I used to view the IMDb voting system as one of the greatest examples of why the wisdom of crowds is often much more in touch with reality than a panel of experts but lately some “b-movies” have been getting excellent initial scores. First it was Snakes on a Plane that started above 8.0 but now is at 6.5, and then we have AvP2 which apparently started at above 7.5 but now is below 6. The following comment on IMDb more or less summed up my feelings:
This movie really sucked. In fact, after using the IMDb for some years, I just now registered to be able to vote and comment on how bad this movie sucks.
Just before I went to see this, I looked it up here and was positively surprised to find a 7.6 rating with >800 votes. But what I saw at the theater makes me think that all the money the studio saved on writers and cast was spend on > 400 people who rated this thing 10.
Are movie studies actively abusing systems like IMDb to try and lure people into the theaters? And if they are, what will iMDB do about to not become irrelevant?