Why Thousands Of Captain Marvel Reviews Were Purged From Rotten Tomatoes Over The Weekend

Why Thousands Of Captain Marvel Reviews Were Purged From Rotten Tomatoes Over The Weekend

Carol Danvers finally made her MCU debut in theaters this weekend in Captain Marvel, and while it was a smooth and uninterrupted flight at the box office, there was plenty of turbulence on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes. Early in the day on Friday, the latest MCU movie had a dismal audience score of 33% on the site from over 58,000 reviews. That afternoon though, the number of audience reviews dropped drastically to 7,000, good for a 35% score.

So why did Rotten Tomatoes purge over 50,000 Captain Marvel reviews from its system? The reason is mostly due to a glitch related to some changes the site recently made, as Rotten Tomatoes explained in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter:

We have identified a bug in the post-release functionality for the movies that have released into theaters since our product update last week. The quantity of user ratings (which is displayed directly below the audience score and is intended to only include the quantity of users who have left a rating or written review after a movie’s release) had included both pre-release and post-release fan voting.

Basically, the 58,000+ user reviews that showed up on the morning of Captain Marvel’s release included both new reviews, presumably from audiences who went to Thursday night preview screenings, as well as reviews that were submitted prior to the movie’s release. Therefore, the reviews were purged so as to only show reviews that could have been submitted by people who had actually seen the movie, versus those who submitted reviews when they couldn’t possibly have seen it yet.

This comes after the recent product update Rotten Tomatoes implemented that made it so that audiences couldn’t review a movie before it was released. As updates often do, it came with a bug that allowed those older reviews to still initially show up for Captain Marvel. Rotten Tomatoes made other changes to pre-release movies on the site as well, changing the ‘want to see’ metric from a percentage to simply a running count.

Rotten Tomatoes also made it so that people can’t comment on a movie before it hits theaters. The company explained that decision, saying:

We are disabling the comment function prior to a movie’s release date. Unfortunately, we have seen an uptick in non-constructive input, sometimes bordering on trolling, which we believe is a disservice to our general readership. We have decided that turning off this feature, for now, is the best course of action. Don’t worry though, fans will still get to have their say: Once a movie is released, audiences can leave a user rating and comments as they always have.

Non-constructive input? On the internet!? In an effort to combat the non-constructive input, people can’t comment on a movie until they could have actually seen it. The only thing they can do now before a movie is released is to say whether they want to see it or not. After the movie is released though, people are free to give their rating and comment as they always have been to have their voices heard.

And calling it ‘bordering on trolling’ is quite a diplomatic way of addressing what has been going on on the review aggregator. Rotten Tomatoes says that the changes were not made for Captain Marvel specifically, but they have come in the wake of a concerted troll effort to tank the film’s scores.

The campaign against Captain Marvel came in response to some comments from the film’s star Brie Larson about inclusion and diversity in the film press, comments which certainly could have been phrased better and ones she later clarified.

Whether Rotten Tomatoes purging of thousands of audience scores, and the retooling of its model that changes what input audiences can give and when, will make a difference is debatable. Despite being purged down to 7,000 on Friday, Captain Marvel’s audience scores are now back up to a count of over 54,000 with a rating of 58%. That’s more than the number of audience scores for Avengers: Infinity War. Something tells me those scores may not all be legit and submitted in good faith. Especially considering the film has an "A" CinemaScore. Rotten Tomatoes is fighting a losing battle.

It doesn’t matter though because Captain Marvel still absolutely crushed at the box office in its opening weekend, breaking records and flying higher, further, faster to instant success. It’s almost as if all this trolling had absolutely no effect at all and convinced no one they shouldn’t see the movie. Although not everyone loved it and there are legitimate criticisms to be made.

See what we thought of Captain Marvel, and if you haven't checked it out yet, be sure to find out what ticket you should buy when you do. To see all the big movies coming this year that can look forward to their own Rotten Tomatoes drama, take a look at our 2019 release schedule.

See What Sebastian Stan Could Look Like As DC’s Riddler

See What Sebastian Stan Could Look Like As DC’s Riddler

While he’s been known as Marvel’s Winter Soldier for almost a decade and has a new spin-off show with that same character debuting at some point next year, some folks are really hung up on the idea of actor Sebastian Stan playing The Riddler in Matt Reeves’ new Batman movie.

