Uh oh, Disney...Critics Don't Buy Tickets (Star Wars The Last Jedi)

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Sundown

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So, Disney's latest mega-movie is Star Wars The Last Jedi. It will make a lot of money for sure...but will it satisfy Disney? I don't think the reactions to it are what Disney was hoping for. Critics, in their small numbers, seem to view it favorably. While the much larger public does not, if the score on RottenTomatos is an indicator.

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/star_wars_the_last_jedi/

Currently: 57% of the Public Audience liked it. I'm sure the numbers change a little bit over time, but I wouldn't expect big movement off that number.

- So, is Disney disappointed already? Will they wait to see where the weekend box office ends up (it will be strong...just not Jedi Master strong..)
- Will they continue to let the director Rian Johnson head-up the new "non-Skywalker" Star Wars trilogy of movies?
- Will this be the Disney Star Wars version of Avengers: Age of Ultron?

Personally, Star Wars has been a piece of me my entire life. I truly love it. But when I saw this move Thursday night, I felt very let down. Not because of any particular scenes or content, but because it sorely and obviously lacks the 'movie-gold' of "the Star Wars FEEL". That is absent, and without it...it is almost just another space movie with ships, lasers, aliens...with Star Wars characters.
 
Gomer

Gomer

Well-Known Member
The Cinemascore on this movie is an A. General Audiences are loving it.

RT Audience rating is a poor indicator of general audiences as it the score is drive by "online fanboys" for lack of a better term. Your average Joe isn't the one going onto Metacritic or RT to create an account and give it a rating. The people who take the time to do that generally have an agenda one way or the other and tend to give all or nothing to drive the final score. It represents a specific subset of fandom, but is not indictive of the actual perception by the broader audience.

http://deadline.com/2017/12/the-last-jedi-star-wars-opening-box-office-records-1202228444/

Overall, audiences love Last Jedi (despite any cynical legacy fans griping out there) and critics, too, at 93% Rotten Tomatoes certified fresh. This how Disney works: They make sure that their event films appeal to both masses and critics alike. This isn’t a DC Justice League situation where estimates start high then drop greatly. Since we first reported weekend projections for Last Jedi on Friday morning, the numbers continue to swell. Last night, Last Jedi earned the second best preview night ever with $45M, ranking behind Force Awakens‘ $57M. Last Jedi per CinemaScore drew mostly females last night at 59%, who gave the film an A+. Those under 18 repped 42% of the audience, and they also gave the movie an A+. The under-25 bunch came out at 52%, and they gave it an A grade. Even those over 50 adored the film with an A+, despite the fact that they made up 9% of all ticket buyers. Forty-three percent said they bought tickets for the type of movie that Last Jedi was, (A+), while 39% said they came out for the movie’s subject matter (A).
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In fact, as word of mouth has spread, Opening weekend box office has increased from an early projection under 200 to a closer to 220 for the weekend. The movie will be fine. The main casualty of this backlash from certain segments will be the debates that will rage between fans for the next twenty year over whether this was good movie or not.

For transparency: I loved the movie. Liked it on first viewing, with reservations. Saw it again today, and loved it. I think people will soften their reactions over time, as the "newness" wares off and the shock of the movie is dulled.
 
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Sundown

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thanks for your reply, Gomer. I appreciate your thoughts on it and the link to the Deadline story.

One thing I'll add, though...is that I disliked the movie and I am far from an online fanboy. I would not join a movie site to complain or rate it poorly, etc. So I would not easily chalk it up to just online fanboys who didn't like the movie.
 
MisterPenguin

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
The audience rating at RT is an outlier.

Other online audience ratings have TLJ at about 80%, right where the average of critics put it. Also, polling organizations -- which poll audiences that have actually seen TLJ (something which you can't guarantee in an online poll) -- also say that audience approval is about 80% (25% like very much and 55% like).
 
Duckberg

Duckberg

Active Member
News stories report a decline in gross revenue for the last several films in the SW franchise :cool:. Is this a Disney wake up call that SW Land may not be the long term hit they are counting on??? :cautious:
 
MisterPenguin

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
Duckberg said:
News stories report a decline in gross revenue for the last several films in the SW franchise :cool:. Is this a Disney wake up call that SW Land may not be the long term hit they are counting on??? :cautious:
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I hope by the emojis you're joking about this and pretending to be a Disney hater because TFA and Rogue 1 made more money than any previous SW movie.
 
