Noah’s Rotten Tomatoes Score Couldn’t Break The Worst Streak Of Emma Watson’s Career (But This 2019 Movie Did)

Noah was surely one of the downsides of Emma Watson's career, especially because it continued a poor Rotten Tomatoes streak for the actress that wouldn't be broken until 2019. The 2014 epic biblical drama film was directed by Darren Aronofsky and written by Aronofsky and Ari Handel, and the movie chronicled the biblical story of Noah's Ark from the Book of Genesis and the Book of Enoch. Watson starred as Ila in the cast of Noah. Ila was an orphan whom Noah and Naameh, played by Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly, took in and raised as their own in the movie.

Following its premiere on March 28, 2014, Noah received mostly positive reviews from critics, but audiences reacted differently to the film. Fortunately, the epic biblical drama earned over $362 million at the worldwide box office against a budget of $125-160 million, making it Aronofsky's highest-grossing movie of his career. So, while Noah was seemingly a critical and commercial success from the outside looking in, the average viewer did not receive the film well, resulting in Watson's continued substandard Rotten Tomatoes streak in the mid-2010s. Thankfully, the actress got the opportunity to redeem herself with a successful movie in 2019.

Emma Watson's Rotten Tomatoes Scores From 2013-2017 Was Her Worst Career Streak

Noah's Rotten Tomatoes audience score was part of the problem.

Noah has a 75 percent score on the Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes, but its Audience Score sits at 41 percent, which is one of Emma Watson's worst scores on the website. Unfortunately, Noah's Audience Score was just one of Watson's several poorly received films from 2013 to 2017, marking the worst career streak for the actress since she made her movie debut as Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in 2001. Most of Watson's films obtained "Fresh" status in their Tomatometer and Audience Score (except for 2008's The Tale of Despereaux) until she starred in The Bling Ring in 2013.

Following The Bling Ring, Watson appeared in four more films regarded as "Rotten" in their Tomatometer, Audience Score, or both, including Noah. The other three disappointments were Regression, Colonia, and The Circle. Watson has one outlier during the period between 2013 and 2017 — Beauty and the Beast. But the Disney movie's scores were still fairly underwhelming compared to her other successful films and the original animated feature. As a result, Watson's Rotten Tomatoes run from The Bling Ring to The Circle was pretty weak.

Why Noah's Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score Is So Low (& What Critics Said)

Noah has just 41% with audiences on Rotten Tomatoes.

As mentioned above, many critics gave Noah positive reviews, resulting in a "Fresh" Tomatometer with 262 reviews, but viewers seemingly disagreed, resulting in a "Rotten" Audience Score with over 100,000 ratings. The critics' consensus of the 2014 epic biblical drama reads, "With sweeping visuals grounded by strong performances in service of a timeless tale told on a human scale, Darren Aronofsky's Noah brings the Bible epic into the 21st century." Critics praised the movie's impressive ambition, grand scope, and Russell Crowe's performance as Noah.

However, Noah's Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes tells a different story. The negative comments on the review-aggregation website reveal that some viewers believed the film was inauthentic and strayed too far from the story it was inspired by. They took issue with Noah's story, but many agreed that the cast gave great performances, including Emma Watson as Ila. It seems as though the most significant issue that audiences had with the epic biblical drama was its lack of faithfulness to the source material.

Little Women Broke Emma Watson's Rotten Tomatoes Streak

Greta Gerwig's movie is one of Emma Watson's best-reviewed movies.

Although Noah was one of the low points of Emma Watson's career, one film five years later ended her poor Rotten Tomatoes streak. Greta Gerwig's Little Women premiered on December 25, 2019, and received high critical acclaim. The coming-of-age period drama, based on Louisa May Alcott's 1868 novel of the same name, currently has a 95 percent score on the Tomatometer with 443 reviews and a 92 percent Audience Score with over 10,000 ratings. Little Women was Watson's first true universally acclaimed movie as it marks the actress' best Audience Score and is among her highest Tomatometer scores.

Watson was one of the 2019 film's central stars as she played Meg March in Little Women, alongside Saoirse Ronan as Jo, Florence Pugh as Amy, and Eliza Scanlen as Beth. The movie went on to receive six Oscar nominations, winning one for Best Costume Design, and many regard it as the best Little Women adaptation of all time. So, it's not surprising that Little Women is one of Watson's highest-rated films on Rotten Tomatoes, breaking her dreadful streak from 2013 to 2017.

Why Emma Watson Hasn't Acted Since 2019

The Harry Potter star has taken a long break.

Unfortunately, Emma Watson has not appeared in another movie since she starred as Meg in Little Women in 2019. Watson is taking a break from acting, and she explained why during an interview with the Financial Times in 2023. The actress said she "wasn’t very happy" with the industry and further stated:

"I think I felt a bit caged. The thing I found really hard was that I had to go out and sell something that I really didn't have very much control over. To stand in front of a film and have every journalist be able to say, 'How does this align with your viewpoint?' It was very difficult to have to be the face and the spokesperson for things where I didn't get to be involved in the process."

Even though Watson is on a hiatus, that does not mean she has retired from acting. She revealed in her interview with the Financial Times that she would "absolutely" return to the profession if she came across the right opportunity. Until then, fans can rewatch Emma Watson's previous movies, including Noah.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes, Financial Times