Barbie Basher in r/BoxOffice Obstructs Opening Opinions

r/BoxOffice is a sub dedicated to following the financial performance of films in theaters. It focuses primarily on numbers, and users enthusiastically follow blockbusters and bombs alike. Unlike other movie subs, there is generally less discussion of the details of films or how good they are, outside of more objective measures like review aggregators, and that relevance to how it will affect the film's box office. I will include a glossary at the bottom for common abbreviations used, should you be curious about the sub outside of the drama.

Occasionally, the sub gets people with a bone to pick with a particular movie. Perhaps something they personally disliked, or something with a message they disagree with. Recently a particular user has been trying to push against the building Barbie hype, at first saying it would be received negatively, and then later that it would be "divisive".

This came to a head, however, when this user jumped on making the Review megathread for Barbie, curating the sample of reviews in the post to skew more negatively to push this narrative that the movie was received poorly or mixed. This quickly backfired, however, as reviews quickly became too positive to ignore, and mods/community noticed who made the thread.

A couple users catch on to who OOP is, and give context:

"I recognize the username; all week he's been claiming the reviews will be bad. Now the reviews are good and he's throwing a fit and insisting it will be divisive and drop badly after opening. Guarantee he was camping here to make sure he could make the thread before anyone else and try to control the narrative. Guy's a joke."

"OP actually doubted Mario too and before that Avatar. It's like being wrong is his gimmick lmao"

OOP tries commenting to continue their narrative of this being a failure. Several users respond:

OOP: "Don't blame you. It is Greta's lowest rated film atm. Even Greta knew this was Career Ender"

"How do you post this kinda shit and not like get incredibly embarrassed"

"We're grading on a "Greta Gerwig curve" where 90 is the floor, apparently."

Another user brings up Barbie's possible "political message"

OOP "EXACTLY. Thank you saying this. How will the general audience percieve of this is KEY. That's what matters. Similar to the Mario movie. That's why I said before the legs will be very concerning. And the contents of the reviews enforce this even more.."

"Nah you seem pretty invested in this movie failing like you want it to, because of its potential message. This seems like more than you just making a guess. It's obvious you already don't like the film lol."

As reviews start to look more positive, OOP tries arguing that the film will be viewed negatively in retrospect, just not initially.

"Reviews look good enough for people to keep showing up. A lot of people judge just on the RT number alone."

OOP "Oh, it will. But we're talking in the long run. You know, like The Last Jedi??"

"Moving those goalposts while seething and coping that hard must be difficult for you."

Eventually, mods get involved, making a stickied comment with their own examples of reviews, and suggesting OOP edit the main post to add in a more representative sample (which they do).

A regular user in the sub is promoted (or cursed?) with mod status:

"Mind you, I'm the one that usually does these review threads, and I approach it completely objectively. The score is the score, and the sample reviews I post are all of the Top Critics blurbs on RT, positive or negative. When I came to post this at 6PM, saw the thread had already been posted by XorenThalos, so I'm like cool, whatever, less work for me. But it's honestly hilarious and sad to learn that they jumped the gun to post first because they wanted to control the narrative by cheery picking all the most negative reviews."

"Want to join the mod team? With the Sound of Freedom brigading/fights and 2 huge releases coming up, more help is always good. Plus a bonus that you can officially run the review threads if you want, stickying/distinguishing them, etc. There's no minimum work requirement or anything, whatever you can do. I can send you an invite if you're down."

[EDIT] The OOP recently tried posting another Review Thread this time for Oppenheimer. It was quickly removed by the recently added mod:

"All review threads will be posted and stickied by mods going forward."

Box Office Glossary

OW: Opening Weekend

WW: World Wide total gross, the money made both internationally and domestically

DOM: Domestic total gross, the money made in US&Can

Legs: How well a movie holds its box office performance over time

Multiplier: The ratio of DOM or WW compared to OW, a numerical value of legs

WOM: Word of mouth, how much audiences push the movie for others to see it

PLF: Premium Large Format. More expensive screens like IMAX or Dolby.

RT: RottenTomatoes, binary review aggregator to represent overall positive or negative critical reception

MC: MetaCritic, review aggregator taking the average score among critical reception

CS: Cinemascore, an audience opinion survey tracking opening weekend film reception

Break Even: The amount needed to cover production and marketing budget, after accounting for other factors like the theater's cut.

Feel free to ask if you have any questions, whether a confusing acronym or term, or just a general BoxOffice basics question. This isn't super spicy drama, but I found it amusing, hope some of you like it too, and others join us following the latest bombs and blockbusters.