Steven Spielberg has been directing movies for over 50 years, and the release of The Fabelmans marks his 35th movie rated by Rotten Tomatoes, almost all of which have received Fresh ratings. The Fabelmans is inspired by Spielberg's childhood and his love for directing, and with such a prolific career, it's a great time to look back at how review scores for all of Spielberg's movies compare in Rotten Tomatoes.
Rotten Tomatoes is a far from perfect system, especially when comparing modern releases to movies that came out before Rotten Tomatoes was launched or the internet was even invented (which includes a sizable chunk of Spielberg's filmography), but it's still a useful tool to help provide insightful comparisons of critic and audience reactions of every movie directed by Steven Spielberg. From Jaws to Indiana Jones to Schindler's List to Minority Report to Ready Player One to West Side Story to The Fabelmans, Spielberg's legendary filmography sprawls across decades and hits almost every genre, garnering mostly Fresh reviews in Rotten Tomatoes.
Steven Spielberg Only Has 4 "Rotten" Movies in Rotten Tomatoes
With an average Rotten Tomatoes score of 80 percent across all 35 movies Steven Spielberg has directed, critics have only given him a "Rotten" score on four of his movies: 1941 (44 percent), Twilight Zone: The Movie (59 percent, although he's just one of four credited directors alongside Joe Dante, John Landis, and George Miller, each of whom directed a separate segment), Hook (29 percent), and The Lost World: Jurassic Park (54 percent). Since The Lost World: Jurassic Park was released in 1997, that means all 18 movies directed by Spielberg in the last 25 years have earned Fresh scores in Rotten Tomatoes, which is clearly an impressive streak.
Despite the critical acclaim, audiences haven't been quite as positive, particularly in the last 20 years. Spielberg's average audience score in Rotten Tomatoes is 76 percent, four points lower than his 80 percent critical average, and audiences have given six of Spielberg's movies Rotten scores. The list is similar to the Rotten list from critics, only Hook received a Fresh 76 percent score from audiences and War of the Worlds (42 percent), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (53 percent), and The BFG (57 percent) all received Rotten scores from Rotten Tomatoes' audience reviews.
Spielberg's Best Decade is the 2020s According to Rotten Tomatoes
The 2020s are just getting started, but so far Spielberg's two movies released (West side Story and The Fabelmans) both scored 91 percent, giving the 2020s an average of 91 percent, his best average of any decade. While only having two movies released in the 2020s might skew the average compared to other decades, both movies are among the 12 movies Spielberg has released with scores higher than 90 percent.
Despite Spielberg's high Rotten Tomatoes average for the 2020s, his eight highest-scoring movies were all released before 2002: Jurassic Park (92 percent, 1992), Saving Private Ryan (94 percent, 1998), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (94 percent, 1977), Catch Me If You Can (96 percent, 2002), Raiders of the Lost Ark (96 percent, 1981), Jaws (97 percent, 1975), Schinder's List (98 percent, 1993), and his highest rated movie in Rotten Tomatoes, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (99 percent, 1982). Spielberg's other Rotten Tomatoes decade average scores are as follows: 82 percent in the 1970s, 80 percent in the 1980s, 74 percent in the 1990s, 79 percent in the 2000s, and 80 percent in the 2010s.
Spielberg's Best Genre is Mystery & Thriller According to Rotten Tomatoes
Steven Spielberg's filmography spans numerous genres and audiences, from fantastical adventure movies made for kids and families to dramatic, dark, period dramas for adults. According to the genre labels given in Rotten Tomatoes (with some movies counting under multiple genres to account for overlapping groups such sci-fi/adventure and action/adventure or history/drama and comedy/drama), his highest-rated genre is mystery & Thriller (which includes movies like Jaws and Minority Report) with an average score of 89 percent.
His next highest-rated genres are history (such as Amistad, Lincoln, and The Post) with 88 percent, drama (such as The Color Purple or Bridge of Spies) with 84 percent, sci-fi (such as A.I.: Artificial Intelligence or Ready Player One) with 81 percent, adventure (such as Empire of the Sun or The Adventures of Tintin) with 79 percent, action (such as Indiana Jones or Jurassic Park) with 76 percent, comedy (such as The Sugarland Express or The Terminal) with 72 percent, kids & family (such as Hook or E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial) with 69 percent, and fantasy (such as The BFG or Always) with 61 percent.
How The Fabelmans Compares to Spielberg's Other Movies In Rotten Tomatoes
Reviews for The Fabelmans have been overwhelmingly positive, earning the movie a 91 percent, 11 points higher than Spielberg's 80 percent Rotten Tomatoes average. The Fabelmans is tied with West Side Story and Bridge of Spies for Spielberg's ninth-highest Rotten Tomatoes score. The movie is scored slightly higher by Rotten Tomatoes' Top Critics, who gave it 92 percent, 16 points higher than his 76 percent Top Critic average
Spielberg's average Rotten Tomatoes audience score is a bit lower than his average Rotten Tomatoes score from critics, and the same is true of The Fabelmans, coming in at 79 percent, three points higher than his 76 percent audience average. While both the critic score and audience score are higher than Spielberg's Rotten Tomatoes average, the critic score for The Fabelmans took a much higher jump from his critic average while the increase for audiences is far less pronounced.
Spielberg's filmography clearly makes him one of the most accomplished and influential directors in history. Rotten Tomatoes speaks to his success with critics and audiences, but he's also been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director eight times, winning twice (for Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List). The fact that he's still going strong and maintaining a high Rotten Tomatoes average after 50 years and 35 movies shows why The Fabelman's story about him developing a love for cinema is such an important story.