Do Americans Have Bad Taste In Movies? A Scientific Study

When you consider the current state of the American blockbuster, it's easy to say that as a country, our taste in movies is not the most sophisticated. Some dirty jokes, a car-chase scene, and action sequences loud enough to bust an ear drum have their place on a fun, Icee-filled Sunday afternoon, but these mega-hits are usually not the Casablanca of the 21st century. But The Atlantic Wire decided to dig a little deeper before relegating the American masses to a stereotype. And, it turns out, they found out some interesting facts.

It all began with this basic graph, which takes into account data from 797 of the top-grossing movies released in the last four years. The x-axis represents ratings on Rotten Tomatoes (with the worst on the left, and the best on the right); the y-axis represents box office performance. If this graph is accurate, it suggests that the population actually spends more on movies that are well-received by critics.

Believing this too good to be true, the intrepid authors went further. As tends to be the case with this kind of data, the deeper you delve, the more complex things become. Especially when considering the availability of movies nationwide, which shows that the least critically popular films get the widest releases. But there's one thing that seems to hold true: The Avengers always seems to come out on top. Check it out in full, with many detailed explanations, here.