“I didn’t expect that”: Fans Can’t Believe How Awfully Wrong Critics Were About Hugh Jackman’s Underrated Movie That Has Higher Rating Than Oscar Winning Les Misérables

SUMMARY

• Taking to X, fans highlighted the stark difference between critics and audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes.
• Using Hugh Jackman's 2017 movie as an example, fans revealed how the film earned 86% audience approval.
• In contrast to Les Misérables’ 70% critic score, The Greatest Showman earned better appreciation from audiences.

Believe it or not, film and television review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes has created somewhat of a confusion in Hollywood, by compiling both audience and critic opinions to evaluate a project’s quality. Hugh Jackman’s underrated 2017 movie The Greatest Showman recently became the biggest example of this divisive gap in ratings, after a netizen pointed it out on X. 

Hugh Jackman in The Greatest Showman | image: 20th Century Studios

Considering how Rotten Tomatoes often features the critics’ reviews and ratings on a project’s display, by completely overlooking the audience score—one user on X highlighted how Hugh Jackman’s The Greatest Showman has earned a massive 86% approval from audiences. Meanwhile, his Oscar-winning Les Misérables which garnered massive appreciation from critics, earned lesser ratings from audiences compared to the 2017 movie. 

Hugh Jackman’s Underrated Movie Earned Better Audience Approval Than Les Misérables

In the world of film criticism, it has often come to notice that audiences know what they love, even when critics don’t quite get it. Well, this couldn’t be more true for Hugh Jackman’s The Greatest Showman, which recently sparked a fascinating debate online. According to a discussion on X about the stark difference between audience and critics’ scores on Rotten Tomatoes, one user highlighted how critics got it awfully wrong about Jackman’s 2017 musical. 

Sharing a screenshot of how Rotten Tomatoes simply features the critics’ scores on a project’s display site, @CinematicPause informed fans about how Hugh Jackman’s The Greatest Showman had earned overwhelming support from fans who gave the film a remarkable 86% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, compared to the critic score of 57%. This particularly raised eyebrows when compared to Jackman’s Oscar-winning Les Misérables. 

Hugh Jackman in Les Misérables | image: Universal Pictures

While Les Misérables earned a staggering 70% approval rating from critics, the movie stumbled at the audience score, as seen in Rotten Tomatoes, the 2012 Oscar-winning movie received a 79% audience score which is strikingly less than The Greatest Showman’s 86% approval rating from moviegoers. So it seems that while critics preferred the historical drama, fans enjoyed the dazzling choreography and costume design of the 2017 movie. 

Netizens are Bewildered by the Stark Difference in Rotten Tomatoes’ Critics vs Audience Score 

Now, the disparity between critic and audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes has ignited a firestorm of discussion among movie buffs, after @CinematicPause highlighted the stark difference in score between Hugh Jackman’s The Greatest Showman and his Oscar-winning Les Misérables. This particular post drew attention to this intriguing mismatch, which led netizens to express their disbelief. 

Zac Efron and Hugh Jackman in The Greatest Showman (2017) | image: 20th Century Studios

Considering how critics were quick to disapprove of The Greatest Showman‘s bold leap into the world of P.T. Barnum, celebrating the birth of show business—fans expressed disappointment over how Rotten Tomatoes overshadowed audiences score by critical reviews. Meanwhile, after the user highlighted the difference between the ratings, people further embraced the 2017 film’s heart and spectacle. 

According to Collider, while the film’s inaccurate take on the real-life showman led to a drop in ratings from critics, audience scores witnessed a surge, since moviegoers weren’t bothered by the historical inaccuracies. Even on a recent note, social media users passionately debated the merits of the film arguing that The Greatest Showman offered the lively spirit that audiences crave, and the uplifting journey that resonated with dreamers. 

The Greatest Showman is currently available to watch on Disney+. 

Written by Krittika Mukherjee

Articles Published: 2067

Krittika is a News Writer at FandomWire with 2 years of prior experience in lifestyle and web content writing. With her previous works available on HubPages and Medium, she has woven over 2000 stories with us, about fan-favorite actors, movies, and shows. Post-graduate in Journalism and Honors-graduate in English Literature, when this art enthusiast isn't crafting your next favorite article, she finds her escapism in coffee, fiction, and the Wizarding World.