Fanboys Try to Manipulate 'Black Panther' Reviews
by EG
Rotten Tomatoes is dealing with an alleged conspiracy by a group of DC Comics fans who are trying to skew the ratings for Marvel's Black Panther on the site. The group is reportedly convinced that Disney has conspired to trash movies based on DC Comics characters, and they're trying to get revenge by sabotaging the latest Disney/Marvel movie.
Rotten Tomatoes has denounced a Facebook group attempting to flood its site with poor audience scores for Disney and Marvel Studios' upcoming superhero pic Black Panther.
The film, opening in theaters Feb. 16, is a bold move by Marvel and Disney in featuring a virtually all-black cast. The movie is generating keen interest, with one major tracking service predicting a $130 million-plus domestic debut. Other box-office observers believe that number could even climb to $150 million.
"We at Rotten Tomatoes are proud to have become a platform for passionate fans to debate and discuss entertainment and we take that responsibility seriously. While we respect our fans’ diverse opinions, we do not condone hate speech. Our team of security, network and social experts continue to closely monitor our platforms and any users who engage in such activities will be blocked from our site and their comments removed as quickly as possible," the company said in a statement issued Thursday.
The Facebook group goes by the name "Down with Disney's Treatment of Franchises and its Fanboys." In recent days, the group created the event, "Give Black Panther a Rotten Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes," that drew 3,700 participants. In December, the same group claimed it waged a campaign to flood Rotten Tomatoes with poor reviews of Disney and Lucasfilm's Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The group makes unsubstantiated claims that Disney somehow manipulated the press into creating negative buzz for Warner Bros.' DC movies, and says it is waging the Black Panther campaign in response.
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
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