Kevin Feige: Marvel ‘Takes Great Pride’ in Fresh Rotten Tomatoes Scores

Marvel Studios is very proud of their 17-movie Certified Fresh streak and has a high regard for the review aggregating site, Rotten Tomatoes, according to studio head Kevin Feige. Over the last several months, the way Rotten Tomatoes do their aggregation has become somewhat of a controversy. Admittedly, the process has its own loopholes and it’s rather unfair to gauge a movie based on the average of a collection of numbers chosen by critics to rate a film. Despite that, Rotten Tomatoes has become one of the go-to places for fans to check out whether a movie is worth seeing in the cinemas or not. For some, it’s almost like a form of extended advertising if a flick gets good results.

Nearing their 10-year anniversary, Marvel Studios is gearing up for 2018, which will see three new projects debut. This year, though, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Thor: Ragnarok became some of the biggest hits of 2017. One other thing that the three films have in common? All of them have good scores on the Tomatometer with 83 percent, 92 percent, and 92 percent respectively – all Certified Fresh.

Sitting down with Vanity Fair as part of the media outlet’s holiday feature on the massive film franchise, Feige was asked about his thoughts on critics slowly getting on board with the MCU compared to when it started in 2008. Here’s what the company exec had to say:

“Sure, of course. We have, Ryan knows, we always want those Rotten Tomatoes-certified fresh plaques, right? We’re not going to get many other kinds of awards, but we take great pride in them. I’m always saying, “Ryan, where’s our Rotten Tomato?” Because Rotten Tomatoes are great. They send this little Lucite, certified, fresh thing with the name of the movie on it. We got them lined up around here. We take pride in it. There are cases where audiences and critics are not aligned. But I think, for the most part, they are, and I like it when people like our movies.”

The MCU’s streak is pretty impressive, but that does not mean every offering is on the same level of quality. Some are on the higher end of the spectrum, like The Avengers and Iron Man, while others are ranked lower. Despite this, most people are willing to overlook flaws because if there is one thing the Marvel movies do well, it’s offer moviegoers a good time at the cinema. So despite the lesser received movies like Thor: The Dark World and The Incredible Hulk, which are at the bottom of the hierarchy, those films are still able to give people the enjoyment they seek when watching a blockbuster movie – hence, still a Fresh score.

Marvel does not look like they are planning on putting a blemish on their clean Rotten Tomatoes slate anytime soon. They have five more films before they wrap up Phase 3 and all of them are looking to break new grounds in their own respects. Of course, there are the two event films, Avengers: Infinity War and the still-untitled Avengers 4, which are said to be the culmination of everything that has transpired in the franchise thus far. Then there are two solo films – Black Panther and Captain Marvel – and finally a sequel from an already established brand, Ant-Man And The Wasp. We’re not yet sure what goes beyond that, but with the Disney/Fox deal reportedly nearing completion, maybe we could hope for some mutants incorporated in Phase 4.

KEY RELEASE DATES
Black Panther release date: Feb 16, 2018
Avengers: Infinity War / The Avengers 3 release date: May 4, 2018
Ant-Man & The Wasp release date: Jul 6, 2018
Captain Marvel release date: Mar 8, 2019
The Avengers 4 / Untitled Avengers Movie release date: May 3, 2019
Untitled Spider-Man: Homecoming Sequel release date: Jul 5, 2019