Highly Anticipated "Ajami," Co-Written and Directed By Scandar Copti and
Yaron Shani, Receives a Metascore of 81

            SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 5 - Metacritic (http://www.metacritic.com/), the Web's most robust roundup of entertainment reviews and a property of CBS Interactive, today announced its Metascores® for the week's opening movies as of Friday, February 5 at 11:30 AM, PT.  Metacritic carefully screens and selects the most respected reviewers within each entertainment category and combines all of the individual critics' scores into a Metascore, an overall grade for each release, so users can gauge the critical consensus at a glance.  Movie Metascores are compiled using weighted scores from the 41 most respected movie critics and publications in the U.S.

Following is a list of the Metascores for this week's opening movies:

Wide Releases:
"From Paris with Love," starring John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers - Metascore = 45
"Dear John," starring Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried - Metascore = 44

Limited Releases:
"Ajami," co-written and directed by Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani - Metascore = 81
"Terribly Happy," co-written and directed by Henrik Ruben Genz  - Metascore = 76
"Eyes Wide Open," directed by Haim Tabakman - Metascore = 71
"The Red Riding Trilogy," co-directed by Julian Jarrold, James Marsh, and Anand Tucker - Metascore = 66
"The Shinjuku Incident," starring Jackie Chan  - Metascore = 63

"District 13: Ultimatum," written by Luc Besson and directed by Patrick Alessandrin - Metascore = 61

"Frozen," written and directed by Adam Green - Metascore = 42

Metascores range from 0-100, with higher scores indicating better overall reviews and lower scores indicating less favorable reviews from critics.  Various ranges of Metascore are also identified by different colors so you can tell at a glance how critics felt: generally, green scores (61-100) indicate favorable reviews, yellow scores (40 - 60) denote mixed reviews and red scores (0-39) are used for unfavorable reviews.

The Metascore is considered a weighted average because Metacritic assigns more significance (or weight) to some critics and publications than to others based on the overall stature and quality of those critics and publications.  In addition to critical reviews, entertainment enthusiasts can also voice their opinions by submitting their own ratings and reviews.  By providing a weighted Metascore and an average consumer score for each release, Metacritic helps consumers make informed decisions about how to spend their entertainment dollars and time.

About Metacritic

Called "...the Web's best film review site" by Entertainment Weekly, Metacritic provides access to and summarizes the vast amount of entertainment criticism available online for film, video/DVD, music, games and television.  With the belief that multiple opinions are better than one, Metacritic launched in January 2001 and has remained true to its goal to help people make an informed decision about how to spend their money on the many entertainment options available today.

Follow Metacritic on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/metacritic_com

About CBS Interactive

CBS Interactive, a division of CBS Corporation, is the best online content network for information and entertainment.  With 200 million people visiting its properties each month, it is a top 10 Web property globally and a top 5 Web property in the U.S. in terms of unique video viewers.  Its portfolio of leading brands, which include CNET, CBS.com, CBSSports.com, GameSpot, TV.com, BNET and Last.fm, span popular categories such as technology, entertainment, sports, news and business.

Follow CBS Interactive on Twitter: www.twitter.com/cbsitweets

*   *   * 

Press Contact:           

Tamara Woods  415-344-2381                 Tamara.Woods@cbs.com