The website “RottenTomatoes.com”
has deliberately suspended online comments after receiving threats to the film
reviewers who berated the highly anticipated movie “The Dark Knight Rises”
before it officially opens in the movie theaters. Harsh reactions and comments flooded
the aggregating website due to the negative reviews of the film.
The film that caused this kind of
stir on the website is director Christopher Nolan’s final installment in the
Batman trilogy. Movie fans wrote profane and threatening remarks to the film
critics. According to the site’s editor-in-chief, Matt Atchity, the website has
suspended user comments for the first time as a precaution to the threats
posted online. However, Atchity said that by the end of the week, posts about “The
Dark Knight Rises” reviews will most likely be restored.
"The
job of policing the comments became more than my staff could handle for that
film, so we stopped the comments altogether," said Atchity. "It just
got to be too much hate based on reactions to reviews of movies that people
hadn't even seen," Atchity further added.
There are
other film review sites such as “MetaCritic.com” and “MovieReviewIntelligence.com”
who do not allow posting user comments online. Sometimes, these sites just do
not permit posting the comments before a movie opens in cinemas. Meanwhile,
Matt Atchity revealed that the website is now considering a move with the
commenting system like in “Facebook” which may cut down excess anonymous posts.
"There
are a lot of options on the table," said Atchity. He is worried that a similar backlash will
happen again when director Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”
will be released this year. "We may do away with comments completely or
get to a place where comments are only activated after a movie opens. It's
unfortunate when the conversation turns ugly," Atchity added. “RottenTomatoes.com”
is owned by the social movie site “Flixster.com” which is associated with the
Warner Bros. company.
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