What can I say? Anybody that insinuates the positive effect Rotten Tomatoes might have on the moviegoer choosing wisely their movie purchasing has been disseminated this Summer with the successes of such inanities as "Jurassic World," "Hotel Transylvania 3" and now "the Jason Statham" shark-attack movie "The Meg having made $96.8 million overseas, and $44.5 million domestically. Is "The Meg" a horrible, unwatchable film? Of course not, but it's a B-movie infused with the kind of brainless narrative whose success is dangerous to cinematic quality's future in Hollywood.
In fact, a look at the box-office winners of the week and you realize that more than half of them are 70% or less on Rotten Tomatoes.
1. The Meg — $44.5M (Debut)
2. Mission: Impossible — Fallout — $20M ($162M Overall)
3. Disney’s Christopher Robin — $12.4M ($50M)
4. Slender Man — $11.3M (Debut)
5. BlacKkKlansman — $10.8M (Debut)
6. The Spy Who Dumped Me — $6.6M ($24.6M)
7. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again — $5.8M ($104M)
8. The Equalizer 2 — $5.5M ($89.6M)
9. Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation — $5.1M (147M)
10. Ant-Man and the Wasp — $4M ($203.5M)
2. Mission: Impossible — Fallout — $20M ($162M Overall)
3. Disney’s Christopher Robin — $12.4M ($50M)
4. Slender Man — $11.3M (Debut)
5. BlacKkKlansman — $10.8M (Debut)
6. The Spy Who Dumped Me — $6.6M ($24.6M)
7. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again — $5.8M ($104M)
8. The Equalizer 2 — $5.5M ($89.6M)
9. Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation — $5.1M (147M)
10. Ant-Man and the Wasp — $4M ($203.5M)
It's not like there are bad movies out there either. Yeah, maybe the major studio system at a standstill in terms of quality cinema but the adventurous moviegoer probably had a great summer at the movies with the likes of "Leave No Trace," "BlackKklansman," "Hereditary," "Sorry to Bother You," "First Reformed," "Three Identical Strangers," "The Wife," "Searching" and "Whitney."
The only major studio movie to have risen to the level of art this past summer? "Mission: Impossible - Fallout." And it'll probably be the solo exception as we only have 17 days before summer movie season is officially over. That is unless Melissa McCarthy's R-rated puppet movie "The Happytime Murders" can prove to be a winner and director Peter Berg's "22 Mile" proves to be as good as "Lone Survivor" and "Patriots Day."