How to Read a Press vs Audience Gap
A gap between critic and audience scores can mean several different things. Before drawing a conclusion about a film, it helps to ask which of the following is going on.
1. Expectation mismatch
The film is good at something other than what was advertised. The signal here is a low CinemaScore from opening night, as in Hereditary and mother!.
2. Different questions
Critics tend to judge craft, originality and ambition. General audiences tend to judge entertainment and satisfaction. Neither is wrong, but they are not the same scale, which is why we never blend them into one number.
3. Coordinated voting
Open, anonymous rating systems can be targeted by organized campaigns in either direction. An unusual change can be a reason to investigate, but a gap between sources is not evidence of manipulation by itself: samples, timing and scales also differ. Lower default weights are editorial choices and cannot detect or prevent a voting campaign.
4. Small samples
A score based on a handful of votes is noise. We scale each source's weight by how many votes or reviews back it. See the methodology.
A quick checklist
Gap of 15 or more: noticeable. Gap of 30 or more: large. Then check CinemaScore against the online audience score. If they agree, the audience view is probably real. If they disagree, treat the online number with caution. Then check the vote counts.