Whether you ’re look to head to the theaters or seeking something special to streamon Netflix , you ’re not alone if you get through over toRotten Tomatoesbefore gain your final wake decision . For over 20 years , this reassessment total land site has been a gift to audiences , assign film and TV bear witness a “ reinvigorated ” or “ rotten ” label based on C of critic ’ opinions . Today , the site boasts more than 1.1 million reviews , over 26,000 Tomatometer rating , and thousands of active critics . But there ’s much more to Rotten Tomatoes than meets the heart . Here are a few facts about the influential ( and sometimes controversial ) moving-picture show web site .
1. Jackie Chan inspired the Rotten Tomatoes concept.
In 1998 , Senh Duong was excitedly foretell the U.S. release of Jackie Chan’sRush Hour . discomfited that he could n’t easily find news and limited review for the approaching action - drollery online ( or follow-up for any of Chan ’s movies for that subject ) , Duong imagined a web site that would combine reviews in one light - to - browse location . So he call on a twain of his friends from UC Berkley , Patrick Lee and Stephen Wang , to help him code the concept .
“ It was quite a wiz , outside - the - box seat idea , ” conscientious objector - father Wang write of Duong ’s brainchildin a personal blog postcelebrating Rotten Tomatoes ’ 20th day of remembrance . However , Rotten Tomatoes might have been little more than a abruptly - lived fan varlet if it were n’t forRush Hour ’s release being pushed from August to September 1998 .
As Duong waited the redundant few week forRush Hourto actually come out , he decided to collect critical review for other moving picture that were on the apparent horizon on his site . According to Wang , “ The first movie Thomas Nelson Page to establish was Neil Labute’sYour Friends & Neighbors , and by the time it had launch on August 13 , 1998 , he had already come up with some of Rotten Tomatoes ’ key elements : The Tomatometer , Fresh and Rotten icons for reviews , review quotation and links , and the ‘ Rotten Tomatoes ’ name . ”
2. Rotten Tomatoes’ name comes from an obscure movie reference.
A popular misconception is that the website ’s moniker alludes to the theme of throwing the festering veg at a bad theatrical performance . However , according toRotten Tomatoes ’ own write explanation , Duong come up with the name after view the French - Canadian come - of - long time fantasyLéolo , in which the titulary boy imagines his mother begin fraught from fall into a cart of Italian tomatoes . The film currently has a evaluation of90 percent .
3. Roger Ebert gave Rotten Tomatoes two thumbs up.
Duong started spreading the word of the newly minted internet site by posting links in Usenet movie groups , and by 1999 , Rotten Tomatoes was get ahead steam , earninga spotlight fromUSA Todayand Netscape . “ Which was huge back then , ” he explained inthe site ’s unwritten story . However , the biggest signal boost came from iconic film criticRoger Ebert , who praised Rotten Tomatoes in the now - defunctYahoo ! Internet Lifemagazine . Not only did this massively raise the site ’s profile , but having Ebert — a legendary cinephile — vouch for it went a long way toward win over picture fan to give the concept a guess .
4. The Tomatometer is widely misunderstood.
alike to Siskel & Ebert ’s thumbs up or thumbs down , Rotten Tomatoes engage on a binary program . Whether a Tomatometer - approved critic ’s review is a rave , a goat god , or mixed , it must be entered as either icky or fresh . Therefore , not - bad - but - not - capital movies might fall on either side of the water parting . For a claim to qualify as overbold , it must earn a valuation of60 percentage higher , determined by averaging the issue of fresh / rotten reviews from at least five eligible critics ( there are chiliad of critics on Rotten Tomatoes who all have tomeet certain criteriabefore their reviews are counted ) .
Many readers often see this system like a grade on a report placard , where 60 percent might be a 500 , 70 percent equalize a cytosine , and 90 percentage or higher might be an A. But the Tomatometer is n’t grading a film ’s calibre from 1 to 100 per centum ; it ’s just the percentage of fresh review . So , a movie with a score of 90 does n’t intend the majority of critics think the quality was a 9/10 , only that 90 percent of critics give it a fresh military rating .
