Re: Solo: A Star Wars Story (May 25th, 2018)
I'm curious about this claim. What facts or sources do you have to back it up?
Bad movies made by Disney getting great scores isn't enough proof?
You go to RT right now and you get ads for showtimes for..... guess what.... Infinity War. Oh and what's the score for Infinity War (84% deservedly so).
Ad revenue/showtimes from Disney ON Rotten Tomatoes + "Convenient" RT High Scores = Ticket purchases = Money in RT's pocket. RT gets paid every time someone buys tickets or clicks on the ad. Which means for every time someone does something Disney related on that site they get a percentage of it. (especially if they use it to purchase tickets). Which is why the RT scores are always so high for Disney movies. (Among other reasons, like a ABC film reviewer not wanting to give his parent companies movie a bad review in fear of losing his job.) I could go on but I feel as if you won't add much to the discussion since you seem a bit pissy.
Especially since Disney’s biggest film received an 84% RT score and not 98%!
Why didn’t Disney didn’t buy off their biggest movie?
Literally their biggest most expensive back to back shot in all Imax cameras with huge A list actors 550 milion dollar movie and they allowed it to have a below 90% RT score!
Wouldn’t THAT be the ONE movie you make certain to pay off the critics?
Oh I see. So it's your own conjecture based on personal preference. Gotcha. Carry on then.
Also I'm not sure where you got the impression I was pissy.
Probably you're own conjecture based on your personal mood.
The reviews on RT are the reviewers' own, so not sure how Disney could pay RT for reviews they simply aggregate/collect and display.
However - Disney, with its purchase of Fox, is now the biggest media conglomerate in the world. In the last couple of years, Disney and Fox have accounted for 33-40% of the TOTAL box office. They are also the owners of the hottest and most consistent BO generator, year-over-year - MCU.
With journalism in general shrinking, and in a world of online reviews via social media (where critics are of ever-diminishing importance every year,) the idea that a critic might go a little easier on a Disney (or pretty soon, Fox) release is pretty understandable. Does Disney "pay" critics? Of course not. But would they - if a critic trashed a major Disney release, or more to the point, several Disney releases - perhaps be "less generous" to that critic in terms of invites to screenings and other benefits going forward? Of course they would. They are a business in a strong position dealing with critics who are in a weak position.
The other issue people seem to ignore is that when filmmakers include a significant progressive component to their release - such as quite clearly elevated female and minority inclusion in TLJ in both supporting and lead roles (and a noticeable lack of, or storyline criticism of, younger white male heroes,) or really making a noticeable effort to incorporate African culture and the urban black experience in America into the storyline of BP - it does tend to make these films critic-proof, and filmmakers and studios would be acutely aware of this side benefit to tehir choices.
Few critics who know what's good for them will step forward to criticize such inclusivity-focused films, as they risk being branded in the same way fans who didn't like TLJ were - as out of touch with (or even against) current social advances, or worse - unconsciously racist or misogynistic. It does sound cynical, but to argue that Disney isn't aware of this is pretty naive.
