Which Movies Do People Love to Hate? A Statistical Analysis
Which films and actors are famous for being bad?
Intro: Cats, One of the Worst Films Ever Made
The 2019 movie musical adaptation of Cats had everything:
Three Oscar-nominated actors
State-of-the-art "digital fur technology"
Two actors knighted by the Queen of England
Beloved intellectual property sourced from the fifth-longest-running show in Broadway history
Taylor Swift
And, most importantly, anatomically correct cat buttholes
For those who have yet to see Cats, you can rest easy knowing that these lifelike cat butts did not make the final cut.
During the production's chaotic visual effects process, VFX artists discovered that CGI had inadvertently given the humanoid cat actors anatomically accurate rear ends. Consequently, one hapless crew member was assigned the laborious task of eliminating every cat anus before the film's release. Rumors of this bizarro butthole cut began circulating across the internet, which spawned a (very real) campaign to #ReleaseTheButtholeCut.
As a cat owner, I'm not sure I need lifelike cat butts in my art, and thankfully this nightmarish relic has been cleansed from existence (allegedly).
Cats was widely panned upon release, losing tens of millions of dollars for Universal Pictures and prompting widespread ridicule for its nightmarish CGI and narrative incoherence. Anyone who has seen the Broadway musical will know that this show is just a series of cats introducing themselves to other felines via song and dance, which translated quite poorly to the screen. Cats won six Razzie Awards, including Worst Picture and Worst Director, and is widely considered one of the worst films ever made. According to data from the movie site Letterboxd, Cats has firmly established itself within a canon of "so-bad-it's-good" classics and is thus frequently revisited by cinephiles.
Some films are released, earn poor reviews, and are subsequently memory-holed, while a select few productions are subject to intense mockery and become famous for being terrible. These movies stand the test of time but for all the wrong reasons.
So today, we'll explore cinema's most hate-able films, the actors often at the center of these productions, and whether Hollywood is seeing an uptick in poorly-received releases.
The Movies and Actors That People Love to Hate
Infamy is more than a dismal Rotten Tomatoes score. The most reviled productions achieve longstanding notoriety through a combination of widespread exposure and unanimous disdain. For example, Cats was a) very bad and b) widely consumed by the masses—relative to the average stinker—and is therefore notable for being a "widely consumed thing that is very bad."
To assess a movie's hate-ability, we'll analyze audience disapproval and magnitude of disdain:
Audience Disapproval: We'll calculate each film's percentage of one-star reviews and then rank this figure against other movies from the same year.
Magnitude of Disdain: We'll measure each movie's total one-star review count, then rank this figure against other releases from the same year.
We'll then average these two rankings to generate our final list.
According to review data from the film site MovieLens, our pantheon of detestable movies is topped by Battlefield Earth, Morbius, Grease 2, and, of course, Cats.
Based on a book by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, Battlefield Earth is one of the greatest disasters in Hollywood history, transforming legendary actor John Travolta into a freakish squid-like monster.
Other films on this list include Fifty Shades of Grey, several cash-grab sequels such as Police Academy 5 and Jaws 3D, and M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender.
A common thread among these films is their appeal to a preexisting fanbase. Some of these widely derided titles—like Cats, Fifty Shades of Grey, and Morbius—were adapted from popular books or shows, while others attempted to capitalize on a once-beloved franchise, such as Jaws 3D, Police Academy 5 & 6, and Grease 2. These movies tried to extract every last penny from captive fandoms—including Broadway enthusiasts, Police Academy fans, comic book nerds, and those who are Scientology-curious.
And who is often at the center of these hate-able movies? To highlight the actors headlining these widely panned films, we'll identify performers who have starred in the most movies with a one-star review rate of 20% or higher.
Unsurprisingly, comedians and action stars dominate this list, repeatedly appearing in films that audiences love to hate.
The movies featured in our "hate-able actor" rankings are unapologetically lowbrow, rife with fart jokes and gratuitous violence—and sometimes both. I'm a bit bummed to see Adam Sandler at the top of this list—because, well, I love Adam Sandler—but I can't deny that this man has produced some all-time stinkers.
Figures like Sandler are intensely polarizing: audiences either love "his thing" or reject it outright (leaving little room for middle ground). If you decided Sandler's schtick wasn't for you after watching Billy Madison in 1995, well, bad news because you were in for three more decades of Adam Sandler content (all featuring the same brand of humor).
While examining the filmographies of these widely criticized actors, I noticed that Hollywood has largely moved away from producing this brand of lowbrow fare, eliminating sophomoric comedies and hyper-violent action flicks like Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo or Bloodsport. Are these projects now going straight to streaming (buried in the depths of Peacock and Paramount+), or has Hollywood rid itself of fart-centric humor and ultraviolent action?
In an entertainment landscape dominated by streaming platforms—where theatrical releases face increasingly precarious economics—are studio executives now avoiding lowbrow content? If so, does this mean movies are becoming less hate-able?
Enjoying the article thus far and want more data-centric pop culture content?
Are Movies Becoming Less Hate-able?
Every Hollywood executive operates from one core principle: don't get fired.
At present, this ideology lends itself to two types of films:
Low-risk, big-budget movies: in other words, sequels and IP adaptations.
Low-budget projects with high upside and built-in audiences: comprised mostly of horror, family, and faith-based films.
Over the past decade, the film industry has become increasingly risk-averse, focusing on a narrow set of proven storylines and source material.
Ironically, this dwindling appetite for risk has fueled a steady rise in the prevalence of one-star movie reviews.
How is this possible?
Consider the genres with the highest proportion of one-star ratings—a metric where family-oriented fare and horror films stand as noticeable outliers.
