How We Create the Metascore Magic
A peek behind the curtain
Creating our proprietary Metascores is a complicated process. We carefully curate a large group of the world’s most respected critics, assign scores to their reviews, and apply a weighted average to summarize the range of their opinions. The result is a single number that captures the essence of critical opinion in one Metascore. Each movie, game, television show and album featured on Metacritic gets a Metascore when we've collected at least four critics' reviews.
Why the term “weighted average” matters
Metascore is a weighted average in that we assign more importance, or weight, to some critics and publications than others, based on their quality and overall stature. In addition, for music and movies, we also normalize the resulting scores (akin to "grading on a curve" in college), which prevents scores from clumping together.
How to interpret a Metascore
Metascores range from 0-100, with higher scores indicating better overall reviews. We highlight Metascores in three colors so that you can instantly
compare: green scores for favorable reviews, yellow scores for mixed reviews, and red scores for unfavorable reviews.
Read on for answers to specific scoring questions.
How We Calculate Our Scores: The Long FAQ
You may read through all of the questions or answers below, or jump to a particular topic:
- Scoring Calculation Questions
- Publication-Related Questions
- Movie-Specific Questions
- Music-Specific Questions
- Game-Specific Questions
- Tv-Specific Questions
Score calculation questions
Q: Are user votes included in the METASCORE calculations?
A: No. While we solicit votes from our site visitors on movies, games, and music, and television shows we do not include those votes in the METASCORE. The METASCORE is a weighted average of the published critic reviews contained in the chart on that page, and thus does not include any votes or comments from our users. However, you may, of course, see the average user vote by glancing at the USER SCORE to the right of the METASCORE on every summary page.
Q: What's with these green, yellow, and red colors?
A: Assuming you are looking at our website and not at your Christmas tree, it's fairly simple: "good" METASCORES are coded in green; "average" METASCORES are yellow, and "bad" METASCORES are red. (This same color coding is also used for the individual critic and user grades.) If the numbers are too complicated to read, you can simply look at the pretty colors to tell what the reviews said.
Here's how the scores break down:
General Meaning of Score | Movies, TV & Music | Games |
---|---|---|
Universal Acclaim | 81 - 100 | 90 - 100 |
Generally Favorable Reviews | 61 - 80 | 75 - 89 |
Mixed or Average Reviews | 40 - 60 | 50 - 74 |
Generally Unfavorable Reviews | 20 - 39 | 20 - 49 |
Overwhelming Dislike | 0 - 19 | 0 - 19 |
Q: Well then, can I see all of your grade conversion scales?
A: Absolutely! Some of the conversions are obvious (for example, if a critic uses a 0-10 scale, his/her grade is simply multiplied by ten). Some of the less obvious conversions are displayed below:
4-Star Scale | |
Their Grade | Converts to |
---|---|
4 |
100 |
3.5 |
88 |
3 |
75 |
2.5 |
63 |
2 |
50 |
1.5 |
38 |
1 |
25 |
0.5 |
12 |
0 |
0 |
Letter Grades | |
Their Grade | Converts to |
---|---|
A or A+ |
100 |
A- |
91 |
B+ |
83 |
B |
75 |
B- |
67 |
C+ |
58 |
C |
50 |
C- |
42 |
D+ |
33 |
D |
25 |
D- |
16 |
F+ |
8 |
F or F- |
0 |
Scoring Calculation Questions
- How do you compute METASCORES?
- Are user votes included in the METASCORE calculations?
- What does "tbd" mean?
- Why do I see 4 gray squares listed instead of a METASCORE?
- Last week, [MOVIE TITLE] had a METASCORE of 67, but now it says 75. What's up with that? Am I hallucinating?
- Entertainment Weekly gave [MOVIE NAME] a B+; why does Metacritic list their grade as an 83?
- I read Manohla Dargis' review of [MOVIE NAME] and I swear it sounded like a 90... why did you say she gave it an 80?
- Hey, I AM Manohla Dargis, and you said I gave the movie an 80, when really I think it’s a 90. What gives?
- Can you tell me how each of the different critics are weighted in your formula?
Publication-Related Questions
- Which critics and publications are included in your calculations?
- Why is [CRUMMY PUBLICATION NAME] included when [SUPER-GREAT PUBLICATION] isn't?
- Why don't you have 97 reviews for every movie like those other websites do?
- Why don't you include my publication in your panel?
- Why can I click on some reviews to read the full review, and I can't on others?
- Why, when I click on a review, it says I have to login or subscribe to read the review?
Movie-Specific Questions
- How do you determine what movies and videos to include on the site?
- Why does your all-time high scores list not include [MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE MOVIE THAT WAS ON THE AFI 100 GREATEST FILMS LIST AND WAS TAUGHT IN MY CINEMA CLASS AND IS ALWAYS BEING SHOWN AT THE REVIVAL HOUSE DOWN THE STREET]?
- How often is the movies section updated?
- My [FAVORITE PUBLICATION] re-reviews movies when they come out on Blu-Ray or DVD. For your home video pages, do you use the original review or the video review?
Music-Specific Questions
Game-Specific Questions
- How do you determine what games to include on the site?
- Why is the breakdown of green, yellow, and red scores different for games?