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Be Suspicious of Online Movie Ratings

fivethirtyeight.com

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Re: Be Suspicious of Online Movie Ratings

#81

Post by diminish »

bostik wrote: post #63

Oh wow, that's rich. Quoting from the article: Sites like Rotten Tomatoes that aggregate movie reviews into one overall rating are being blamed for poor opening weekends. The best part is that the quote above even provides a link to the reference they are using for the made statement.[0] In effect, the studios are complaining that news of the films' crappiness are spreading too fast . Let that sink in. The studios co…

Indeed, since may, I try to check Rotten Tomatoes every week, and I end up choosing good movie openings recently.

Previously subconsciously, I was basing my opening movie choice to actors/actresses playing, to the trailer or the poster. The last 3 Nicolas Cage movies I've seen, ended up being so bad that I started to check Rotten Tomatoes ratings which were in line with what I've experienced.

So review sites are truly killing "cheating" studios' openings which relied on deceptive trailers, posters and "bad-performing" actors/actresses.

[1] Nicolas Cage "overmonetizing his face" http://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/nicolas_cage/

Re: Be Suspicious of Online Movie Ratings

#82

Post by sohailk »

cm2187 wrote: post #77

What would be interesting is to follow the evolution of big blockbusters on imdb through time. Perhaps I am confused but I think I spotted a pattern where around their release date they have very good ratings and then they trend toward very different ratings. Which feels like the ratings are manipulated during the marketing period.

I think they're also affected by reruns on TV.

Re: Be Suspicious of Online Movie Ratings

#84

Post by mehwoot »

cm2187 wrote: post #77

What would be interesting is to follow the evolution of big blockbusters on imdb through time. Perhaps I am confused but I think I spotted a pattern where around their release date they have very good ratings and then they trend toward very different ratings. Which feels like the ratings are manipulated during the marketing period.

Which feels like the ratings are manipulated during the marketing period.

I always assumed this was because the people most enthusiastic about a movie see it first, and then everybody else.

Re: Be Suspicious of Online Movie Ratings

#86

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

mehrzad wrote: post #85

The 4.1 to 4 and a half star rounding up issue happens on the play store too, I think. Surprised no one brought it up.

I wonder it it comes from programming languages which silently truncate the fraction part of a float when using it as an integer.

Re: Be Suspicious of Online Movie Ratings

#87

Post by shalmanese »

brianclements wrote: post #74
bostik wrote: post #63

Oh wow, that's rich. Quoting from the article: Sites like Rotten Tomatoes that aggregate movie reviews into one overall rating are being blamed for poor opening weekends. The best part is that the quote above even provides a link to the reference they are using for the made statement.[0] In effect, the studios are complaining that news of the films' crappiness are spreading too fast . Let that sink in. The studios co…

Sometimes I get really excited when, in rare circumstances, the bottom line is suddenly tied directly to the quality of a product, and not just the roll-out from the sellers PR machine. Frankly, I didn't expect online reviews to have that much of an effect, but it feels so good to have the money do the talking in this case.

Before you get too excited, scroll through the Rotten Tomatoes Box Office Rankings: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/browse/box-office/ for a few randomly selected weeks. There's not that clear a relationship between good reviews and box office as you would like.

Re: Be Suspicious of Online Movie Ratings

#88

Post by onewaystreet »

a8da6b0c91d wrote: post #4
raspasov wrote: post #2

Rotten tomatoes usually matches my personal tastes pretty well. Their Critics Consensus summaries are pretty blunt and entertaining sometimes. Here's the one for Fantastic Four (2015). "Dull" is my favorite part. "Dull and downbeat, this Fantastic Four proves a woefully misguided attempt to translate a classic comic series without the humor, joy, or colorful thrills that made it great."

The only way Rotten Tomatoes is useful is if you look only at the negative ratings. All kinds of horrible schlock that has mass appeal gets "certified fresh." But isolating negative reviews: If idiots dislike it then it's probably good; If the negative reviews sound cogent then it's probably bad.

Movies on Rotten Tomatoes only need to have 60% positive reviews to be "certified fresh." It's a low bar. If you want to find good movies start at the ones over 80%.

Re: Be Suspicious of Online Movie Ratings

#89

Post by qznc »

It might just be sample bias. While users of Rotten Tomatoes are more serious and critical movie watchers, Fandango users are probably more casual movie goers who can enjoy any movie. If I'm out on a date and want to have some fun, I don't care that much about the quality of a movie. Some stupid action flick like Transformers is fine.

Re: Be Suspicious of Online Movie Ratings

#90

Post by greggman »

I look at RT but I take it with a grain of salt. I've seen many 95%+ movies that I didn't like. My tastes might be different than the mainstream or the critics and I can be picky but, there's also the issue that the number on RT is the percent of people that didn't hate the movie.

So, you can get 100% if everyone thought the movie was just ok but no one thought it sucked. All the reviews could be just mildly positive rather than glowing.

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