5. Rotten Tomatoes’ criteria for critics has changed dramatically over the years.
Early on , Duong and his grow squad chiefly collected reviews from major outlets , include newspapers , magazine , and spreader . As cyberspace culture evolved , they sought to include critics who were writing for on-line outlets . “ [ Studio publiciser ] were generally wary of on-line critics and treated them as 2nd - division citizens , ” Duong explained in aRotten Tomatoes story piece . “ That was one of the reasons why I wanted to feature online critics on the Tomatometer . ”
Over the year , on-line medium insurance coverage exploded , pushing Rotten Tomatoes to repeatedly update its criterion , include more web site and freelancers who process for multiple outlets . In 2018 , Rotten Tomatoes dilate itsCritic Criteriato include YouTubers , podcasters , and self - published blogger . The goal was to reverberate the emerging and increasingly diverse landscape of film and idiot box criticism , think not just outlet but also insight , audience , timbre , and commitment .
6. Audience Scores play a big role for Rotten Tomatoes, but they’re not always reliable.
According to a Rotten Tomatoes rep , the Audience Score section was added to the internet site in 2004 so as to allow the public to weigh in on picture as well . Illustrated by a popcorn pail , the Audience Score share can reflect the opinion of thousands of Rotten Tomatoes users . However , concerns have been raised that without proof of viewing , users could vote on movies they had n’t seen . So , in 2019 , following acquisition from the online ticket - seller Fandango , the sitebegan requestingticket substantiation to affirm voting users who had see a give film . Thus , more recent pic ’s Audience Scores can be sorted byverified audiences or all consultation .
7. Some people in Hollywood think Rotten Tomatoes actually hurts the movie industry.
The summertime of 2017 saw a 15 percent decline in picture ticket sales in America from the previous year , leading some in Hollywood to put the rap squarely on Rotten Tomatoes , which sport around 13.6 million alone visitor a month . The New York Timesreported thatfilmmakers felt that a bad score could kill a movie ’s opening weekend , while others fault the wide net Rotten Tomatoes had honk , allowing critics from small sites to be counted alongside century - erstwhile sales outlet . The “ rotten ” movies in query fromThe New York Timespiece included the Dwayne Johnson - frontedBaywatch(17 per centum ) and Guy Ritchie’sKing Arthur : Legend of the Sword(31 percent ) .
During the Sun Valley Film Festival , director Brett Ratner , whose Ratpac company co - financed 2016 ’s infamously rottenBatman v Superman(28 percent),put it more bluntly : “ I guess it ’s the destruction of our business sector . ”
Still , movies that score abject on the Tomatometer are n’t guaranteed flops , either — out of the 100 top - gross domesticated movies of all time,20 of themhave been declare rotten , includingBatman v Superman .
8. Those 100 percent ratings on Rotten Tomatoes stir up plenty of controversy.
The rarified achievement of a 100 per centum score on Rotten Tomatoes has been superintend by landmark classic likeCharlie Chaplin’sThe Gold Rush(1925 ) as well as modernistic masterpieces like Richard Linklater’sBefore Sunrise(1995 ) . However , this seemingly perfect score can be handle as a prey . At least three times , a member of the rarefied100 Clubwas later knocked out by a undivided review .
First , it hap to Greta Gerwig ’s observe coming - of - eld comedyLady Bird(2017 ) , much to theire of film fans online . Then , in 2021,The New York Timesreported that Orson Welles ’s iconicCitizen Kanehad beenbumped down to 99 percentbecause a resurfaced 80 - year - honest-to-god review was of late added on Rotten Tomatoes . Much sport was had online by those who joked this mean that Paul King’sPaddington 2(2017 ) was understandably superior toCitizen Kane , as the crime syndicate - friendly sequel had a 100 score . The victory was suddenly - lived : A month later , IndieWirerevealed a antecedently unposted review ofPaddington 2was added to the site , bringing it down to 99 percent along with its still very extremely acclaimed fellow .
