Prior to its release, "Man of Steel" reviews were crummy, rating just 56 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. But by 10 p.m. on Friday night, Warner Bros. knew that word of mouth on its Superman reboot was going to be very strong due to its "A-" CinemaScore rating.
Movie marketing data and box office analysis is more high-tech and widespread than ever before, but Hollywood studios are still getting their first handle on whether paying customers loved or hated their new releases the old-fashioned way.
See photos: 10 of the Most Loved – Or Hated Movies: Films That Got A+ or F CinemaScores
On Fridays for more than three decades CinemaScore's Harold Mintz, and his father, company founder Ed Mintz, have from their Las Vegas headquarters commissioned platoons of pollsters with clipboards in cities around the country.