How Hollywood came to fear and loathe Rotten Tomatoes

Vanity Fair:

Take the cautionary tale of Baywatch and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, two films predicted by pre-release tracking to do boffo box office over Memorial Day weekend.

But after their dismal “freshness” ratings hit Rotten Tomatoes’ all-powerful Tomatometer—which assigns a numerical score to a given film based on a round-up of critical reviews—the Rock-starring lifeguard comedy promptly flopped, and the fifth installment of Disney’s long-running Johnny Depp franchise hauled in a “soft” $46 million—the lowest opening for a Pirates movie in 14 years.

I had no idea Hollywood gave so much credence to Rotten Tomatoes’ aggregation of reviews. Personally, I’ve never used it to decide whether or not I see a particular movie. Have you?