Recently, Rotten Tomatoes has been in the news, but for all the wrong reasons. Instead of people commenting on how the review aggregation website is a useful tool for film fans to use to see what the general consensus on a movie is, the site has been in the crosshairs of fans, as trolls have taken over and used its audience rating system to attempt to sabotage films like “Captain Marvel” and “Black Panther.” Well, as “Star Wars: Episode IX” begins getting attacked, Rotten Tomatoes has decided to take matters into its own hands and change the way it handles audience scores.
Previously, we reported that a vocal minority of angry fans (aka misogynist trolls) have taken it upon themselves to submit early audience reviews of the film, in an attempt to lower the score so much that it might have some sort of effect on the box office. Largely, this is seen as a symbolic gesture by these toxic fans to show that there’s…uhhh…no room for female empowerment and diversity in superhero films? Is that actually what they’re trying to say? Ugh. So stupid.
READ MORE: ‘Captain Marvel’ Early Reactions: “Pure Joy” and “Super Empowering”
Anyway, the latest film to get dragged by these trolls on Rotten Tomatoes is “Star Wars: Episode IX.” We are still almost a full year away from the film actually hitting theaters. Hell, we don’t even have a trailer or a title for the film yet. That hasn’t stopped these toxic people from going on Rotten Tomatoes to submit bogus, terrible ratings to attempt to derail the film. Apparently, J.J. Abrams’ film is automatically bad because ‘The Last Jedi’ wasn’t the film that “true fans” wanted? Who knows?
Regardless, Rotten Tomatoes has decided to end this madness, thankfully. With revamped rules, the site will now only allow audience ratings after the film has been released, and will change the way the audience ratings are shown on the site. All this in an attempt to better qualify and quantify just what these ratings mean.
“Over the past few years, Rotten Tomatoes has been evolving into a robust movie and TV show recommendations platform that celebrates the views of professional critics and fans alike, and encourages discussion and debate,” said Ara Nalbandian, Head of Product and Technology, Rotten Tomatoes. “We continue to invest in our product to deliver useful and relevant resources for fans and are in development on new tools to help fans express their opinions and connect with others.”
Translation: “Trolls have taken over our audience rating system and made too many horrible headlines, so we need to adjust it to avoid further embarrassment.” Or some such.
READ MORE: Zachary Levi Says ‘Captain Marvel’ Trolls Should Stop & Aren’t Doing ‘Shazam’ Any Favors
Either way, this is nothing but good news for film fans that want a little less trolling in their lives.