Almost immediately upon inception in 1998, the critic-based movie website rottentomatoes.com (RT) began its love/hate relationship with the film studios. If the aggregate score for a particular title was “fresh” — 60 percent or higher — studios were more or less happy; anything at 59 percent or lower was deemed “rotten” resulting in exasperated pouting by filmmakers and distributors.
For tent pole franchises (think Marvel, “Lord of the Rings,” or anything with “Star” in the title) what the critics think really doesn’t matter as these movies (along with most horror and Christian films) are largely considered to be “critic-proof.” No