Why do these genres see such hostility? Because these movies don't need to be Oscar-worthy (or anywhere close) to attract an audience.
These formats consistently outgross their production budgets and, in the case of horror and faith-based films, cost little to make.
I recently spoke with a friend who was exasperated by his children's rabid enthusiasm for the upcoming Minecraft movie.
He acknowledged:
This movie will probably be bad.
His children love the game Minecraft, so he has no choice but to take them to this film.
He was going to have to spend $100+ to take his entire family to the movies (once you factor in candy and refreshments).
His kids will probably want to watch this film more than once.
At least they'll sit still for two hours (fingers crossed).
For his sake, I hope this movie is an Oscar-worthy masterpiece. Nevertheless, it appears cut from the same cloth as many widely derided films—tailored to a devoted fanbase yet likely to frustrate those outside its target audience, and perhaps the fans themselves.
When we look at the online movie keywords with the highest proportion of one-star reviews, we find story tropes that dominate our contemporary film landscape: family, franchise, low-budget, and Jesus.
In an effort to avoid failure, Hollywood has been churning out an increasing number of critical flops that limit risk, make money, and piss people off. Occasionally, these films become memorable disasters like Cats, but most of the time, they take the form of stale IP slop like [insert recent Marvel movie].
The list of story beats associated with one-star movie reviews reads like a roadmap for poor online ratings AND sizable box office returns. So, I'll soon be pitching a low-budget 3D family franchise starring Sylvester Stallone, set on Mars and laden with religious undertones.
Final Thoughts: So Bad It's Good
In 2003, Barbara Streisand discovered that photographs of her Malibu estate had been uploaded to a public website. Infuriated by this breach of privacy, Streisand initiated a lawsuit to have the images taken down and sought damages. Paradoxically, this legal maneuver drew widespread media coverage, sparking increased traffic to the photographs and the proliferation of these images across the internet. The incident became known as "the Streisand effect," an illustration of the law of unintended consequences, in which attempts to condemn a cultural object unintentionally facilitate its promotion.
Fast forward two decades to Madame Web—arguably one of the worst movies ever made—a film disowned by its actors and movie studio in the run-up to its release. This Spider-Man franchise spin-off was a pop culture punching bag during its theatrical run, becoming contemporary shorthand for "a really bad movie." And yet, this ignominious flop that Forbes called the "worst comic book movie [ever made]" debuted as the #1 film on Netflix. Here, we see the Streisand Effect at work: people were curious to see this so-called “disaster,” especially if the price of admission was bundled into their Netflix subscription.
Similarly, after Cats bombed in 2019, the film quickly attracted a devoted cult following reminiscent of the fandoms surrounding The Room or Rocky Horror Picture Show. Theaters began hosting rowdy late-night screenings, encouraging viewers to dress in cat-themed attire and sing along. This once-maligned Hollywood disaster became an object of communal celebration—all because it was terrible.
In a recent blog post, Letterboxd highlighted the rise of one-star ratings from viewers who also "hearted" that same film (indicating the user "loved" a movie they also gave one star). Movies like Morbius and Cats (which are both cited in this article) have emerged as unlikely cultural touchpoints, uniting people through online mockery and meme culture.
Post-pandemic, we have more opportunities to stream "bad" movies at home and mock them online (in return for likes and shares), while opportunities to experience genuinely good films in crowded theaters continue to dwindle. Meanwhile, IP adaptations and franchise installments born from risk aversion produce infamous spectacles like Madame Web, Morbius, and Zack Snyder's Justice League—which serve as fodder for this burgeoning meme culture. Is this a rather cranky reading of our contemporary film landscape? Probably. Is there an emotional truth underlying these crotchety ramblings? Also, probably.
There is no longer a one-to-one link between critical acclaim and cultural relevance. All forms of press can be beneficial—even if it involves rendering an anatomically correct cat anus on Dame Judi Dench or making John Travolta look like a squid monster. In a world of too much content, the worst fate is simply to be forgotten.
Struggling With a Data Problem? Stat Significant Can Help!
Having trouble extracting insights from your data? Need assistance on a data or research project? Well, you’re in luck because Stat Significant offers data consulting services and can help with:
Insights: Unlock actionable insights from your data with customized analyses that drive strategic growth and help you make informed decisions.
Dashboard-Building: Transform your data into clear, compelling dashboards that deliver real-time insights.
Data Architecture: Make your existing data usable through extraction, cleaning, transformation, and the creation of data pipelines.
Want to chat? Drop me an email at daniel@statsignificant.com, connect with me on LinkedIn, reply to this email, or book a free data consultation at the link below.
Want to chat about data and statistics? Have an interesting data project? Looking to produce data-centric editorial content? Email daniel@statsignificant.com
How much of the increased prevalence of 1 star reviews post-2015ish can be attributed to social media hate campaigns and the rise (?) of review bombing? I wonder how many of the movies getting a lot of 1 star ratings in recent years have higher average scores than the movies getting a lot of 1 star ratings in the past. Is there higher variance in audience scores of movies in the last decade? I think of things like Last Jedi or Black Panther getting a lot of praise while also getting a high absolute number of 1 star ratings.
I do think, unfortunately, that it's as simple as the work that goes into "loving" and "hating", work that often isn't worth it. A lot of people go to the movies and they don't WATCH a movie, they just LOOK at it. And if you ask someone who went to go see "Madame Web" with a friend, there's a very good chance that, more than "I hated it" or "I loved it", the sentiment would actually be closer to, "A movie happened."
Fromtheyardtothearthouse.substack.com