With the weekend here, before heading to their local theater, many movie fans will likely visit the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, to see what the nation’s critics have to say about this week’s latest releases. Friday’s crop of new movies include Sony’s sci-fi thrillerLife, which gets the only “Fresh” score, with a 62% rating, while Lionsgate’sPower Rangers(43%) and Warner Bros.‘CHiPs(26%) didn’t fare quite so well. During a recent film festival appearance, director and producerBrett Ratner, whose RatPac Entertainment company co-financedBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, complained about this why of judging movies. He thinks the Rotten Tomatoesmovie reviewwebsite is the worst part of today’s cinema culture.
“The worst thing that we have in today’s movie culture isRotten Tomatoes. I think it’s the destruction of our business. I have such respect and admiration for film criticism. When I was growing up film criticism was a real art. And there was intellect that went into that. And you would read Pauline’s Kael’s reviews, or some others, and that doesn’t exist anymore. Now it’s about a number. A compounded number of how many positives vs. negatives. Now it’s about, ‘What’s your Rotten Tomatoes score?’ And that’s sad, because the Rotten Tomatoes score was so low on Batman v Superman I think it put a cloud over a movie that was incredibly successful.”
WhileBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justiceearned $330.3 million domestically, the eighth highest domestic total all year, it fell behind 20th Century Fox’sDeadpool($363 million) and Marvel’sCaptain America: Civil War($408 million). While its $873.3 million worldwide total was the seventh highest total all year, it was not a big hit with critics, with just a 27% rating on RT.Brett Ratnerisn’t the only one who isn’t a fan of Rotten Tomatoes. Shortly after the release of Warner Bros’ DCEU adventureSuicide Squad, an online petition surfaced to shut the website down, after critics trashedSuicide Squadeven more thanBatman v Superman, earning a 25% score. Here’s whatBrett Ratnerhad to say about how Rotten Tomatoes hurt directorZack Snyder’sBatman v Superman.
“People don’t realize what goes into making a movie like that. It’s mind-blowing. It’s just insane, it’s hurting the business, it’s getting people to not see a movie. In Middle America it’s, ‘Oh, it’s a low Rotten Tomatoes score so I’m not going to go see it because it must suck.’ But that number is an aggregate and one that nobody can figure out exactly what it means, and it’s not always correct. I’ve seen some great movies with really abysmal Rotten Tomatoes scores. What’s sad is film criticism has disappeared. It’s really sad.”
WhileBatman v Superman’s Rotten Tomatoes score was certainly less than desirable, it wasn’t the only group that bashed the movie. The Golden Raspberry Foundation, which puts on the annualRazzie Awards, nominatedBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justicefor a whopping eight awards, with the superhero adventure “winning” in four categories for Worst Screenplay, Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel, Worst Screen Combo (Ben AffleckandHenry Cavill) and Worst Supporting Actor (Jesse Eisenberg). EW also reached out to Rotten Tomatoes for a response. Here’s what RT’sJeff Vorishad to say in a statement.
“At Rotten Tomatoes, we completely agree that film criticism is valuable and important, and we’re making it easier than it has ever been for fans to access potentially hundreds of professional reviews for a given film or TV show in one place. The Tomatometer score, which is the percentage of positive reviews published by professional critics, has become a useful decision-making tool for fans, but we believe it’s just a starting point for them to begin discussing, debating and sharing their own opinions.”
In the aftermath of the backlash toBatman v Superman: Dawn of JusticeandSuicide Squad,Justice LeaguestarEzra Millersaid that the negative reviews only made the cast and crew more determined to makeJustice Leaguea success. Whether or not this motivational technique worked remains to be seen, but fans will find out whenJustice Leaguehits theaters. It will be interesting to see how DC fans respond to this anti-Rotten Tomatoes sentiment byBrett Ratner, as the DCEU continues later this year with bothWonder Woman(June 2) andJustice League(November 17) hit theaters.
