Rotten Tomatoes has taken a new initiative, introducing a new rating scale that might solve an existing problem—a pretty big one, actually. For movie fans, IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes have been two of the most reliable platforms in this sector.
But both platforms faced one significant issue: review bombing. People could leave reviews for almost anything, regardless of whether they had seen the film or not.
Hate the star? Boom! Bad review.
Hate the director? Bam! Bad review for you too.
This was impacting the overall rating of a film, leaving fans baffled. The system could be easily manipulated, and there was practically no way to avoid it. But Rotten Tomatoes’ new initiative might just fix this problem.
‘Verified Hot’
That’s what they’re calling this new meter. It’s available only for theatrical movies, which is initially the “just” thing to do.
There are three basic ratings, Verified, Hot and Stale.
Now, only audience scores above 90% from “verified” users get the special designation. But here’s the catch: to be “verified,” you must have bought your ticket through Fandango, the parent company of Rotten Tomatoes.
If you did, Rotten Tomatoes can confirm you saw the movie. They’re also planning to partner with other ticketing platforms, so more genuine users can contribute. This could be the solution to the long-standing issue of fake reviews, but the only concern right now is that the sample for the reviews might be too narrow.
The initiative is indeed great, but what Rotten Tomatoes could do right now is partner with more platforms, such as BookMyShow, to take this to a whole new level. But before being critical, what Rotten Tomatoes did might just change the review game forever.