‘Rotten Tomatoes’ Scores Face New Scrutiny as Studio Disputes Accuracy of Audience Ratings
LOS ANGELES — The aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes is facing renewed scrutiny this week after a major Hollywood studio publicly challenged the accuracy of its validated audience scores, claiming the metric is susceptible to artificial manipulation. According to records obtained by this news organization, at least six major film releases since January have seen a disparity of more than 40 percentage points between critic and audience ratings, sparking accusations of coordinated campaigns to artificially lower scores. The studio’s formal complaint, submitted to the site’s parent company, alleges that the current verification system fails to distinguish between genuine ticket-holders and organized review-bombing efforts. Rotten Tomatoes officials, in a statement released Tuesday evening, confirmed they are reviewing the methodology behind their audience score algorithm and plan to introduce an updated verification protocol by the end of the quarter. Industry analysts predict this controversy could reshape how studios market their films and how consumers interpret aggregated review data.