MaXXXine's Sharp Rotten Tomatoes Score Drop After X & Pearl's 90% Successes Explained

Summary

  • MaXXXine’s Rotten Tomatoes score is lower than X and Pearl, with a 20% difference.
  • Critics found MaXXXine’s plot less gripping and the characters more shallow.
  • Despite the lower score, MaXXXine still maintains a Certified Fresh status on Rotten Tomatoes.



The third and final entry in Ti West’s X trilogy, MaXXXine, finally hit theaters, but the movie’s Rotten Tomatoes score hints that its predecessors are better. Since 2022, the X trilogy has been a well-lauded and highly anticipated horror film series. Scream queen Mia Goth leads the films as Maxine Minx (and Pearl), meanwhile, Ti West writes, directs, and produces the movies. Previously, Ti West has worked on horror projects like The House of the Devil, The Innkeepers, and The Sacrament. Considering the success of the other X films, MaXXXine seemed like an automatic hit, yet that isn’t the case.

After being released in July 2024, MaXXXine has garnered a 75% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, along with an 81% audience score. At first glance, this is a strong set of scores. MaXXXine has plenty of good reviews. Critics have called MaXXXine a solid finale to Ti West’s horror movie series, with yet another outstanding performance from Mia Goth, and a sleazy 1980s atmosphere that is easy to get sucked into. Unfortunately, though, these good reviews are not the only ones filling up MaXXXine’s Rotten Tomatoes page.


Related

MaXXXine Ending Explained

The ending of MaXXXine serves as a fitting if quietly ambiguous finale to the X trilogy, even while leaving room open for further sequel expansion.


How MaXXXine’s Rotten Tomatoes Score Compares To X & Pearl

MaXXXine Is 20% Lower Than X & Pearl

On its own, MaXXXine’s 75% Rotten Tomatoes score seems good, but when compared to the previous two movies in the X trilogy, it leaves a much different taste. Where MaXXXine earned a 75% critics’ score, X has a 94% and Pearl has a 92%. Ultimately, this is a 20% difference between the first two films and the finale. Clearly, MaXXXine fell flat somewhere, losing part of what made its predecessors so good. By no means is MaXXXine a bad movie, but it definitely has room for improvement. It failed where its forebears did not.


MaXXXine
negatively affects the
X
trilogy, but it still upholds the general standards of quality and entertainment that the film series previously set.

On the bright side, MaXXXine isn’t all bad in comparison to its siblings. Although X completely outdoes MaXXXine in terms of critics’ scores, MaXXXine’s audience score is 81%, where X’s is only a 76%. Pearl’s is the highest with an 82%. Furthermore, MaXXXine’s Rotten Tomatoes score may have had a significant drop, but it is still considered Certified Fresh by the review site. In this way, MaXXXine negatively affects the X trilogy, but it still upholds the general standards of quality and entertainment that the film series previously set.


Why MaXXXine’s Rotten Tomatoes Score Is Lower Than X & Pearl

MaXXXine’s Plot Wasn’t As Gripping

Maxine (Mia Goth) on the red carpet surrounded by the press blowing kisses to the audience in MaXXXine (2024)
Image via A24

Based on MaXXXine’s Rotten Tomatoes score, the movie clearly went wrong somewhere. According to Rotten Tomatoes, the film’s problems lay in its plot. Though Ti West built a steamy L.A. ambiance, viewers felt that MaXXXine’s story was not as interesting as the plots of the previous X movies. On top of that, MaXXXine’s cast of characters and the film’s story felt more shallow and undeveloped. X and Pearl did not suffer from these problems.

Mia Goth’s next project is Guillermo Del Toro’s
Frankenstein.
She is slated to play The Bride.


Overall, opinions on MaXXXine may be a narrow split. Where some felt that the movie was a worthwhile ending to the film franchise, others were left feeling disappointed, and worse, not scared. Perhaps with time, audiences will be able to see the entire trilogy a bit more clearly, however for now, MaXXXine remains the worst-reviewed film of the X horror trilogy.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes

MaXXXine Film Poster

MaXXXine

In 1980s Hollywood, adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx lands her big break, but her rise to stardom is jeopardized by a mysterious killer targeting starlets. As the body count rises, secrets from Maxine’s past threaten to surface, intertwining her quest for fame with a deadly game of survival.

Release Date
July 5, 2024

Cast
Mia Goth , Elizabeth Debicki , Moses Sumney , Michelle Monaghan , Bobby Cannavale , Lily Collins , Halsey , Giancarlo Esposito