How Siskel and Ebert Helped Create Rotten Tomatoes

After Rotten Tomatoes was acquired by Fandango in February 2016, the movie review aggregator website was changed forever as its relevance in the film industry began to elevate.

Though it is not the only website where consumers can read movie reviews, it certainly is one of the most popular. Despite its popularity, not all film critics are satisfied with how they feel the website could potentially impact film criticism.

In the late-1970s, Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel began co-hosting a weekly film-review television show, Sneak Previews. The two went on to host “Siskel & Ebert & the Movies” where they popularized their thumbs up/thumbs down rating system.

Dan Murrell, a film critic, producer, writer, editor, and a key contributor to Screen Junkies, discussed how Siskel and Ebert introduced him to film criticism.

“That's sort of the paradox of Siskel and Ebert for me, which is that, through their TV show and then through me seeking out Roger Ebert's reviews, they turned me on to the art of film criticisms in such a meaningful way” he said.

Despite their introducing him to movie reviews, Murrell discussed how he felt their rating system impacted film criticism.

“But at the same time, the thumbs up/thumbs down thing is the worst thing to ever happen to film criticism. Because it was so easily digestible, that's what it became,” Murrell said. “Film criticism was boiled down to a thumb, up or down. What nuance was there was lost.”

Leonard Maltin is a verified film critic on Rotten Tomatoes and film historian who has written numerous books such as “Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide,” “Hooked on Hollywood,” and many more. Maltin likened Siskel and Ebert’s rating system to what we are now seeing with websites like Rotten Tomatoes

“I don't see that as being any different from being a thumb up or thumb down from Siskel and Ebert 25 or 30 years ago. It’s just shorthand,” Maltin said.

Maltin said the percentage a film receives could potentially affect the audience's likelihood of seeing a film.

“As a shorthand, I think it serves its purpose. If you read or hear that a film has gotten a 98% positive review on Rotten Tomatoes, that tells you that it’s very well-liked. If it’s got 7%, that tells you it's pretty well-reviled. If you trust that metric, that’s useful,” Maltin said.

Monica Castillo is a writer whose work has appeared in publications such as The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and she discussed how the negative reactions to Rotten Tomatoes are similar to the criticism of Siskel and Ebert’s rating system.

“That’s just the next step in the long fight over criticism. ...When they came up with the ‘thumbs up/thumbs down’ scale, people were actually really upset and some critics said that it reduced the artform of criticism to its most basic nature” she said.

Despite the fact that some are critical of the website, Castillo talked about the place that she believes Rotten Tomatoes has in movie reviews.

“It's sometimes annoying because sometimes it's harder to quantify or qualify a film on a fresh or rotten scale,m but at the same time, it really helps people,” Castillo said. “I have a lot of people who have contacted me and said, ‘Your review on Rotten Tomatoes convinced me to go see this movie,’ and I'm not sure that they would have found my review otherwise. So, it's kind of like a necessary evil. It does provide a resource and it does help people.”

Jacqueline Coley is the editor at Rotten Tomatoes, co-host of the “By The Numbers” podcast, and a frequent panelist “Your Opinion Sucks” live-event show. Coley said some users’ taste may impact their engagement with the website.

“I think the trends are, critics don’t always know why the audience like a movie and critics like auteur cinema and people, as in the audience, just want to have a good time, and for the most part, as long as they do that, they don’t care about the filmmaking. People just like what they like and the audience score will reflect that” she said.

Coley said Rotten Tomatoes has impacted how users engage with movie reviews.

“Since Rotten Tomatoes came on the scene, you can now go to a singular place and find accurate information that you would normally have to spend several hours at various different websites, but really what you’re trying to do is make an informed decision about what you want to see,” Coley said.

Maltin said he hopes sites like Rotten Tomatoes will encourage users to continue to read reviews that comprise a given score.

“What I like to hope is that anybody who really cares or is interested will then click on some of the reviews and read them in full to get a better picture of what people you respect and admire are saying about it,” Maltin said.