S

seascape

Well-Known Member
MisterPenguin said:
I hope by the emojis you're joking about this and pretending to be a Disney hater because TFA and Rogue 1 made more money than any previous SW movie.
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It does not matter how much money each film made, all that matters is that tgey made a great deal and more than enough to justiy more movies. I look forward to the next installment, the companion films and the 4th trilogy.
 
donsullivan

donsullivan

Premium Member
There are multiple reports and even some claims of responsibility that the RT viewer score was manipulated by aggressive 'fans' with too much time on their hands. It's been reported that bots were used to flood Rotten Tomatoes with negative reviews of the movie by a small group of people who did not get the movie they wanted and felt they were entitled to and retaliated.
 
fractal

fractal

Well-Known Member
donsullivan said:
There are multiple reports and even some claims of responsibility that the RT viewer score was manipulated by aggressive 'fans' with too much time on their hands. It's been reported that bots were used to flood Rotten Tomatoes with negative reviews of the movie by a small group of people who did not get the movie they wanted and felt they were entitled to and retaliated.
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This has been debunked.
 
5thGenTexan

5thGenTexan

Well-Known Member
CaptainAmerica said:
The low RT audience score is the product of two overlapping groups of trolls. 1) Old EU fans who don't like that Luke Skywalker is different in this trilogy than in the old novels and 2) alt-right weirdos who don't like the movie because it has a female-and-minority-led cast.
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I didn't like it and I am not a troll, nor am I an EU fan. I never read any comics or books after ROTJ. I am also not alt-right. I like the character Rey. I don't like Poe or Finn. They are both annoying. I don't like the trend of giving grown up actor fans bit parts to fulfill their deepest wishes. I want to throw something at the screen every time I hear the Stormtrooper in TFA scream traitor and then go off on a personal mission to kill Finn. I was there in 1977 to see Star Wars before it was A New Hope was added. Anytime the OT is just on TV and I see it, I can watch and enjoy like the first time. I kept checking my watch for TLJ. I will say that almost all of the scenes on the island I enjoyed. If I cared enough to go to RT and submit my rating it would not be high.
 
CaptainAmerica

CaptainAmerica

Premium Member
5thGenTexan said:
I didn't like it and I am not a troll, nor am I an EU fan. I never read any comics or books after ROTJ. I am also not alt-right. I like the character Rey. I don't like Poe or Finn. They are both annoying. I don't like the trend of giving grown up actor fans bit parts to fulfill their deepest wishes. I want to throw something at the screen every time I hear the Stormtrooper in TFA scream traitor and then go off on a personal mission to kill Finn. I was there in 1977 to see Star Wars before it was A New Hope was added. Anytime the OT is just on TV and I see it, I can watch and enjoy like the first time. I kept checking my watch for TLJ. I will say that almost all of the scenes on the island I enjoyed. If I cared enough to go to RT and submit my rating it would not be high.
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That's fine. There are lots of people who legitimately dislike the movie and that's fine. But what I'm saying is still factually correct. There are actual groups of trolls on Reddit and elsewhere that are deliberately suppressing the RT score. It's the reason there's such a big discrepancy between CinemaScore and Rotten Tomatoes.

If you didn't like it, you're welcome to that opinion and you're welcome to leave a poor review on Rotten Tomatoes or anywhere you like. You're not entitled to creating bot software that'll spam Rotten Tomatoes with one-star reviews.
 
Minnesota disney fan

Minnesota disney fan

Well-Known Member
Didn't like it at all. The young man who took my money at the theatre said he didn't like it either. He said that there were crowds, but not at all like the last one. So................If Disney is banking on changing everything about SW and having their big hotel and park, they need to rethink this last director and the way their movies are heading. just my opinion. FWIW: other's I have talked to either are not going or didn't care for it.
 
S

Sundown

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
CaptainAmerica, you might have already read this article but I thought you might be interested as Rotten Tomatoes discusses the importance of it's reviews being authentic. Their data indicates the review numbers are in line with those in 2015's Force Awakens. Which makes it less likely of any bot manipulation (the claim made by the guy on Facebook). I'm speculating, but would imagine they'd be aware of mass or coordinated trolling too. Here is the story:

http://variety.com/2017/digital/new...tomatoes-user-ratings-bots-skewed-1202647473/

There is apparently a quantitative indication that the film isn't performing as high as Disney would like. Today on Forbes.com "

'Last Jedi' Grosses Are Collapsing With The Worst Daily Holds Of All 9 Star Wars Movies"

https://www.forbes.com/sites/robcai...holds-of-all-9-star-wars-movies/#2dcb1332355c
 
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JamieCoops

Member
donsullivan said:
There are multiple reports and even some claims of responsibility that the RT viewer score was manipulated by aggressive 'fans' with too much time on their hands. It's been reported that bots were used to flood Rotten Tomatoes with negative reviews of the movie by a small group of people who did not get the movie they wanted and felt they were entitled to and retaliated.
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Lol when the movie is utterly weak - BLAME BOTS
 

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