And whenever a particularly inspired piece of casting crops up on the internet, you can count on corresponding fan art to help everyone get a picture of what that variation of a famous character could look like. With that in mind, please enjoy the following fan rendering of what Stan could look like as Edward “The Riddler” Nygma:

Looking at this particular visual representation of The Riddler, it does maintain a dorky element of the character’s psyche. But there’s also a seedy, alpha male sort of style at work as well, seeing Sebastian Stan perfectly occupy a crossroads between someone threatening and someone you could kind of laugh at on the streets of The Batman’s Gotham City. Knowing the character’s history of outbursts when his superiority is challenged, it might be best if you just nod respectfully and walk along, before he really does something to your mind you can’t come back from.

Naturally, this wasn’t unprompted, as recently Sebastian Stan has gone on record as stating that he’d love to play the purveyor of perplexing and pernicious puzzles in the universe that feels like it’s on the cusp of confirming Robert Pattinson as the man playing the latest version of the Dark Knight himself. But now, with the right art suggesting what this possibility would look like, it’s easier to approve of such a move.

While Matt Reeves’ The Batman has been reported to have its first two villains already sewn up, with both The Penguin and Catwoman taking those initial slots, there’s always room for more villains to be set up and deployed for future films. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to have a baddie as iconic as The Riddler in the franchise’s back pocket, especially when The Joker would be an option that’s too familiar to bring into the fold just yet.

So leave it to an eager fan on Instagram to make the best case for Sebastian Stan to be the latest Marvel star to defect over to the side of DC, in the name of creative re-casting. It’d certainly be an awesome draw to this new potential series of Batman films, especially with Stan’s fans from his days as Bucky Barnes being part of the contingent that made Avengers: Endgame such a huge box office hit.

As such, this isn’t exactly a confirmed casting, but it’d be a surprise if this item hasn’t already been circulated through Warner Bros’ internal email servers. So if Stan finds himself suiting up in the infamous green question mark suit we know and love, this could be the very moment that made it all happen.

Sebastian Stan can currently be seen in Avengers: Endgame, as well as the Shirley Jackson adaptation We Have Always Lived In The Castle. But if you’re looking for something else at the movies, take a look at our 2019 release schedule to see what else is in your realm of interest.

Ben Affleck Seems Down To Return For Jay And Silent Bob Reboot

Ben Affleck Seems Down To Return For Jay And Silent Bob Reboot

For the films set in his View Askewniverse, writer and director Kevin Smith often tapped a recurring group of actors to play the same or different roles in each film. And one of the staples of the View Askewniverse was Ben Affleck. So naturally, with many Kevin Smith regulars returning for Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, people are wondering if Ben Affleck will join them, and he seems down to do so. Responding to a question about whether he would make an appearance he said:

Your guess is a good as mine. I haven’t been asked to make an appearance but you never know, there’s still time. We’ll see. I think if it was up to me, I would rather do Holden than Shannon, but I would defer to Kevin.

As it currently stands, Ben Affleck is not set to show up in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, but he certainly sounds open to the idea and he definitely didn’t shoot down the possibility as something he’s not interested in. If Kevin Smith would like Ben Affleck to join in the festivities with his former View Askewniverse mates, he can call him up before production is over.

Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is still filming so as Ben Affleck says, there is still time. And while he probably wouldn’t have a major role at this point, he certainly could show up for a cameo as small as his one in Clerks II or maybe even something a little larger like his part in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. If Kevin Smith does ask him to make an appearance, Ben Affleck has a preference to which character he’d play.

Like Jason Lee, Joey Lauren Adams and Brian O’Halloran, Ben Affleck has played multiple characters in the View Askewniverse. Save for his fallen angel Bartleby from Dogma, the two most obvious characters he could return as are Holden McNeil and Shannon Hamilton. If it were between these two, Affleck would much prefer to return as Holden than Shannon, as he told Collider.

Holden McNeil appeared in two View Askewniverse films. First he was the protagonist in Chasing Amy, where he was the co-creator of the Bluntman and Chronic comic book, the comic book based on Jay and Silent Bob that Hollywood was adapting in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Holden appeared in that film as well, where he introduced Jay and Silent Bob to the internet and the movie being made about them in an incredibly prophetic look at online movie culture. You can watch part of that scene below.

Given his appearance in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Holden seems the most natural choice to return for the sequel, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, as opposed to the scumbag statutory rapist Shannon Hamilton from Mallrats. Holden is also the character Ben Affleck would prefer, although he clarifies that he would defer to Kevin Smith. So it doesn’t seem like Shannon would be a deal breaker.

Hopefully Kevin Smith does give Ben Affleck a call. It would be great to see him return to the View Askewniverse, and just have some fun in this silly comedy. He could reprise his role as Holden and again make a meta commentary about online culture, this time slipping in a hilarious reference to the Batfleck of it all.

