Rotten Tomatoes denies 99 per cent ‘Melania’ user review score has been rigged by bots
Rotten Tomatoes has denied claims that the overwhelmingly positive user review rating of Melania has been manipulated by bots.
The documentary, directed by Brett Ratner, is one of the most expensive documentaries of all time, with a reported $75 million overall budget, and arrived in cinemas on January 30th.
It has received a bashing from traditional media outlets, which has given it just a seven per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer from a total of 46 reviews.
However, it has a 99 per cent score on their Popcornometer, which comprises over 1,000 verified users who have seen Melania in cinemas.
For comparison, Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, which is expected to sweep up several awards at the Oscars, only has a Popcornometer score of 85 per cent.
This difference between the audience and critic rating was highlighted by Jimmy Kimmel during his monologue on February 4th. He stated, “As of tonight, Melania has a score of five per cent on Rotten Tomatoes from the critics. That is very low. To put that in perspective, that is one per cent lower than Gigli.“
Kimmel added, “The audience score for Melania is 99 per cent positive, which is one per cent higher than The Godfather. And I’m sure Donald J Corleone had nothing to do with that at all.”
In response to speculation that the audience score has been manipulated, Versant, the parent company of Rotten Tomatoes, has strongly denied the claims.
In a statement, Versant told Newsweek, “There has been NO bot manipulation on the audience reviews for the Melania documentary. Reviews displayed on the Popcornmeter are VERIFIED reviews, meaning it has been verified that users have bought a ticket to the film.”
Melania has fared reasonably at the box office in the US. It earned over $7 million domestically during its opening weekend, placing it third at the box office.
However, it’s a different story internationally. For comparison, it’s only reached 29 in the UK box office. Despite a nationwide rollout in 155 cinemas, it only managed to generate £32,974, which equates to £212.80 per screen it was shown.
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