The Value Of A Tomato: Examining The Impact Of Review Aggregation Sites On Box Office Revenues In The United States

Abstract

This paper studies the effect of the review aggregation sites Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic on opening weekend box office revenues in the United States between 2005 and 2017. While the scholarship on the impact of film critics is robust, no scholarship has examined the role of the film critic in the context of review aggregation sites. Using data from industry leaders such as Internet Movie Database and Watchmojo.com and a regression discontinuity design, this paper finds that critic reviews significantly impact opening weekend box office revenues, in so far that they contribute to a movie’s Tomatometer. This paper also finds that the Fresh treatment a movie receives from Rotten Tomatoes after it’s Tomatometer reaches 60% has a meaningful negative impact on opening weekend box office revenues. When considering Metacritic, this paper finds that critic reviews do not significantly impact opening weekend box office revenues by means of a movie’s Metascore. The Green treatment a movie received from Metacritic after it’s Metascore reaches 60 is also found to be an insignificant determinant to opening weekend box office revenues. This paper adds to the literature by examining the role of critics in the context of review aggregation sites and by approaching the design of analysis is a new way.