I did an analysis based on data from RT that shows that early movie reviews are 25% more positive than all other movie reviews. Are these reviews rigged?

I did the analysis because I was sick of getting my hopes up when reviews would come out only to see them fall.

Watch classics.

I would like to think that we could crack down on movie critics instead of having to only watch classics.

It's fairly common practice among studios / publishers to 'bribe' or blackmail magazines. Either through future exclusives or withholding any future advertising.

This ensures high score for sub par IP's.

I'm sure if you check the scores for a game like HAZE that the higher scores would be from mags that have nothing to do with gaming besides a few paragraphs at the back of the magazines.

A lot of times the media company that owns the studio also owns a few of the papers and magazines that review the films. The studios will then provide these news outlits the film for review first knowing that these critics may subconsciously/consciously favor the film before viewing it. The more money the parent company makes the more secure their jobs are. So the first reviews may come from organizationas that fall under the umbrella of companys that owned the studio/production company in which the film was made.

That's why you should stick with the top critics - the household names - like the kind you see on this site. Some of those early reviews from outlets nobody has ever heard of that are culled at other sites are inherently less reliable, I would think.

That's a fair point but I found that the reviewers giving those early reviews are often from reputable sources like Variety.

quote:

Originally posted by Vinicius Vacanti:
That's a fair point but I found that the reviewers giving those early reviews are often from reputable sources like Variety.

Variety isn't a good source for film reviews.

You may disagree with their reviews but they are respected in the community.

What community is this you speak of?

Reviews are important, but it's more important to know whether you're interested in the subject matter of the movie. In other words, a critic's high score (whether rigged or not) isn't necessarily a good indication that you'll like a movie, or even that the movie is any good.

Katsumend, that's a fair point. But, while reviews aren't necessarily indicative of whether you like a movie, they are a good variable to look at. After all, metacritic exists to distribute reviews and, if those reviews are being compromised, then they should be excluded.