There is an interesting phenomenon of exclusivity/sunk-cost boosting ratings for rarer or harder to acquire items. That is also a problem with movie ratings (I

There is an interesting phenomenon of exclusivity/sunk-cost boosting ratings for rarer or harder to acquire items. That is also a problem with movie ratings (I just noticed that you mentioned movies). Critics (and audiences) at pre-screenings are generally significantly more favorable to a movie than an equivalent group in a normal theater. I would not be surprised if the same thing applied to foreign movies, and other types of "whales".