Ben Affleck also played himself in a different scene in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, so maybe he could do that again in this lampooning of Hollywood, finally letting us know if Good Will Hunting 2: Hunting Season got a sequel to complete the trilogy.

Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is currently filming. We’ll keep you updated when it gets an official release date and in the meantime, check out our 2019 Release Schedule to see the movies headed your way this year.

Yes, Spider-Man: Far From Home Definitely Is Bringing The Multiverse To The MCU

Yes, Spider-Man: Far From Home Definitely Is Bringing The Multiverse To The MCU

This morning, the second trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home was released, and with it came a major, post-Avengers: Endgame revelation: there’s now a multiverse within the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise. Although we’ve visited different dimensions before in movies like Ant-Man and Doctor Strange, now the door is open for these movies to explore parallel Earths, and Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio says he hails from one of these other Earths.

Of course, given that Mysterio’s M.O. is fooling people, one would be faulted for being initially skeptical about his claim about not being from our Earth, but Spider-Man: Far From Home director Jon Watts is assuring fans that the Web-Slinger’s latest movie is indeed bringing the multiverse into play. In his words:

Well, I mean, yeah. We had to look at it in terms of the scope of what happened at the end of Endgame. Seeing all the crazy things that they did and all the questions that raises. So we're definitely trying to answer one of the big ones -- alternate timelines. So many possibilities opened up at the end of Endgame, and Peter Parker is one of the few people on the ground dealing with them.

The world has changed in the wake of Avengers: Endgame, and not just Iron Man and Black Widow are dead, Captain America is retired and those who were snapped away during The Decimation five years ago are back and didn’t age. Evidently one of the Snaps (Nick Fury doesn’t specify which one in the preview) tore a hole in our dimension, and Quentin Beck, a.k.a. Mysterio, was somehow transported from his Earth to ours as a result.

Of course, just because there is a proper multiverse to work with now doesn’t mean that Mysterio really comes from another Earth. After all, for decades in the comics and other media, he’s antagonized Spider-Man using illusions, hypnotism, weird gadgets and all-around trickery. Maybe Jake Gyllenhaal’s version of the character is also a charlatan hiding the truth about his past.

For now, though, we must look at Mysterio as an inhabitant from another Earth in Spider-Man: Far From Home. As for how the rules of the MCU’s multiverse differ from the ones laid out for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’s multiverse, Jon Watts wasn’t willing to delve into specifics later in his interview with Fandango, saying:

I wouldn't dare! I'll let Nick Fury do that.

Jon Watts also clarified that the Elementals Peter Parker is teaming up with Mysterio to fight hail from the “same sort of parallel dimension” as Mysterio does. That said, if Mysterio is indeed lying about who he is like I suspect, don’t be surprised if these Elementals are part of his elaborate ruse.

Looking to the overall MCU multiverse, it’s obviously a game-changer for the franchise. Now major characters can come from different Earths and we can meet doppelgängers of characters we’ve already met on this Earth. We’ll have a better idea of how this concept will be utilized once Spider-Man: Far From Home is released, but now it makes a lot more sense why this is the final installment of Phase 3 rather than Avengers: Endgame.

Spider-Man: Far From Home swings into theaters on July 2, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for continuing coverage. In the meantime, don’t forget to look through our 2019 release schedule to find out what else is hitting the silver screen later this year.

Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth Filmed Kissing Scenes For Thor: Ragnarok

Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth Filmed Kissing Scenes For Thor: Ragnarok

It's a very exciting week for the Marvel fans, one over a decade in the making. Avengers: Endgame is finally upon us, and fans are eager to pick back up with their favorite denizens of the MCU. This includes long standing heroes like Chris Hemsworth's Thor, as well as new addition like Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie.

Valkyrie made her debut in Marvel Thor: Ragnarok, and the audience connected with her trauma, smart mouth, and penchant for drinking away her troubles. With Natalie Portman's Jane Foster absent from the threequel, it looked like the two Asgardians might share a romantic connection. And it turns out they had a kissing scene in Ragnarok. CinemaBlend found this out when Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson opened up at the Men in Black International set visit, with the actors saying:

Chris: Yeah, we had kisses.

Tessa: There was a whole sequence, I mean there were takes in there...yeah.

Chris: It may or may not---

Tessa: It was a like, yeah … it’s in the deep cut, the DVD extra extra extra if you know what I mean.

Chris: Didn’t make it.

Tessa: We had a kissing scene.

Chris: We had a kissing scene.

Tessa: To be totally honest. Isn’t that always -- that’s seems to be the way with us. Even with Thor it was the same thing. It was like will we, won’t we

It looks like director Taika Waititi had a certain vision for the duo of superpowered warriors in Thor: Rangarok. But their possible romantic connection was ultimately left unseen, possibly leaving room for more story in upcoming installments of the MCU.

Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth's comments might surprise Marvel fans, because they weren't staring longingly into each other's eyes during Thor: Ragnarok. This is likely because that story was cut, along with the aforementioned kissing scene. And apparently, that same energy will be palpable when we see the actors fight more aliens in Men in Black International.

In many ways, Valkyrie is the opposite of Jane Foster. She's a native Asgardian, is a capable fighter, and doesn't have a ton of manners. Valkyrie hits first and thinks later, which makes her a strong compliment to Thor's typical MO. And there are plenty of fans who are hoping they end up together in another movie.

The rumors about Thor and Valkyrie took an interesting turn once the trailers for Avengers: Endgame arrived. In the clips, Brie Larson's Captain Marvel and Thor share a cute moment, which instantly started rumors about the two superheroic characters falling in love. Add in Tessa Thompson and Larson's fondness for each other, and some fans have even began shipping a Marvel throuple with all three characters involved. Thompson did reveal that Valkyrie was bisexual, after all.

Related: Thor: Ragnarok Shot And Cut An LGBT Moment

Despite her Avengers: Infinity War absence, it looks like Valkyrie will pop up in some capacity for Endgame. Character posters revealed she survived Thanos' finger snap of death in the last movie, and a new trailer even showed a glimpse of Val in street clothes. But Tessa Thompson also maintains she has no clue what's coming next for her Marvel character, so it seems like anything is possible.

Avengers: Endgame is in theaters beginning tonight, and you can catch Men in Black International on June 14th. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

That Time Charlize Theron Ended Up In The Hospital Filming Long Shot

That Time Charlize Theron Ended Up In The Hospital Filming Long Shot

She’s been an evil queen, an imperator in an apocalyptic wasteland, a secret agent, a cyberterrorist and a serial killer, but for her next film, Long Shot, Charlize Theron is playing a role we don’t often see her in: romantic comedy lead. Perhaps Charlize Theron should have stayed in the safe confines of the action genre though, because her rom-com adventure was dangerous enough to land her in the hospital, as she explained:

This is so stupid. We had to do a small little action thing, like a tiny little thing. And this really nice stunt guy wanted to put some kneepads on me. And as I sat down just to put the kneepads on, my hand slipped and my head hit a bench behind me. And I ended up in the ER. It was so stupid, I was like ‘This is so embarrassing.’

Head trauma is no joke, but Charlize Theron is right, smashing your head while putting on kneepads does sound embarrassing. It wasn’t even before doing some super elaborate and daring stunt either; this wasn’t Tom Cruise literally jumping from one building to another. As Charlize Theron told Seth Meyers on Late Night, it was a small, easy bit of action.

To be extra cautious, the stunt guy wanted Charlize Theron to wear kneepads. That overabundance of caution proved to be her downfall as the actress somehow slipped putting on the kneepads and hit her head, no doubt sending the stunt guy and the crew around her into a panic.

Maybe Charlize Theron is just so used to being a badass in movies that wearing something as decidedly un-badass as kneepads had an Achilles’ heel/kryptonite effect on her.

Long Shot isn’t an action film, but as you can see from the trailer, there is some action in it. Of course, given the fall his character Fred Flarsky takes in the trailer, you would think that Seth Rogen would have been the one more likely to get injured, I mean, he's the one that's admittedly high all the time, while Charlize Theron has cut back.

But alas, it was a trip to the emergency room for the Oscar-winner who plays Secretary of State Charlotte Field in the movie. It’s not the kind of role you’d think would be an injury risk, but as an action-film veteran, Charlize Theron also told Seth Meyers “It’s always the ones you least expect.”

The actress elaborated that it’s usually not the action films where she gets injured, but instead the films that don’t look as dangerous, where she isn't expecting it. Another such example is Tully, where she gained 50 pounds and wound up getting a herniated disc in her back due to carrying around the extra weight.

That’s not to say that action films are entirely harmless endeavors either. While training for Atomic Blonde, Charlize Theron cracked her teeth in a brutal fashion that actually wound up requiring surgery. Thankfully, Charlize Theron is fine and her injury on the set of Long Shot seems rather tame by comparison.

Long Shot is now in theaters. Check out our 2019 Release Schedule to see all of this summer’s biggest movies, and for the latest movie news, stay tuned to CinemaBlend.

