Pixar’s *Coco* (2017) received an A+ CinemaScore, the highest possible grade on the CinemaScore scale. This makes the film part of an exceptionally exclusive club—fewer than 90 films in the entire history of CinemaScore have achieved this top rating.
The A+ represents not just critical approval but authentic audience enthusiasm captured on opening night, reflecting how viewers experienced the film’s emotional and cultural impact. The CinemaScore system works through a simple polling mechanism.
On opening night, researchers survey audiences leaving theaters and ask them to grade the film on a scale from A+ to F.
- Cinemascore Coco: Table of Contents
- How Does the CinemaScore Grade Scale Actually Work?
- What Does an A+ CinemaScore Actually Mean for a Filmmaker?
- How Does Coco's A+ Compare to Other Pixar Films?
- Why Does Coco's A+ CinemaScore Matter for Audiences Deciding What to Watch?
- What Misconceptions Exist About CinemaScore Ratings?
- Coco's Cultural Impact and Audience Reception Context
- What Coco's A+ Means for Pixar's Track Record and the Animation Industry
- Conclusion
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Coco’s A+ grade means that audiences who saw it on day one overwhelmingly responded to its story, characters, and emotional depth. This opening-night measurement is distinct from critic reviews or long-term audience ratings—it captures pure, immediate audience reaction. For Pixar specifically, the A+ distinction carries particular weight.
Coco became the sixth Pixar film to earn this maximum grade, placing it among the studio’s most universally acclaimed theatrical releases. The achievement underscores how the film resonated across diverse demographic segments during that crucial first weekend.
Table of Contents
- How Does the CinemaScore Grade Scale Actually Work?
- What Does an A+ CinemaScore Actually Mean for a Filmmaker?
- How Does Coco’s A+ Compare to Other Pixar Films?
- Why Does Coco’s A+ CinemaScore Matter for Audiences Deciding What to Watch?
- What Misconceptions Exist About CinemaScore Ratings?
- Coco’s Cultural Impact and Audience Reception Context
- What Coco’s A+ Means for Pixar’s Track Record and the Animation Industry
- Conclusion
How Does the CinemaScore Grade Scale Actually Work?
cinemascore operates on a traditional letter-grade system: A+, A, A−, B+, B, B−, C+, C, C−, D+, D, D−, and F.
Each letter represents a distinct tier of audience satisfaction, with A+ standing at the absolute top. Films receiving A+ scores are vanishingly rare, typically appearing only a handful of times per year across the entire theatrical landscape.
The grading scale has remained consistent since CinemaScore’s inception in 1979, making it a historical baseline for comparing audience reception across decades.
An A+ indicates near-universal approval from day-one audiences, while an A typically suggests strong approval with some reservations.
The difference between A+ and A might seem marginal, but it represents a meaningful gap in audience enthusiasm—A+ films are the ones audiences recommend without hesitation, while A films might receive comments like “it’s good, but…” The distinction matters for word-of-mouth momentum.
Coco’s A+ places it alongside films like *Toy Story 4*, *Incredibles 2*, and other Pixar releases that achieved perfect audience consensus. The rarity of A+ grades across all of cinema makes this achievement comparable to other significant honors—it’s not a marketing award or critical citation, but rather organic proof of immediate audience satisfaction.
What Does an A+ CinemaScore Actually Mean for a Filmmaker?
An A+ CinemaScore is one of the few metrics that filmmakers and studios genuinely celebrate in public statements. Unlike review aggregators that blend critical and audience opinions, CinemaScore represents pure first-run audience reaction, captured before social media discourse, spoilers, or cultural criticism reshape perception.
For director Lee Unkrich and the Pixar creative team, the A+ was tangible evidence that their vision connected with viewers.
However, there’s an important limitation to understand: CinemaScore reflects opening-weekend audiences, not a film’s complete lifespan reception. Opening-night crowds tend to be more enthusiastic than general audiences—they’ve made a deliberate choice to see the film, often at premium showtimes, and come with elevated expectations.
A film receiving an A+ doesn’t guarantee streaming-era reception or the kind of critical reevaluation that can occur years later. That said, the A+ is harder to dismiss than a single negative review because it’s based on hundreds of audience surveys conducted systematically across multiple locations.
How Does Coco’s A+ Compare to Other Pixar Films?
coco joining only five other Pixar films at the A+ level underscores its exceptional standing within the studio’s catalog. The previous A+ recipients included *Toy Story 3*, *Toy Story 4*, *Incredibles 2*, *Inside Out*, and *Monsters University*.
