Audiences Seem To Love ‘Bright’ As Much As Critics Hate It

If you were to listen to the internet, you would probably think that Netflix‘s Bright is an expensive flop. Currently, the movie holds a 32 percent critical score on Rotten Tomatoes. Many Twitter users have called it the worst Will Smith movie ever created. IndieWire named it the worst movie of 2017 during a year that also included The Book of Henry. However, audience reactions for the film tell a very different story.

Director David Ayer may be fretting over what critics are saying, but for his own sanity, he should probably focus on mainstream reactions. Though Bright currently has an appalling critical score, its audience score is 89 percent, meaning that the average Rotten Tomatoes user really liked Netflix’s first attempt at a blockbuster. This mass approval can also be seen when it comes to Bright‘s Google search result. At the moment the search engine states that 93 percent of its users liked the movie.

Netflix’s user reviews are even more positive. At the time of publication, Bright had 1,469 user reviews. The most recent 500 of those reviews are overwhelmingly positive, with 255 users giving the film a five star rating and 93 giving it a four star rating. Not only that, but the two reviews that have been rated “Most Helpful” by Netflix users are glowing:

It should be noted that Netflix sorts its reviews by most recent, so it’s very unlikely the streaming service placed the best reviews on top. Scrolling through Bright‘s user reviews makes for a genuinely interesting exercise. In between pleas from users to ignore the critical consensus, ratings jump from glowing five star scores to scathing one star burns. Of the 500 sampled reviews, most were five and four stars, but one star reviews took third place. Overall, there were 63 of one-star takes. It seems as if there’s some truth to Ayer’s reaction to IndieWire’s barbed review: there’s something complimentary about a strong reaction either way.

Written by Max Landis and starring Will Smith and Joel Edgerton, Bright was destined to be divisive. The sci-fi action epic follows two police officers who are forced to be partners in an alternate reality where orcs and fairies are real. There’s just one problem — Ward’s (Smith) new partner (Edgerton) is an orc, and Ward is about as racist as they come. The entire movie is a cop drama with a thinly veiled allegory for modern-day racism resting on top.

The sharp divide between critical and mainstream opinion brings to mind a couple of other Netflix properties, namely Fuller House and Death Note. Fuller House was widely mocked from the moment it was greenlit and remains as critically hated as its original. However, as its Google Trend numbers and many seasons have proven, the revival has clearly given Netflix some level of success. Adam Wingard‘s Death Note also received overwhelmingly negative reviews. However, the franchise has been greenlit for a sequel, and Netflix pointed to the film as a success during a recent earning interview.

Yes, critics hated Bright, but critics typically don’t love the big budget blockbuster action flicks that drive Hollywood. That’s what Bright is, orcs and all. Because Netflix is so secretive about its numbers, we likely won’t know whether or not Will Smith’s latest movie was considered a success. However, if you listen to Netflix’s users, it sounds like the $90 million film and its announced sequel may not be such a crazy investment after all.