Rotten Tomatoes has finally revealed the number fans have been waiting to see it.
The movie review aggregation site delayed the release of Justice League’s Rotten Tomatoes score—which is based on critic reviews—after Justice League’s review embargo broke Wednesday. While the decision was likely made so that Rotten Tomatoes could debut the number on its Facebook show See It/Skip It on Thursday, it immediately drew backlash from fans who thought that Warner Bros., which owns part of Rotten Tomatoes, was purposely withholding the score so as to not hurt Justice League’s box office chances. An early score leaked anyway for the likely blockbuster that opens tonight.
As promised, the official review score was revealed on See It/Skip It toward the end of the episode. If you want to see the reveal for yourself, skip to 8:43, or just check it out below.
The Rotten Tomatoes score, while slightly worse than the leaks suggested, put Justice League—which received mixed reviews—in the middle of the pack of DCEU films. It fared better than the widely panned Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad but worse than Man of Steel and Wonder Woman.
It took several hours for Rotten Tomatoes’ website to reflect the score. On Thursday morning, fans weren’t able to find the Rotten Tomatoes score on Justice League’s Rotten Tomatoes page and either had to go to the See It/Skip It episode or go to a different site to find it. Also missing were critic reviews themselves while audience scores were available to read.
It’s 8:15am on the east coast on the day of release and this is on the film’s Rotten Tomatoes main page. They’re not just hiding the score, they’re not linking to *anyone’s* reviews at all.
— C. Robert Cargill (@Massawyrm) November 16, 2017
Rotten Tomatoes has been weaponized to benefit a film’s weekend. Let that sink in. pic.twitter.com/WPD8tlDC3K
The lack of score and reviews appearing on Rotten Tomatoes’ website has drawn even more criticism about the site withholding those numbers to help Warner Bros. amid growing rumbling from Hollywood over the summer that Rotten Tomatoes is harming movies.
For many DC movie fans, Rotten Tomatoes scores have been a particular source of fascination and criticism. After reviews came out for Batman v Superman, some fans believed that critics were paid to give the movie negative reviews, and even after Wonder Woman debuted with a certified fresh rating there was still plenty of anguish among fans, some who took the celebration of positive reviews as a slight against the films that weren’t as well-received.
The Daily Dot has contacted Rotten Tomatoes for comment.
The Rotten Tomatoes score and critic reviews are now available to view. While the movie debuted at 43 percent, the movie has gone down to 40 percent as of press time. As more audiences and critics view the movie, expect that number to change.
