For the past however-many months, there were two movies on many people’s radar as being all but guaranteed “horrible.”
The first, which I’ve gone into ad-nauseum, is Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. You name it, people had problems with it. Among the many sins the film was guilty of in the eyes of many (pre-release) the biggest was that Zach Snyder was the movie’s director and, in the eyes of many, he had already revealed himself via previous films as a “talentless hack”.
When the movie came out, two camps were quickly formed: Those that loathed the film (it met every one of their darkest predictions) and those who saw it and…liked it.
This was not a small group.
While the film would go on to make a ton of money, the detractors found cause for snipping in that as well. “Had the film been good, its $872 million plus take would have been a billion!” they said, ignoring the fact that the film’s take makes it one of the five most successful films released this year.
And when the “Ultimate Cut” of the film was released digitally and people like me got to see it, it proved both that the theatrical cut of the film was -let’s put it kindly- haphazard at best and further proved that Mr. Snyder had delivered a much more coherent story (even I, as a fan of the film. would admit the theatrical cut is, in light of the Ultimate Cut, something to be ignored completely), it still didn’t matter.
The hatred was already baked in and nothing could change opinions.
Fine.
The other film to receive fan scorn near the Batman v Superman levels has to be the Paul Fieg directed, Melissa McCarthy/Kristen Wiig/Kate McKinnon/Leslie Jones Ghostbusters.
The scorn heaped upon the film following its admittedly not-great first trailer was something to behold. It turned into something of a runaway train and the trailer received the highest negatives ratings of ANY video on YouTube to that moment, quite the feat for something that was at worst, IMHO, “only” an OK trailer.
As the film was nearing release, those who were determined to hate the product were already posting comments along the lines of “how bad will the critics hate it?” to “those critics who like it are clearly in Sony’s pocket”.
And when the critics were finally allowed to post their reviews, something most curiously happened: Most of them…liked the film.
Currently, Ghostbusters stands at a high 74% positive among critics but among audiences has a far worse 44% approval, almost the direct opposite reaction critics/audiences had to Batman v Superman, which was loathed by critics yet found a much higher positive rating among your average movie-goers. I suspect it was the positive reaction by audiences which allowed Batman v Superman to make the box office it did. I further suspect if the audience ratings remain as they are for Ghostbusters, this movie may do only mediocre box office before leaving theaters.
I point all this only because it intrigues me and shows the power of the internet and group thinking within it.
This won’t be the first (two) times internet pre-reactions to upcoming movies sows the seeds of love…or hate…with a particular work.