Fandango has acquired Rotten Tomatoes and Flixster from their previous owner, Warner Bros. Entertainment, the movie ticketing platform announced Wednesday.
Fandango hopes to expand the company’s theatrical ticketing business with the addition of these two companies, along with Fandango’s recent acquisition of M-GO, a digital distributor of new release and catalog movies, in January.
Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes will remain consumer-facing brands. Warner Bros. Entertainment will assume an equity stake in the company and will serve as an ongoing strategic partner, while Fandango will continue as a unit of NBCUniversal.
“Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes are invaluable resources for movie fans, and we look forward to growing these successful properties, driving more theatrical ticketing and super-serving consumers with all their movie needs,” said Fandango President Paul Yanover. “Our new expanded network will offer unparalleled capabilities for all of our exhibition, studio and promotional partners to reach a massive entertainment audience with innovative marketing and ticketing solutions that benefit from original content, home entertainment products, ‘super tickets,’ gifts with purchase, and other new promotional opportunities.”
Flixster Video is not included in the transaction but is expected to transition its users to Fandango’s new VOD service later this year.
Rotten Tomatoes is an online aggregator of theatrical and in-home movie and TV reviews from critics and fans, while Flixster is a website and mobile app for discovering movies. On Flixster, audiences can view audience and critic ratings and reviews. In the coming months, Fandango will extend its ticketing capabilities to the Flixster app.
“Combining the expertise and assets of Fandango, Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes will create an incredible resource for consumers to fulfill all their moviegoing needs,” said Thomas Gewecke, chief digital officer and executive vice president, strategy and business development at Warner Bros. “Bringing these properties together into a single, integrated portfolio creates an opportunity to truly accelerate innovation in movie discovery and ticketing, making moviegoing an even more compelling experience.”