BEFORE THE FIRST FULL VERDICT

How to read early reactions

Before a big studio film opens, the distributor holds press and premiere screenings. Afterwards it often lifts a social embargo, allowing attendees to post brief impressions. These first reactions are the most visible early signal and the least reliable. Attendees are frequently invited guests, the screening is often a celebratory premiere, and a single-sentence post leaves no room for nuance. A film whose first reactions are unanimously glowing can still receive mixed reviews.

The review embargo is the second, more important milestone. It is the agreed time when full reviews may be published — typically a few days to a week before release for most studio films, sometimes earlier when a distributor is confident and later when it is not. A review embargo set for the evening before opening is widely read as a sign of caution, though it is not proof of anything.

Festival premieres

Festival premieres work differently. At Cannes, Venice, TIFF and Sundance, reviews are typically published as soon as the press screening ends, so the first critical consensus can form months before a film reaches cinemas. Standing ovation lengths reported from Cannes and Venice make headlines, but they measure the room, not the film. Awards contenders often travel the Venice–Telluride–TIFF circuit in quick succession, building or losing momentum along the way.

Aggregators and scores

Rotten Tomatoes reports the percentage of approved critics whose review is positive; it does not measure how positive. A film can score 90% with lukewarm praise. Metacritic converts reviews into weighted scores and averages them, which better reflects intensity but relies on a smaller pool. Early on, both are based on a handful of reviews and can swing sharply. Audience scores, such as CinemaScore's opening-night survey grades, only exist after release.

Tracking and other noise

Trade outlets regularly publish box office tracking: predictions of opening-weekend earnings based on audience awareness surveys. Tracking is a business forecast, not a quality signal. Test screening reports, often leaked anonymously, describe unfinished cuts and are best ignored.

Ready to plan? Head to the release calendar.