Everyone from top-level Warner Bros. brass to your average joe DC fan is on tenterhooks waiting for the review embargo for Justice League to be lifted. After having a tumultuous ride of it so far, the DC Extended Universe really needs its big team-up movie to be a hit, especially following on from its first unequivocal success in Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman.
Thankfully, there’s not too much longer to go now before we find out if everything turned out alright, as the embargo is set to break on Tuesday, 11/14 at 11:50 pm PST/ 2:50 am EST on Wednesday, 11/15. And while fans will no doubt be diving right into that initial batch of reactions, what they won’t be able to do is see the film’s Rotten Tomatoes score, which is arguably equally as important these days as what the critics actually have to say.
That’s because the site is delaying the big reveal of Justice League‘s score until 12:01am EST on Thursday 11/16. Now, it’s important to note that this has nothing to do with Warner Bros. If it did, there’d be cause for concern. Still, that final percent is very important to a film’s success and delaying it could have some interesting outcomes.
For one, it could be beneficial. After all, that first wave of reviews won’t be that large as a lot of critics still haven’t seen it and if the score is negative, it could hurt the pic’s box office business. So, by delaying it, you’re not letting the final number be skewed. However, the opposite could happen if the reviews end up being glowing. By not letting people know what the score is, you might lose out on some ticket sales during opening weekend.
Obviously, anyone can just read the reviews themselves, and even add up all the numbers to get an idea of what the score will end up being, but it can’t be argued that many moviegoers simply just look at the number at the top before purchasing their tickets. Throw in the fact that Rotten Tomatoes is owned by Fandango, a website which sells movie tickets, and this all becomes a bit more tricky, as that clearly plays into the decision to withhold the score.
Regardless, the first wave of reviews is just about here now and soon enough, the world will finally know how Justice League turned out.