There are challenges

The news came as some have wondered whether articles in nontraditional entertainment outlets maintain the same standards as mainstream journalism platforms. Eyebrows shot skyward on social media Wednesday at a Rotten Tomatoes story suggesting Marvel and DC were basically churning out films of equal quality, despite Marvel films getting overwhelmingly better reviews.

“We looked at every title with a Tomatometer and did the math, and the results were closer than you think,” the Time Warner-owned site said, before noting that both sides have “produced some fantastic films (and) guilty pleasures.”

The results were indeed close, but only because Rotten Tomatoes in its tally included all DCrelated TV shows, an area in which Rotten Tomatoes is not often relied on.

But media types weren’t the only ones up in arms about the “Justice League” move. DC fans suspected an agenda, too — of the opposite sort. They asked whether the grand reveal was meant to highlight DC’s creative struggles.

“RT is very aware of the fact that DCEU [DC Extended Universe] films haven’t gotten good critic ratings (the audience rating is always fresh, but they NEVER emphasize that, they just want to focus on the negative) and they’re using that to their advantage and that isn’t right,” a writer from the fan site Comic Book Debate who goes by the name Donnia wrote in a message to The Post.

Other DC fans focused on the score itself. Sergio Ramos Ladecima, who tweets under the account @DCEUNews, posted “Guys ... If even Man of Steel couldn’t get a fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Did we really [think] that Justice League would get it?” referring to an earlier Superman film.

The incident highlights the challenge faced by review-aggregation sites.

More important role

Rotten Tomatoes, along with its more complexly designed rival Metacritic, were launched in the late 1990s as a kind of snapshot of critical opinion, a portal to further study instead of a replacement for it. But as their readership has grown, they have embraced a more important and even activist role.

That has not sat well with many in the film community.

Last month, Martin Scorsese penned an essay in The Hollywood Reporter blaming the site for the commodification of the movie business.

“They rate a picture the way you’d rate a horse at the racetrack, a restaurant in a Zagat’s guide, or a household appliance in Consumer Reports,” the Oscar-winning film director wrote.

Critics say the system is too vulnerable to exploitation by studio marketing departments and too uninterested in creating a fair representation. They note that the percentages fail to weight critics — Pulitzer winners and unknown writers count equally — while a mildly negative review is not distinguished from one that pans the film.

“I think Rotten Tomatoes’ influence on the industry is pernicious,” Michael Philips, the Chicago Tribune film critic, said in an interview. “While I don’t wish extinction on the site, I live for the day when people are enslaved to it less.”

For their part, studios have been mostly supportive, knowing that a high Rotten Tomatoes score can be a digestible marketing morsel at a time when much traditional TV and even digital advertising is ineffective.

But reviewers say they’d rather not be corralled into that process; they worry that Rotten Tomatoes sets up false dichotomies between fans and critics. Many of the poorly scored movies on the site have turned into rallying cries for fans in the way that legacy news media has become a target for populist voters.

The self-described “modern geek” blogger who runs a site called The Flite Cast tweeted this week of Rotten Tomatoes: “[I]t’s time to finally stop giving that site and that score our attention. WE have the power, not them.”

Lodge, the Variety writer, said fans would be wrong to blame critics for negative reviews: “I don’t see the breach getting resolved as long as studios churn out films as bad as ‘Justice League.’ “

Then, realizing that might come off a little like Rotten Tomatoes-style reductiveness, he added a more nuanced touch.

“The truth is studios are not as artistically invested in their blockbusters as they used to be, and that is damaging the culture to a degree,” he said.