Upcoming Disney Animated Movies: List Of Titles And Release Dates

Upcoming Disney Animated Movies: List Of Titles And Release Dates

While Disney's live action films from Marvel and Lucasfilm might be the biggest players at the box office for the company, as Walt Disney said, it was all started by a mouse. Animation is still a big part of what Disney does, and Walt Disney Animation Studios continues to release massive hits one after another.It's like Marvel Studios, just a bit smaller. Whether it's Moana or the recent sequel to Wreck-It Ralph, animated Disney films are still incredibly popular. When put them together with the billion dollar success of films like Zootopia, the last few years have been incredible for Disney.

We can only imagine what they're going to do next. Well, in many cases we have to imagine what they're going to do next because we don't really know, details are still mostly under wraps.. Although, in other cases, we know exactly what they're planning.

Walt Disney Animation Studio, not to be confused with Pixar, has several films announced to be coming over the next few years. Most of them are still being kept secret, but we have a few hints about what might be coming, and then of course, there's the big movie that we know for sure is on the way. Here's all the details we have about what we know is coming, and what seems quite likely, in the future of Disney animation.

Frozen II

The only confirmed title from Walt Disney Animation Studios that we're waiting to see is a sequel to Disney's biggest animated hit, Frozen. In February of 2019 we finally got our first look at the project. The trailer is visually stunning, though it doesn't reveal a great deal about the plot of the movie itself. We see all of our heroes from the first film going on some sort of journey together. It also reveals a pair of brand new characters, though who they are, we still don't know.

Release Date: November 24, 2019

Unknown Lin-Manuel Miranda/Byron Howard Project

Lin-Manuel Miranda, the hardest working man in showbiz, has said that following his work on Moana, Disney Animation chief John Lassiter introduced him to Zootopia co-director Byron Howard so that the two could begin to collaborate on another animated film. As of this writing, Miranda says the two have yet to actually talk, so it's not even clear if there's even an idea they'll be working on or if they'll be starting from scratch. It's also possible that whatever the two work on will never actually see the light of day, but with talent like these two, we're betting that we'll see it eventually.

Release Date: Unknown

Zootopia Sequels

No sequels to Zootopia have ever been officially announced by Disney, but recently, Tom "Tiny" Lister, who had a small role in the original film, claimed that not one, but two sequels were being planned by the studio. It certainly wouldn't be shocking to learn this was true. Considering the the sequel to Wreck-It Ralph was rumored by the cast long before it was officially announced by Disney, it's certainly possible that's happened here as well. The original film made over $1 billion at the global box office and also won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. That's a combination that practically demands a sequel.

Future Disney Animation Release Dates

November 25, 2020

November 24, 2021

November 23, 2022

Disney and the Thanksgiving weekend have been inseparable for a long time and with Disney's most recent update to its release schedule, it claimed that weekend for the next several years. While Frozen II decided to open a bit earlier, and now comes out the Friday before Thanksgiving, Disney now has the Wednesday before the holiday claimed for 2020 through 2022. No titles have been officially revealed, but the previously mentioned projects that are in some form of development could certainly be on that list.

Previously Released

Ralph Breaks The Internet

After years of rumor an official announcement via Facebook that Ralph Breaks The Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 was on the way finally came. While that news wasn't exactly news, because John C. Reilly had already blabbed, what was news, and surprising news at that, was that Wreck-It Ralph 2 was actually going to be the next feature we saw from Disney following Moana. It took over a release date that was already set aside for another movie, putting it in what we'll call the Zootopia space in 2018. However, it was eventually pushed back into November

Release Date: November 21, 2018

Recently Cancelled Projects

Untitled Planes Sequel

Not every Disney project that gets announced actually makes it to the screen. Every once in a while the DisneyToon studio, which was promarily focused on television and direct-toDVD animation, was given a shot at a theatrical release. Such was the case with two previous Planes movies, which did pretty well all things considered. A third film in the series was announced and scheduled to be released in June of 2019, but in June of 2018 it was announced that DisneyToon studio was being completely closed down, and with it, the film was cancelled.

Gigantic

Originally planned to hit theaters in the Spring of 2018, Gigantic was going to be Disney's take on Jack and the Beanstalk. It kept getting pushed further down the release schedule, falling into the Thanksgiving weekend of 2020 slot eventually. However, in October of 2017, Disney announced that the project simply wasn't working, and had been cancelled. At that point Disney confirmed that another project that had been in the works would be taking that slot, but we still don't know what movie that is.

The future of Disney Animation may be largely secret, but you can be sure that with the success the studio has had in recent years, Disney has every intention of keeping that train moving. With the success of Ralph Breaks the Internet, and the presumed success of Frozen II, it seems likely that more theatrically released sequels to Walt Disney Animation Studios films are quite possible.

When it comes to original concepts, the sky is the limit in animation, so it's basically impossible to guess what could be coming next.