CinemaScore

CinemaScore is a private market research firm based in Las Vegas that has become a standard reference for gauging how general audiences receive new film releases. Since its founding in 1978, the company has polled opening-night moviegoers at theaters across the United States, asking them to assign a letter grade from A+ to F immediately after viewing. These grades are widely cited by entertainment media and used by studios to forecast box office performance and assess word-of-mouth potential.

Unlike critic aggregators such as Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic, CinemaScore captures the immediate reaction of paying audiences rather than professional reviewers. The company's methodology has remained remarkably consistent: paper ballots handed out by contract pollsters outside theaters in about 30 cities. Only the final letter grade is made public; subscribing studios receive full demographic breakdowns and detailed data reports. This distinction has made CinemaScore a unique and influential metric in the film industry, often referenced alongside box office figures in coverage of new releases.

CinemaScore operates as a family-run business with a lean staff. Founder Ed Mintz and his son Harold Mintz oversee day-to-day operations from suburban Las Vegas. The company contracts with roughly 40 teams of part-time pollsters to collect data on opening nights. Despite the rise of streaming and digital distribution, CinemaScore has maintained its traditional polling approach, though president Harold Mintz has expressed interest in expanding into streaming audience research. [edit]

CinemaScore aims to provide unbiased measurement of audience response to films, giving theatergoers a public voice distinct from critic opinions. The company's mission is to help studios and the public understand whether a movie appeals to general audiences, using statistically robust samples gathered on opening night. By offering a standardized letter-grade system, CinemaScore seeks to be a reliable tool for predicting word-of-mouth and box office trajectory. [edit]

CinemaScore was founded in 1978 by Ed Mintz, a Las Vegas entrepreneur with no prior Hollywood connections. The idea came after Mintz saw the 1978 film The Cheap Detective and felt disappointed despite positive critic reviews. He believed critic reviews did not capture whether a movie actually appealed to live audiences, so he created a tool to give theatergoers a public voice. Mintz began polling audiences outside theaters on opening night, using paper ballots to collect letter grades.

The company grew slowly, initially serving a handful of studios. In 1990, Mintz moved to Las Vegas, establishing the company's long-term base. CinemaScore's methodology remained largely unchanged over the decades, relying on in-person polling by contract workers in about 30 U.S. cities. By the 2000s, its letter grades had become a fixture in entertainment industry reporting, cited by outlets such as The Hollywood Reporter and Variety.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, when major studios delayed tentpole releases, CinemaScore pivoted to serve smaller studios that continued releasing films. President Harold Mintz noted that while revenue dropped, the company survived by providing research to new clients. As of 2025, CinemaScore remains family-operated and privately held, with ambitions to grow its brand and explore streaming audience measurement. [edit]