). "Las Vegan's polling company keeps tabs on Hollywood". Vegas Voices (story series). Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved March 19, 2017..mw-parser-output cite.citationfont-style:inherit.mw-parser-output .citation qquotes:"""""""'""'".mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registrationcolor:#555.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration spanborder-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output code.cs1-codecolor:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-errordisplay:none;font-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-errorfont-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-maintdisplay:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-formatfont-size:95%.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-leftpadding-left:0.2em.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-rightpadding-right:0.2em
^ ab Wieland, Chris (March 20, 1993). "In Springs, Everybody's a Critic". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Broward County, Florida. Retrieved March 19, 2017.
^ Proxy Statement to SEC, April 18, 2004 Rainmaker Systems, Inc.
^ abc Cling, Carol (1999-09-16). "CinemaScore expands to Internet to offer moviegoers current information". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Stephens Media.
^ Bowles, Scott (2002-08-01). "Movies make the grade with fans, critics alike". USA Today. Gannett Company.
^ CinemaScore's account on Twitter.
^ CinemaScore on Twitter (January 16, 2016). "Collateral Beauty". Retrieved March 12, 2018.
^ Wilkinson, Alissa (August 13, 2018). "CinemaScore, Rotten Tomatoes, and movie audience scores, explained". Vox. Retrieved August 18, 2018.
^ "Cinemascore :: About Us". www.cinemascore.com. Retrieved 2018-12-15.
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzaaabacadaeafagahaiajakalamanaoapaqarasatauavawaxayazbabb McClintock, Pamela (August 19, 2011). "Why CinemaScore Matters for Box Office". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
^ abcde Goldstein, Patrick (October 13, 2009). "CinemaScore's box-office swami". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 25, 2018.
^ abcdef Busch, Anita (August 9, 2014). "B Grade For 'Turtles': What CinemaScores Mean And Why Exit Polling Matters". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
^ ab Cunningham, Todd (June 18, 2013). "CinemaScore Gets 'A' From Studios, Especially When It Counters Critics". TheWrap. Retrieved February 25, 2018.
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvw Lincoln, Kevin (September 20, 2017). "What the 19 Movies to Ever Receive an 'F' CinemaScore Have in Common". vulture.com. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzaaabacadaeafagahaiajakalamanaoapaqaras Geier, Thom (February 17, 2018). "44 Movies With A+ CinemaScore Since 2000, From 'Remember the Titans' to 'Black Panther' (Photos)". TheWrap. Retrieved February 25, 2018.
^ Pooley, Jack (2018-04-05). "Every Movie That Received An F CinemaScore Ranked From Worst To Best". WhatCulture. Retrieved 2018-12-14.
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrst Geier, Thom; Fuster, Jeremy (February 17, 2018). "All 19 Movies That Flunked CinemaScore With F Grade, From 'Solaris' to 'mother!' (Photos)". TheWrap. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
^ McClintock, Pamela (September 18, 2013). "CinemaScore in Retreat as Studios Turn to PostTrak". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
^ CinemaScore on Twitter (January 6, 2017). "Hidden Figures". Retrieved April 10, 2017.
^ CinemaScore on Twitter (January 13, 2017). "Patriots Day". Retrieved February 26, 2018.
^ CinemaScore on Twitter (July 21, 2017). "Girls Trip". Retrieved February 26, 2018.
^ CinemaScore on Twitter (November 18, 2017). "Wonder". Retrieved February 26, 2018.
^ CinemaScore on Twitter (November 23, 2017). "Coco". Retrieved February 26, 2018.
^ CinemaScore on Twitter (February 16, 2018). "Black Panther". Retrieved February 26, 2018.
^ CinemaScore on Twitter (March 16, 2018). "I Can Only Imagine". Retrieved March 16, 2018.
^ CinemaScore on Twitter (March 16, 2018). "Love, Simon". Retrieved March 16, 2018.
^ CinemaScore on Twitter (June 15, 2018). "Incredibles 2". Retrieved July 30, 2018.
^ CinemaScore on Twitter (October 19, 2018). "The Hate U Give". Retrieved October 20, 2018.
^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (November 25, 2018). "'Ralph' Breaking The B.O. With $18.5M Weds., Potential Record $95M Five-Day; 'Creed II' Pumping $11.6M Opening Day, $61M Five-Day". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
^ CinemaScore on Twitter (December 14, 2018). "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse". Retrieved December 19, 2018.
^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (December 15, 2018). "'Spider-Verse' Catching $36M, 'The Mule' Carrying Near $18M, 'Mortal Engines' Fails To Start With $7M+". Retrieved December 15, 2018.
^ CinemaScore on Twitter (September 16, 2017). "Mother!". Retrieved May 8, 2018.
External links
Official website
List of over 1,000 photos and videos made or posted by CinemaScore on Twitter