These are not Pixar’s most commercially successful films necessarily, but rather the films that achieved maximum audience consensus from day one.
This distinction reveals something interesting about audience expectations and emotional engagement. Pixar’s typical output earns strong A grades, which still represent excellent audience reception. But the jump from A to A+ often correlates with how universally a film’s emotional core connects across different age groups and cultural contexts.
Coco’s A+ suggests the film succeeded simultaneously as a children’s movie, a family experience, and a meaningful examination of cultural heritage and mortality.
Why Does Coco’s A+ CinemaScore Matter for Audiences Deciding What to Watch?
For potential viewers, a CinemaScore like A+ serves as a signal of quality from people like themselves—not film critics, but regular audiences making typical theater visits. When someone considers whether to see a film, learning that opening-night audiences gave it the highest possible grade carries weight.
It suggests the film likely won’t disappoint on basic execution, storytelling, or emotional payoff.
The practical value is straightforward: A+ CinemaScore audiences are signaling that Coco meets or exceeds expectations, regardless of your personal taste in films. This is different from reading reviews where critics might praise artistic ambition but warn about pacing issues. A+ audiences are saying the complete package—the story, performances, visuals, and emotional resolution—worked cohesively.
For families deciding between options, a Pixar film with A+ audience approval offers higher confidence than typical assumptions about studio quality.
What Misconceptions Exist About CinemaScore Ratings?
One common mistake viewers make is equating CinemaScore grades directly with critical reviews. A film can receive an A+ from audiences while critics remain divided, or vice versa. This difference is genuine and meaningful—audiences prioritize entertainment value and emotional engagement, while critics often weigh artistic originality or thematic depth differently.
Coco actually achieved both audience and critical acclaim, but these would be separate achievements even if they diverged.
Another misconception concerns what A+ actually predicts about a film’s cultural or historical significance. An A+ indicates audiences enjoyed it on opening night; it doesn’t predict whether the film will be considered important ten years later. Additionally, some viewers assume CinemaScore is biased toward mainstream or commercial entertainment.
While this concern has some validity, CinemaScore polls audiences at actual theaters rather than cherry-picking respondents, lending legitimacy to its results.
Coco’s Cultural Impact and Audience Reception Context
Coco arrived in November 2017 to audiences primed for a Day of the Dead narrative centered on Mexican cultural traditions. The film’s A+ suggests audiences embraced both the cultural authenticity and the universal themes of family connection and mortality.
This is particularly meaningful because CinemaScore reflects what happened in actual theaters—audiences of diverse backgrounds responding to a film that centered a culture often underrepresented in major studio animation.
The opening-weekend A+ preceded years of sustained appreciation. Over subsequent years, Coco accumulated additional accolades including Oscar nominations and wins, but the CinemaScore was immediate proof that the film connected from day one. This early audience enthusiasm likely contributed to the film’s strong word-of-mouth and extended theatrical run.
What Coco’s A+ Means for Pixar’s Track Record and the Animation Industry
Coco’s A+ reinforced Pixar’s reputation for consistently delivering films that resonate with audiences on both artistic and entertainment levels. With six A+ CinemaScore films in its catalog, Pixar has the highest percentage of A+ films among major animation studios.
This track record makes Pixar releases reliable indicators of audience satisfaction, even when individual films target different demographics or emotional registers.
The achievement also signals something to the broader animation industry about the commercial viability of stories rooted in specific cultural contexts. Coco’s success proved that audiences would embrace narratives centered on non-English cultural traditions as long as the storytelling and emotional authenticity were present.
This has influenced subsequent industry decisions about which stories get greenlit and how cultural representation factors into development.
Conclusion
Coco’s A+ CinemaScore represents the highest possible mark of opening-night audience approval, a rare achievement shared by fewer than 90 films across CinemaScore’s history. For Pixar, it marked the studio’s sixth A+ film and reinforced the creative team’s success in translating cultural authenticity into universally resonant cinema.
The grade reflects genuine audience enthusiasm captured on opening night, before critical discourse or extended contemplation could reshape initial reactions.
For viewers considering whether to watch the film, the A+ serves as straightforward proof that audiences found Coco emotionally engaging and well-executed across all its elements. While CinemaScore doesn’t predict a film’s lasting cultural significance or match with individual preferences, it reliably indicates whether opening audiences experienced satisfaction with the complete package.
Coco’s achievement in this metric, combined with its subsequent critical and commercial success, stands as testament to the film’s broad appeal and storytelling strength.
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