There’s a lot of misunderstanding that is inherent with a review aggregating site like Rotten Tomatoes. First, the Tomatometer score (between 0 and 100%) seems to be the end-all, be-all for films nowadays. Even though all that score does is tell you what percentage of film critics think the film in question is better than trash. In addition, you have questions about who gets picked to become an officially-recognized critic of Rotten Tomatoes, which seems to be growing its critics-base exponentially, leading many to believe the critical nature of the site is being diluted by any person with a blog. All that being said, this leads to a furious debate over the incredible value, or possible destruction, a site like Rotten Tomatoes can have on a film.
READ MORE: Martin Scorsese Blames Rotten Tomatoes And CinemaScore For The “Devaluation of Cinema”
Taking steps to fix their public image, Rotten Tomatoes (and parent company Fandango) have taken steps to give individual critics their own stamp of approval. The purpose of this is two-fold. First, and foremost, Rotten Tomatoes wants to start judging the overall critic (and not just the outlet) when deciding who get’s picked to be part of the pool of criticism that goes into a Tomatometer rating. And secondly, the site would also like to include more diverse voices to help round out the rating system, to showcase voices that are otherwise left out of the conversation.
“Over the past few years, our team has added hundreds of new voices to the Tomatometer on top of the thousands we currently have, with the goal of creating a critics pool that closely reflects the global entertainment audience,” said Jenny Jediny, Rotten Tomatoes’ critics relations manager (via Deadline). “We took another key step today by revamping our critics criteria that both shifts our focus to approving critics individually rather than through publications, and introduces updated guidelines for newer media platforms to be a part of the Tomatometer.”
“Rotten Tomatoes plays an important role in connecting fans with trusted information and recommendations on what to watch in theaters and at home,” said Paul Yanover, president of Fandango. “Advancing inclusion in criticism continues to be a priority for Rotten Tomatoes and we plan to expand our work with media outlets that hire critics, film festivals and other groups, so as an industry we can better serve consumers.”
READ MORE: Did MoviePass Actually Manipulate The Audience Score For ‘Gotti?’
This change comes after a bit of a rocky time in Rotten Tomatoes history. Outside of many questioning the importance of the service, and how it has become one of the primary factors that people use to decide whether or not to purchase a ticket, the service has also been victim to a bit of outside manipulation.
Recently, MoviePass (you know, the company that would kill its first-born to ensure another month of existence) was accused of utilizing deceitful techniques to artificially raise the audience score of the film “Gotti.” This came after critics ravaged the John Travolta film, leading to “Gotti” receiving a terrible 0% rating. Long story short, MoviePass allegedly created a ton of RT accounts to give “Gotti” positive scores, increasing the audience score quite a bit.
It’s stories like that which throw Rotten Tomatoes’ credibility into question. So, it’s clear why the company is now taking steps to better curate its critics pool.
And yes, don’t worry, even though they haven’t approved everyone at The Playlist yet (going through all the critics on Rotten Tomatoes will take time, no doubt), our very own Editor-in-Chief Rodrigo Perez is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic. So, now his very insightful (and sometimes controversial) takes on some of the biggest films around will still be counted in the Tomatometer.
Now, we have to wait and see if these new changes mean good things for Rotten Tomatoes or if many in the film and TV world will still consider the Tomatometer the bane of their existence.
https://twitter.com/YrOnlyHope/status/1034184629669060608
