When it comes to influential access, today’s studio executives and theatergoers are on a level playing field. This, like everything else, has benefits and drawbacks. Here are the benefits and drawbacks of democratizing the evaluation of a film’s worth.
In determining whether to invest one’s time, effort, and money in developing, releasing, marketing, or even seeing a film, a number of considerations come into play. Industry insiders and the general public both evaluate star power, the director, the story, and the popularity of previous work when selecting a film. The critical response to a film often influences its fate just before or after it is released to the public.
Which among the various tools and resources at our disposal these days are credible, reputable, and worthy of our trust? So, here’s the situation.
To avoid hearing or seeing too much about the tale or the best bits, one may not want to read reviews or see a trailer. If you’re a frequent moviegoer, you might want to keep your eyes and ears covered throughout the trailers. Furthermore, loglines or reviewer pull quotes such as “This is a superbly produced bromance dramedy” may be deceptive. It’s quite tough to get rid of these notions once they’ve been imprinted on your mind. Because most experiences are based on expectation, dodge the hoopla by seeing whatever you want on opening weekend.
If you need to qualify your time, which, let’s face it, is more valuable than money, read or skim a review from a national critic you admire or tend to agree with. Avoid thumbs or 0 out of 5 rating systems at all costs, as they will poison your palette. Critics frequently have conflicting feelings about a film. Some critics utilize grades or a 4 or 5-star rating system, often with half-stars to avoid being too critical or too complimentary. Rotten Tomatoes/Fandango, Metacritic, IMDB (Amazon), and CinemaScore are the other key influencers.
Rotten Tomatoes, which has approximately 26 million followers, is a website that collects the opinions of movie and television reviewers and calculates a Fresh score. It’s easy to use, has superb branding, and outside of IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes is the most well-known movie website. Fandango, the company that sells tickets for many major movie theater chains, purchased Rotten Tomatoes (along with its parent company Flixster). Prior to its acquisition by Comcast (NBC Universal) and Warner Brothers in April 2007, Fandango was a privately held company, with Regal Entertainment Group, the largest movie theater chain in the United States, as a key shareholder.
The Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes shows the proportion of people who loved a particular film. Print journalists, broadcast outlets, and internet publications are among the persons who must maintain a particular degree of popularity, quality, and consistency in order to be considered. Rotten Tomatoes has almost 200 separate reviews for major movies.
The branding of Metacritic, on the other hand, is a fraction of that of the others, and most people have never heard of it. On a scale of 0 to 100, they employ a weighted average of scores from an elite group of 30-50 writers from prominent US magazines. Letter grades and four-star ratings are transformed to binary values. Metacritic scores aim to quantify the quality of each film. A Rotten Tomatoes score of 95% means that practically everyone liked it, but it doesn’t tell you how or why so many people liked it. Metacritic is a superior tool for determining how good a film is, particularly for individuals who enjoy older material. The more discerning films are strewn among the more popular ones, so it’s a good mix.
The Internet Movie Database (IMDB), which is owned by Amazon, has the largest user population, with 83 million registered members. It employs numerical ratings based on user votes on a scale of one to ten. On a scale of 1 to 10, anyone can rate any film; the totals are then converted to weighted mean-ratings and shown next to each title. To avoid rigging of ballot boxes, the service employs internet filtering technologies. To post on the site, one must first register, and their profile page displays all of their activity. Unlike Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB allows users to see the whole cast and crew, as well as the budget, locations, and overall box office performance. IMDB-Pro and other professional reference sites like as Variety, Comscore/Rentrak, and others are used by the industry.
CinemaScore is a unique system that is the industry leader in exit poll measurement. They gather audience feedback by polling moviegoers on opening night about their reactions to the most recent major films. Audience members fill out ballot cards at the theater on opening night, which assess the film and forecast box office receipts based on the information. Typically, 400–500 moviegoers are polled. They employ 45 people in 25 major cities across North America. Age, gender, a grade between A+ and F, whether they would rent or buy the film on DVD or Blu-ray, and why they chose the film are all questions asked by reps in five randomly selected locations. Each film receives roughly 400 cards. Opening night results are announced at 11 p.m. PST.
The thumbs up or down popularity was established by Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. Audiences would listen to or read their in-depth discussion of why the projects were worth seeing and why back when the globe had more time and longer attention spans. Nonetheless, in our millisecond culture, their reductive device has triumphed. Popularity, or the fact that a lot of people like something, does not guarantee that it will appeal to everyone. Unfortunately, a quick glimpse at a number, grade, or percentage can render an exceptional, little-known gem impotent to find an audience. Top 10 lists, award shows, and best-of-year summaries from reputable sources can give you a better idea of what movies are worth watching. If the same films keep showing up in good company, it’s a good sign.
