01st Apr 2007
Is IMDB on the Take?
NOTE: See an update to this post below.
Last week, passing posters for “Blades of Glory,” a friend and I agreed Will Ferrell had jumped the shark with this film and joined the ranks of Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy who were greatly talented comic actors who had sold out and would pursue a long, slow trajectory of critical, if not box office poison. The poster alone conveyed to us that it would be an awful one-joke movie.
Then I saw a clip of the film on Letterman Friday night and it looked funny enough that I was curious, so I went to see what the rating for it was on IMDB. I admit I put a lot of weight in the IMDB user-generated ratings. To my surprise, IMDB claimed around midnight on Friday/Saturday that the film was still “awaiting five votes.”
I figured that maybe it’s not really a real-time vote but that they hold off over night or for the first 24 hours after a film’s release before posting the votes to make sure they have a valid sample of something. But as of this posting, it’s 9pm EST Sunday night, more than 48 hours after the film has opened, and the entry still says “awaiting five votes” (click the thumbnail picture to see the entry with the date in the lower right corner). I note that IMDB meanwhile does have up to date that the film was the top box office earner of the weekend, and it shows hundreds of votes for other films that opened this weekend. Yet somehow the most popular film of the weekend hasn’t yet garnered five people to rate it on one of the web’s most popular movie sites? That doesn’t smell right.
Here’s my theory, informed by nothing more than a paranoid conspiracy about how corporations are ready to whore themselves for filthy lucre: the movie company, anticipating bad reviews, paid off IMDB to hold back releasing the consumer score till after the opening weekend.
Just one blogger’s opinion, but I’m ready to eat my hat if by Monday morning the site doesn’t miraculously have a review with hundreds of entries for the movie, which in all likelihood will be lucky if it’s as high as 6/10. Stay tuned for an update.
UPDATE:
Hmmm. So here it is Monday morning, and I see the entry still says “awaiting five votes.” Perhaps it’s less about corporate treachery and more about some snafu. Dunno.
LATER THAT SAME DAY…
Interesting… So, it’s now 7:15pm EST Monday, and I see that IMDB finally has votes for “Blades of Glory”: a failing grade of 5.8 with 783 votes. Gee, no votes all weekend, and then several hundred votes saying the movie sucks eggs. Just like I thought. Coincidence?
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I usually count on Rotten Tomatoes for consensus. But I agree that IMDb is getting… smellier.
I realise this is a year later and you probably have already noticed but IMDb always shows “awaiting 5 votes” for films that haven’t been released yet, and obviously for a short time after they are released.
I have no idea why this happens and was looking for the answer here. You got any new ideas about it?
I am convinced IMDb is on the take with this. Nothing to really substantiate this belief, but I frequently observe big blockbuster comedies that look awful don’t get any ratings till after opening weekend is over, and then they suddenly have loads of reviews with a low average. Meanwhile, other films that open that same weekend have reviews immediately. I think IMDb just suspends the posting of reviews for movies that the production houses have invested heavily in but are afraid (rightfully) might tank until opening weekend is over.