Rotten Tomatoes on Wednesday unveiled the site’s newest audience badge, “Verified Hot.” The designation is awarded to theatrical films with an Audience Score of 90% or higher on the Popcornmeter that meet a set of eligibility requirements.
Verified Hot refers to theatrical films that have been verified as the best-reviewed by the fans. Verified Hot designation will complement “Certified Fresh,” a badge given to the highest-reviewed films by professional critics.
“On Rotten Tomatoes, fans love to consult our verified audience score, in addition to the Tomatometer critics’ score, when discovering new movies and deciding what they want to watch next,” Amanda Norvell, senior vice president of Direct-to-Consumer Services at Fandango, said in a statement. “With the addition of Verified Hot, we are excited to celebrate and shine a spotlight on the theatrical films that fans have unanimously embraced and have taken the time to share their incredible moviegoing experience with other fans.”
Some of the most notable titles of the summer movie season have received a Verified Hot badge. These titles include Bad Boys: Ride or Die, Deadpool & Wolverine, Fly Me to the Moon, It Ends with Us, and Twisters.
The latest movies are not the only titles receiving the Verified Hot classification. Rotten Tomatoes will retroactively award over 200 films with the Verified Hot badge. Air, Dune: Part Two, John Wick: Chapter 4, Knives Out, Parasite, and Spider-Man: No Way Home are some of the films on the list that date back to May 2019, when Verified Audience Ratings and Reviews launched. The entire list of Verified Hot titles is now live.
The branding of the Popcornmeter has received a major change. If 60% or more of the audience rates the title with 3.5 stars or higher, fans see a full red popcorn bucket with a “Hot” label. If it’s less than 60%, the green-tipped-over popcorn bucket will now be labeled “Stale.”
Rotten Tomatoes has also updated the rules for when Popcornmeter and Tomatometer scores will appear for a film. Scores must meet a minimum number of reviews published on the site for the Popcornmeter and Tomatometer to appear. The number of reviews will vary for each film, meaning the review threshold will be determined by the film’s total projected domestic box office forecast.
