{"id":504,"date":"2026-10-06T17:23:57","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T17:23:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saiyaaramovie.com\/rotten-tomatoes-confronts-score-manipulation-claims-and-review-bombing-amid-rating-system-changes\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T17:24:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T17:24:59","slug":"rotten-tomatoes-confronts-score-manipulation-claims-and-review-bombing-amid-rating-system-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saiyaaramovie.com\/?p=504","title":{"rendered":"Rotten Tomatoes Confronts Score Manipulation Claims and Review Bombing Amid Rating System Changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rotten Tomatoes is facing heightened scrutiny in 2026 over audience score manipulation claims, review bombing campaigns, and significant changes to its rating systems. The platform, owned by Versant Media Group, has become a battleground for cultural disputes as critics and audiences increasingly diverge.<\/p>\n

The most prominent flashpoint arrived in February with the documentary ‘Melania.’ The film set a record for the largest gap between critic and audience scores in Rotten Tomatoes history, holding a 7% critics score against a 99% audience score.<\/p>\n

Versant denied any artificial inflation of the audience score. ‘There has been no bot manipulation on the audience reviews for the Melania documentary,’ the company said in a statement to Variety. ‘Reviews displayed on the Popcornmeter are VERIFIED reviews, meaning it has been verified that users have bought a ticket to the film.’<\/p>\n

The explanation did not satisfy all observers. Many pointed out that numerous verified reviews came from accounts with no prior activity. Jimmy Kimmel addressed the disparity during his Feb. 4 monologue. ‘As of tonight, Melania has a score of 5% on Rotten Tomatoes from the critics. That is very low. To put that in perspective, that is 1% lower than Gigli,’ Kimmel said. ‘The audience score for Melania is 99% positive, which is 1% higher than The Godfather. And I’m sure Donald J. Corleone had nothing to do with that at all.’<\/p>\n

Box office data showed a sharp decline for the documentary after its opening. ‘Melania’ opened to $7 million domestically but fell 67% in its second weekend, reaching a 10-day total of $14.5 million against a $40 million licensing cost and a $35 million marketing budget, according to Deadline.<\/p>\n

The Melania case was not isolated. Review bombing has affected several high-profile titles across film and television. Marvel’s ‘Ironheart’ was hit with negative ratings on Rotten Tomatoes hours before its Disney+ premiere in September 2026, registering a 32% audience score before the show was available to watch. Rotten Tomatoes wiped the score and blocked users from sharing ratings until the premiere was streaming, after which the score recovered to 70%.<\/p>\n

‘The Last of Us’ Season 2 saw its audience score on Rotten Tomatoes drop to unreasonable lows, even as its IMDb user score remained high. ‘Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’ experienced a similar campaign, with an 86% critics score against a 43% audience score. ‘Bridgerton’ Season 4 Part 1 also faced a wave of negative audience reviews, recording the series’ lowest audience score on the platform.<\/p>\n

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