CinemaScore Ratings Compare with Golden Globes: Critics Both Confirm, Deny Latest Audience Preferences; Some Winners Mesh With Audience Ratings, Others Strongly Differ.

Entertainment Editors

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Jan. 27, 2000

Following the announcement of Golden Globe Award winners from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association event Sunday night, several interesting audience parallels may be drawn in comparing the Golden Globe winners to CinemaScore audiences' top movie picks.

&uot;Even though a film has won in one of the categories, it doesn't mean people are going to go and see it,&uot; said Edward Mintz, president of CinemaScore. &uot;Some of the winners are in synch with CinemaScore audience favorites, like `Toy Story 2' and `Hurricane,' both `A'-rated. But a few, such as `Magnolia,' really stray from pictures liked by audiences,&uot; quipped Mintz.

Best Motion Picture - Drama

The Golden Globe winner was &uot;American Beauty,&uot; a CinemaScore audience-rated 'B+.' Other contenders for the award were &uot;Hurricane,&uot; CinemaScore audience rated 'A'; &uot;The Insider,&uot; CinemaScore rated 'A-'; &uot;The Talented Mr. Ripley,&uot; CinemaScore rated 'C+'; and &uot;The End of the Affair,&uot; un-rated by CinemaScore audiences.

Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical

Both CinemaScore audiences and the Golden Globes agreed on 'A+'-rated &uot;Toy Story 2.&uot; The closest contender for CinemaScore audiences was the 'A-' pick, &uot;Analyze This.&uot;

Best Actor - Drama

Audiences and critics aligned for Denzel Washington's win for &uot;Hurricane,&uot; a CinemaScore grade 'A.'

Best Actor - Comedy or Musical

Jim Carrey was chosen with &uot;Man on the Moon,&uot; a CinemaScore 'B-' varying sharply from CinemaScore 'A-' &uot;Analyze This&uot; starring Robert De Niro.

Best Actress - Drama

Hilary Swank won the Golden Globe for CinemaScore non-rated &uot;Boys Don't Cry,&uot; yet CinemaScore audiences raved about Meryl Streep for &uot;Music of the Heart.&uot;

Best Actress - Comedy or Musical

Another CinemaScore non-rated picture won with Janet McTeer for &uot;Tumbleweeds.&uot; All other Cinemascore-rated films in the category were 'Bs.'

&uot;The Golden Globes have historically been a prelude to the Oscars,&uot; said Brad Peppard, president of CinemaScore.com. &uot;It will be interesting to see what shakes out when the Academy Awards announce its winners. Many of our audiences' top-rated films may triumph over the Golden Globes to take home Oscars instead.&uot;

Anyone with an email address can now access the same information that's been available only to studio executives for the past 20 years. CinemaScore.com is the new, free online newsletter service that delivers movie grades (A+ to F) on current movies and video releases at www.cinemascore.com.

CinemaScore provides quick, easy-to-use, overnight ratings that make it easy to avoid disappointing movies and uncover hidden movie gems. Movie grades are based on in-theater surveys of actual movie-goers attending the movies on opening night. Every Friday, hundreds of people all across the country are surveyed. The target size for each movie survey is 500 completed surveys. Plans are in place to increase this to 1,000 surveys this year.

To see the entire list of Golden Globe winners and nominees, visitors may go to www.goldenglobes.org or simply access the link in the Resources category of the cinemascore.com Web site. CinemaScore.com provides access to a wealth of information available on other movie awards and film festivals.

More About CinemaScore.com:

CinemaScore.com tracks and reports audience reactions by age and gender. In the weekly e-newsletter and on the Web site (www.cinemascore.com), review information is divided into six specific groups: ages under 21; 21 to 34; and 35 and older, with male and female segments for each age category.

CinemaScore.com visitors may search for film information by keyword, actor, director or film title. In addition to the film report scores, film box office gross totals are also posted.

CinemaScore.com is the product of a collaborative effort between Edward Mintz, president of CinemaScore, and Michael Bach, CEO of Survey.com, a leading Internet-based market research firm in San Jose, Calif.

Building on the traditional feedback services method that proved to be invaluable to the motion picture industry in validating internal pre-release research information, CinemaScore.com provides this service in a Web-based version available online to the general public.

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