Batman v Superman co-financier says Rotten Tomatoes is 'the destruction of the movie business'

Brett Ratner - director of Rush Hour, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Hercules - made the comments

Following the release of Suicide Squad, some fans began petitioning Rotten Tomatoes, saying the aggregating website should be closed down over negative review.

Now, one of the co-financiers behind Batman v Superman, Brett Ratner - whose company RatPac Entertainment funded the film alongside Warner Bros. - has criticised the popular website.

“The worst thing that we have in today’s movie culture is Rotten Tomatoes,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “I think it’s the destruction of our business.”

While saying he “respects” and “admires” older film criticism that contained “intellect” and were a “real art,” Ratner holds that Rotten Tomatoes is hurting the industry.

“Now it’s about a number. A compounded number of how many positives vs. negatives. Now it’s about, ‘What’s your Rotten Tomatoes score?’ And that’s sad, because the Rotten Tomatoes score was so low on Batman v Superman I think it put a cloud over a movie that was incredibly successful.”

Batman v Superman - the second instalment in the DC Extended Universe - currently holds a 27% Rotten Tomatoes score. The Zack Snyder-directed film grossed almost $900 million from a $250 million budget.

“People don’t realise what goes into making a movie like that,” Ratner said. “It’s mind-blowing. It’s just insane, it’s hurting the business, it’s getting people to not see a movie. In Middle America it’s, ‘Oh, it’s a low Rotten Tomatoes score so I’m not going to go see it because it must suck.’

“But that number is an aggregate and one that nobody can figure out exactly what it means, and it’s not always correct. I’ve seen some great movies with really abysmal Rotten Tomatoes scores. What’s sad is film criticism has disappeared. It’s really sad.”

Along with being a producer, Ratner is better known for directing: he helmed Rush Hour, X-Men: The Last Stand and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s Hercules. Two of his films have achieved a 69% rating on Rotten Tomatoes: The Silence of the Lambs’ prequel Red Dragon and the Eddie Murphy-starring Tower Heist.

ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

In response to Ratner’s comments, Jeff Voris of Rotten Tomatoes told the aforementioned publication: “At Rotten Tomatoes, we completely agree that film criticism is valuable and important, and we’re making it easier than it has ever been for fans to access potentially hundreds of professional reviews for a given film or TV show in one place.

“The Tomatometer score, which is the percentage of positive reviews published by professional critics, has become a useful decision-making tool for fans, but we believe it’s just a starting point for them to begin discussing, debating and sharing their own opinions.”