Is ‘Gotti’ Manipulating Rotten Tomatoes to Make Its User Score Higher? - Who would've thought that Travolta and Kirk Cameron would be one in the same?

[Gordon Cole]

Marketing for John Travolta’s “Gotti” went viral this week with an online advertisement that bashed critics as “trolls behind the keyboard” after the film earned a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes. The advertisement claimed “audiences love” the movie — but the number of fan reviews now flooding Rotten Tomatoes suggest “Gotti” has been seen as widely as “Incredibles 2.” And that seems a little, well, suspicious.

“Gotti” currently has a fresh 68% user score, and at this writing, has 7,068 user reviews; “Incredibles 2” has 7,865. “Gotti” opened in roughly 500 theaters and opened to $1.7 million while “Incredibles 2” played in over 4,000 theaters and had a record-breaking $182 million debut.

At an average ticket price of $9.16, that means of the 187,762 people who watched “Gotti” this weekend, 3.76 percent of them reviewed the film on Rotten Tomatoes. For “Incredibles 2,” which had an audience of 19,944,094, its RT reviewer participation stands at less than .04 percent.

‘Gotti’ Marketing Condemns Film Critics Who Hated the Movie as ‘Trolls Behind the Keyboard’ — Watch

Mashable reporter Kellen Beck cited a Twitter thread from Screen Junkies critic Dan Murrell, bringing attention to the onslaught of five-star fan reviews on the “Gotti” Rotten Tomatoes page. Morrell also pointed to the fact “Gotti” has more user reviews than “Ocean’s 8” (4,852 scores). “Ocean’s 8” opened in 4,145 theaters and has made over $80 million at the U.S. box office to date. The film has also been out for a week longer than “Gotti,” which makes it strange the Travolta movie would already exceed the “Ocean’s 8” fan score by over 2,200 entries.

Morell pointed to an indie like the Jon Hamm-starring “Beirut” as the kind of movie “Gotti” should be emulating on Rotten Tomatoes, which debuted in under 1,000 theaters and opened to $1.7 million. It has only earned 717 user scores in two months.

Another red flag observed by Mashable is how numerous fan reviews are coming from accounts created on Rotten Tomatoes this month. Many users giving “Gotti” five stars have only reviewed “Gotti” and, in some cases, one or two other movies, and a majority of the accounts are private. When reached for comment, Rotten Tomatoes told Mashable “all of the ratings and reviews were left by real users.”

Rotten Tomatoes’ statement rules out bots as the cause of “Gotti’s” high fan score, but it still leaves open the possibility of the “Gotti” team creating real accounts and posting positive user scores. Dennis Rice, who spearheaded the marketing for the film, made note of the film’s positive Rotten Tomatoes user score when speaking to Deadline about the film bombing with critics.

You can read Morrell’s entire Twitter thread below, and click here for more of Mashable’s investigation. IndieWire has reached out to Vertical Entertainment and Rotten Tomatoes for further comment.

http://www.indiewire.com/2018/06/gotti-rotten-tomatoes-user-score-manipulation-1201976664/

 

[HomeAloneTwo]

This happens all the time. Usually with waaaaay way smaller movies. I don't know if anybody takes Rotten Tomato user reviews seriously. They read like Yahoo Answers.

 

[OhGoy]

SOME PEOPLE TAKE BRIBES TO GIVE CERTAIN MOVIES BETTER REVIEWS?

WHHAAAAAAAATTTT??????

 

[Oddjob OTP]

This happens all the time. Usually with waaaaay way smaller movies. I don't know if anybody takes Rotten Tomato user reviews seriously. They read like Yahoo Answers.

"I went to the movie but my popcorn was burnt and the guy in front of me was on his phone, 2/10, but only because the previews were good"

 

[PantsFreeZone]

The Comicsgate crowd just caught Lucasfilms/Disney doing this on Rotten Tomatoes with The Last Jedi.

They had like 8 or 9 ratings + comments in a row that were former (deceased) U.S. Presidents.

"If you have to pick a last film to see in the theater, make it The Last Jedi." - Lincoln A

 

[Y2K Baby]

 

[IV 445]

This is why word of mouth is, and always was, the best way to assess a film.

For example, The Room is the Citizen Kane of our millennia and you need to see it.

 

[CausticMinory]

A movie about a Mafioso and racketeer is being accused of inflating it's score to look better... Is this a new way of meta marketing. Or is the irony too much?

 

[Bread Fetishist]

I think something similar happened with Oogieloves.

 

[Y2K Baby]

I think something similar happened with Oogieloves.

Nah, that movie was legit alpha.

 

[jace821]

pulled out my shotty like john gotti

 

[XYZpdq]

Just got done seeing it.

Cams won't do justice to the shit tier downloaded from youtube archival footage.

Omniscient Timeless Travolta Gotti should host NYC tourism videos.

 

[Commander X]

So anyways does this movie look horrible.

If you shake the camera around, that makes the movie look more real, more gritty and authentic, see.

Also it helps if you film the entire movie with a bottle of blue Gatorade in front of the cameras' lenses.