Fandango just bought Rotten Tomatoes and Flixster

Fandango has just acquired movie hub Flixster, which happens to owns Rotten Tomatoes, a popular review aggregator.

Flixster had been owned by Warner Bros. since 2011, and the latter will now hold a minority stake in Fandango.

It’s a purchase that makes sense for the ticketing company. After all, one of the first things people do before buying tickets for a movie is checking out its reviews, and Rotten Tomatoes is one of the most popular aggregators. Meanwhile, Flixter is a popular resource for discovering and discussing films old and new.

It’s worth noting that Fandango already has its own review aggregator – listed under a ‘Critics Say’ section – along with fan ratings. The purchase means we’ll probably start seeing Rotten Tomatoes scores replace the current aggregator, given that service’s familiarity.

It’ll be interesting to see whether Fandango chooses to maintain some separation between the services, or ultimately decides to fold them all into the Fandango site and app. That could drive more traffic to Fandango as it becomes an all-in-one source for movie discovery, reviews and ticketing, but might alienate dedicated Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes users.

➤ Fandango Creates Ultimate Digital Network for All Things Movies with Addition of Iconic Movie Brands Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes [Business Wire]