IMDb changed the way it reports audience scores for the new live-action version of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” according to its website.
The film currently has a 7.0/10 rating out of 43,000 votes on the popular movie database. This rating comes with a small disclaimer that says, “Our rating mechanism has detected unusual voting activity on this title. To preserve the reliability of our rating system, an alternate weighting calculation has been applied.”
The note appeared on the US, Canadian, U.K., Brazilian, and Mexican “Little Mermaid” pages.
“Although we accept and consider all votes received by users, not all votes have the same impact (or ‘weight’) on the final rating,” it says on the IMDb FAQ page. “When unusual voting activity is detected, an alternate weighting calculation may be applied in order to preserve the reliability of our system. To ensure that our rating mechanism remains effective, we do not disclose the exact method used to generate the rating.”
Despite mixed reviews from critics, some industry insiders believe “The Little Mermaid” is being “review bombed,” which happens when a large number of people or a few people with multiple accounts post negative user reviews online even if they haven’t seen the work in question.
Even with negative reviews, “The Little Mermaid” cleared more than $117 million at the box office over Memorial Day weekend. Viewers praised lead actress Halle Bailey’s performance but said several parts of the film felt unnecessary, especially the unsettling live-action versions of Ariel’s sidekicks Scuttle, Sebastian, and Flounder.
The film has a 68% critic score and a 95% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
“Halle Bailey and Melissa McCarthy save an otherwise BLAND Disney retread,” one reviewer wrote.
“Meh. I was SO looking forward to this and while it brought moments of laughter and joy, it fell a little flat. Loved Ursula though, thought she was awesome!” another person wrote.
“Overall it didn’t stray from the original story line, but there were moments I would’ve savored more and others that felt too slow for what was going on. I’m glad I saw it, but won’t care to own it or probably ever watch it again.”
(Disclosure: The Daily Wire has announced plans for kids entertainment content.)