Hollywood Blames Rotten Tomatoes for its Rotten Summer

[Huntn]

Want to hear a good one?
Attacked by Rotten Tomatoes

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LOS ANGELES — Hollywood had a horrible summer.

Between the first weekend in May and Labor Day, a sequel-stuffed period that typically accounts for 40 percent of annual ticket sales, box office revenue in North America totaled $3.8 billion, a 15 percent decline from the same span last year. To find a slower summer, you would have to go back 20 years. Business has been so bad that America’s three biggest theater chains have lost roughly $4 billion in market value since May.

Ready for the truly alarming part? Hollywood is blaming a website: Rotten Tomatoes.

“I think it’s the destruction of our business,” Brett Ratner, the director, producer and film financier, said at a film festival this year.

 

[0388631]

A lot of entertainment industries are suffering. It's because of the news. Text industries suffer during the summer while film goes on to make record profits. Studios usually put out their high budget films, often superhero ones, during the summer because they know they'll make a lot provided the film isn't terrible. This is not the case this year. The texts industry is suffering more than they usually do during the summer, whereas the journalism industry is getting more subscribers from both party affiliations and more ad revenue.

Car sales are on a downward trend, but they have been for a while, long before POTUS. But the current political climate doesn't help people make decisions on whether they should get a new vehicle. The situation is a mess, but it hasn't been long enough to make a mark on the US economy.

 

[MacNut]

A lot of entertainment industries are suffering. It's because of the news.

It's because the content sucks.

 

[0388631]

It's because the content sucks.

You know very well that AMC can't play adult content.

 

[Huntn]

You know very well that AMC can't play adult content.

They do too!

 

[cube]

Too many blockbusters being a fightfest with no real plot.

 

[Huntn]

Too many blockbusters being a fightfest with no real plot.

Too many reboots, too many stories short changed.

 

[cube]

Too few theaters advertising 4K.

Too many conversions instead of 3D shooting.

Original version screenings cut short.

3D screenings cut short.

Big screen screenings cut short.

Too few IMAX theaters.

4DX dubbed.

Need to travel.

 

[johannnn]

Is it really a surprise that expensive cinemas become less interesting when a new generation grows up with phablets in their pockets and giant TVs at home?
The new generation also has no patience for 2h movies and much more prefers watching short Instagram clips or someone rambling on Youtube.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

Boohoo. Stop making ****** movies and you'll turn the tides.

 

[Nick Milner]

Rotten box office returns are driven by rotten movies, not Rotten Tomatoes.

 

[bob122989]

Talk about shooting the messenger. The purpose of Rotten Tomatoes is to prevent viewers from being subjected to watching crap unwittingly.

 

[maflynn]

Talk about shooting the messenger. The purpose of Rotten Tomatoes is to prevent viewers from being subjected to watching crap unwittingly.

And isn't Rotten Tomatoes an aggregation of reviews, the lower the rating means many reviewers offered negative reviews?

 

[martin2345uk]

And isn't Rotten Tomatoes an aggregation of reviews, the lower the rating means many reviewers offered negative reviews?

Exactly.

 

[willmtaylor]

In other news, local chefs are blaming people’s tongues for the string of bad Yelp reviews on their restaurants.

 

[MacNut]

Too few theaters advertising 4K.

Too many conversions instead of 3D shooting.

Original version screenings cut short.

3D screenings cut short.

Big screen screenings cut short.

Too few IMAX theaters.

4DX dubbed.

Need to travel.

3D is one of the problems. Overpriced gimmick to try to hype a crap product. I'd take a 2D IMAX over 3D any day.

 

[cube]

3D is one of the problems. Overpriced gimmick to try to hype a crap product. I'd take a 2D IMAX over 3D any day.

I will not watch a 3D movie in 2D, as well as dubbed movies.

 

[MacNut]

I will not watch a 3D movie in 2D, as well as dubbed movies.

I try to not watch 3D movies in general. The glasses are cumbersome and the movies are over priced.

 

[cube]

I try to not watch 3D movies in general. The glasses are cumbersome and the movies are over priced.

Screen a movie only in 2D, 2K, or dubbed, and it is a great reason to just watch it at home later.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

It's because the content sucks.

Exactly.

Too many blockbusters being a fightfest with no real plot.

Couldn't agree more.

Too many reboots, too many stories short changed.

Amen to that.

Someday, Hollywood might come to realise that if they made decent films/movies, with a good cast (that is, actors), a thoughtful script, something resembling a good plot - or, perish the thought of risking finance on an original plot - and, perhaps, just perhaps, made a small stab at passing the Bechdel test, they might actually persuade audiences to return to the idea that viewing movies, and paying to do so, might lead to an enjoyable evening's entertainment.

Shooting the messenger merely because the message is that your product is awful, is a terrific example of missing the point completely.

 

[Huntn]

Is it really a surprise that expensive cinemas become less interesting when a new generation grows up with phablets in their pockets and giant TVs at home?
The new generation also has no patience for 2h movies and much more prefers watching short Instagram clips or someone rambling on Youtube.

A recent report cited the expense of movie going along with the convienence of streaming and big screen tvs. By virtue of their screen size, movies still offer a unique experience, but as someone who has been checking out Virtual Reality headsets (Oculus Rift), I predict the value of seeing a movie on a big screen will be further eroded.

And isn't Rotten Tomatoes an aggregation of reviews, the lower the rating means many reviewers offered negative reviews?

Rotten Tomatoes offers both a collection of professional movie critics opinions and audience ratings. I consider both when deciding to see this at the theater or stream it.

An example: Alien: Covenant- I panned this movie as a big dissapointment. At RT, the critics review was 70% (6.4/10 average) based on 300 critics, and the audience score was 58% "like" out of 60k ratings at that site. Unless there is dishonesty in how the site functions, this represents truth. The argument being made against RT is self serving, in support of hiding the truth.

 

[0388631]

I've been to an IMAX a handful of times and can't even recall the movies I've seen at them. Though I do remember watching Free Willy at a specialty theater that sat maybe 500 people or more and had some cool special effects including wind from fans and AC in tune to the film and spray mist of water during splashes.

 

[willmtaylor]

Hollywood has a problem with viewers (customers) not blindly paying for Blockbusters. They’d rather patrons pay first rather than educate themselves on movie quality beforehand. Poor folks.

And you know they realize it, as the worst movies don’t even allow prescreening for critics from fears of awful reviews.

 

[Huntn]

I've been to an IMAX a handful of times and can't even recall the movies I've seen at them. Though I do remember watching Free Willy at a specialty theater that sat maybe 500 people or more and had some cool special effects including wind from fans and AC in tune to the film and spray mist of water during splashes.

Avatar at the iMax was a real treat. That was a second viewing after seeing it at a regular theater.

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Too few theaters advertising 4K.

Too many conversions instead of 3D shooting.

Original version screenings cut short.

3D screenings cut short.

Big screen screenings cut short.

Too few IMAX theaters.

4DX dubbed.

Need to travel.

The iMax is a very special experience, but it's more expensive than a regular theater, and I go to them very infrequently, last time was Avatar, 7 years ago. So I'm not sure more of those theaters would be an answer of any consequence to Hollywood's bottom line.

 

[rhett7660]

It's because the content sucks.

True story right there.....

How about give us good content, original content, not remade, re-hashed, re-lets make it bigger and better than the original only to have it suck to high heaven content!