Rotten Tomatoes has decided it’s time to make some adjustments.  This is probably a good idea in light of what happened regarding the upcoming Captain Marvel.  If you aren’t aware of the issue, the site was lambasted by users who came together to downvote the “Want to See” score of the film (in previous articles referred to as the “Audience Score”) in the wake of controversial comments from its star Brie Larson. In addition to voting it down, it was pegged with all sorts of negative comments to the film and its star.

So pretty much people are bashing a movie before it has even been released, which could have a negative impact on sales, especially when it comes to the average viewer since Rotten Tomatoes has become a trusted site for a while now.  How does the site plan to keep trolls at bay? Here’s what the site said in an update.

“As of February 25, we will no longer show the ‘Want to See’ percentage score for a movie during its pre-release period. Why you might ask?  We’ve found that the ‘Want to See’ percentage score is often times confused with the ‘Audience Score’ percentage number. (The ‘Audience Score’ percentage, for those who haven’t been following, is the percentage of all users who have rated the movie or TV show positively – that is, given it a star rating of 3.5 or higher – and is only shown once the movie or TV show is released.)”

We too have made that mistake here on the site, so that’s probably for the best. Anyway, the comments continue:

“What else are we doing? We are disabling the comment function prior to a movie’s release date. Unfortunately, we have seen an uptick in non-constructive input, sometimes bordering on trolling, which we believe is a disservice to our general readership. We have decided that turning off this feature for now is the best course of action. Don’t worry though, fans will still get to have their say: Once a movie is released, audiences can leave a user rating and comments as they always have.”

RELATED — Rotten Tomatoes: Some Studios Taking Steps To Reduce ‘Rotten’ Effects Of Review Aggregate Site — Will It Work?

This is a good step. With Rotten Tomatoes becoming the first stop for many to get reliable data regarding movies, there is a grey area between what the site has posted and being drawn into user’s opinions. Our own Joseph Jammer Medina had already reported on how studios were taking action to help lessen the impact of “rotten” ratings, which you can check out above.  Shutting down the “Want to See” and other opinion areas prior to a movie’s release should help keep trolls away, at least for a little while, and maybe shift the dynamics for many viewers.

We will see if it actually does have an effect moving forward.  What are your thoughts?  Is this a good move by Rotten Tomatoes?  Have you ever checked out the “Want to See” section and been turned away from a film?  Leave your thoughts in the usual spot, and thanks for reading!

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Sources: Rotten Tomatoes

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