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78-556: Stage Beauty is a 2004 romantic period drama directed by Richard Eyre . The screenplay by Jeffrey Hatcher is based on his play Compleat Female Stage Beauty , which was inspired by references to 17th-century actor Edward Kynaston made in the detailed private diary kept by Samuel Pepys . Ned Kynaston is one of the leading actors of his day, particularly famous for his portrayal of female characters, predominantly Desdemona in Othello . His dresser , Maria, aspires to perform in

156-499: A Geisha , Slumdog Millionaire , Up in the Air , The Artist , Gloria Bell , and Malcolm & Marie . Director Richard Linklater helmed the prominent Before trilogy, consisting of Before Sunrise , Before Sunset , and Before Midnight . Kasautii Zindagii Kay is a popular Indian romantic drama television series of the 2000s. Same-sex romantic dramas that tackle LGBT issues include Brokeback Mountain , Blue

234-535: A Thief , Vertigo , The Crying Game , The Bodyguard , Unfaithful , Wicker Park , The Phantom of the Opera , The Tourist , and The Adjustment Bureau . The screenwriters taxonomy creates additional categories beyond "subgenre" when discussing films, making the argument that all narrative Hollywood films can be delineated into comedies or dramas (identified as a "film type"). The taxonomy also identifies fifty "macro genres", which can be paired with

312-488: A bad score, as this only reflects a poor reception among film critics. As one independent film distributor marketing executive noted, "To me, it's a ridiculous argument that Rotten Tomatoes is the problem ... make a good movie!". ComScore 's Paul Dergarabedian had similar comments, saying: "The best way for studios to combat the 'Rotten Tomatoes Effect' is to make better movies, plain and simple". Some studios have suggested embargoing or cancelling early critic screenings in

390-427: A character who must appear conniving and warmhearted in turn, she veers from teariness to brisk indignation like an Emma Thompson doll with a jammed switch. The British actors in smaller roles handle the material better ... George Fenton's Sunday-brunch score, on the other hand, is an indigestible dose of good taste ladled heavily over even the film's witty and delicate moments." David Rooney of Variety called

468-612: A cutoff date at which new reviews are not counted toward the Golden Tomato awards is initiated each year, usually the first of the new year. Reviews without ratings are not counted toward the results of the Golden Tomato Awards. Each movie features a "user average", which calculates the percentage of registered users who have rated the film positively on a 5-star scale, similar to calculation of recognized critics' reviews. On May 24, 2019, Rotten Tomatoes introduced

546-474: A dedicated team who monitors our platforms regularly and thoroughly investigates and resolves any suspicious activity." WIRED published an article in February 2024 written by Christopher Null, a former film critic, that argued such methods are standard activities performed by all PR agencies. In particular, Null points out that sponsoring legitimate, honest reviews has a long history in other industries and

624-432: A filmmaker's "voice" because the artistic choice to have the characters sing does not affect the story or the characters – it simply alters how the story and characters are conveyed. Therefore, a romance film like Grease would be categorized as a dramatic (type), romance (super genre), high school / coming of age (macro genres), musical (voice) – rather than simply as a "musical romance". Rotten Tomatoes This

702-402: A full-time basis. They officially launched it on April 1, 2000. In June 2004, IGN Entertainment acquired Rotten Tomatoes for an undisclosed sum. In September 2005, IGN was bought by News Corp 's Fox Interactive Media . In January 2010, IGN sold the website to Flixster . The combined reach of both companies is 30 million unique visitors a month across all different platforms, according to

780-544: A long and strenuous training to play female roles, finds himself without a guise by which to keep the attention of his lover, George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham , as the latter never had intentions to lead a homosexual life and Kynaston has lost the acceptance of London society which had started to circulate rumors about their association. He is reduced to performing bawdy songs in drag in music halls, while Maria's career thrives, although her ability to emulate Kynaston falls short because, as she says, Kynaston never fights as

858-463: A minority stake in the merged entities, including Fandango. The site is influential among moviegoers, a third of whom say they consult it before going to the cinema in the U.S. It has been criticized for oversimplifying reviews by flattening them into a fresh vs. rotten dichotomy. It has also been criticized for being easy for studios to manipulate by limiting early screenings to critics inclined to be favorable, among other tactics. Rotten Tomatoes

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936-416: A new "Audience Says" blurbs within it, to give users an at-a-glance summary of the general sentiments of a film as experienced by critics and audiences. Prior to February 2021, only the "Critics Consensus" blurb was posted for each entry, after enough certified critics had submitted reviews. When the "Audience Says" blurbs were added, Rotten Tomatoes initially included them only for newer films and those with

1014-429: A nuanced sense of a man struggling to know himself ... Put in the unenviable position of playing second fiddle to her male co-star in terms of feminine allure, Danes is lovely nonetheless ... George Fenton's rich orchestral score enlivens the action with an occasional rousing Celtic flavor." In Rolling Stone , Peter Travers rated the film three out of a possible four stars and called it "bawdy fun ...

1092-420: A poor stage performance , the direct inspiration for the name from Duong, Lee, and Wang came from an equivalent scene in the 1992 Canadian film Léolo . Since January 2010, Rotten Tomatoes has been owned by Flixster , which was in turn acquired by Warner Bros. in 2011. In February 2016, Rotten Tomatoes and its parent site Flixster were sold to Comcast 's Fandango ticketing company. Warner Bros. retained

1170-522: A response to poor reviews prior to a film's release affecting pre-sales and opening weekend numbers. In July 2017, Sony embargoed critic reviews for The Emoji Movie until mid-day the Thursday before its release. The film ended up with a 9% rating (including 0% after the first 25 reviews), but still opened to $ 24 million, on par with projections. Josh Greenstein, Sony Pictures President of Worldwide Marketing and Distribution, said, " The Emoji Movie

1248-518: A section devoted to scripted television series, called TV Zone, was created as a subsection of the website. In February 2016, Rotten Tomatoes and its parent site Flixster were sold to Comcast's Fandango Media. Warner Bros retained a minority stake in the merged entities, including Fandango. In December 2016, Fandango and all its various websites moved to Fox Interactive Media's former headquarters in Beverly Hills, California . In July 2017,

1326-401: A significant audience rating, but suggested that they may later add them for older films as well. Each movie features a brief blurb summary of the critics' reviews, called the "Critical Consensus", used in that entry's Tomatometer aggregate score. These are written by Jeff Giles, a longtime author for the site. In February 2021, Rotten Tomatoes added an "Audience Says" section; similar to

1404-412: A sub-listing that calculates their reviews separately. Their opinions are also included in the general rating. When there are sufficient reviews, the staff creates and posts a consensus statement to express the general reasons for the collective opinion of the film. This rating is indicated by an equivalent icon at the film listing, to give the reader a one-glance look at the general critical opinion about

1482-625: A substitute for assessment". Landon Palmer, a film and media historian and an assistant professor in the Department of Journalism and Creative Media director in the College of Communication and Information Sciences at the University of Alabama agreed with White, stating that "[Rotten Tomatoes applies a] problematic algorithm to pretty much all avenues of modern media art and entertainment". Director and producer Brett Ratner has criticized

1560-429: A verified rating system that would replace the earlier system where users were merely required to register to submit a rating. So, in addition to creating an account, users will have to verify their ticket purchase through ticketing company Fandango Media, parent company of Rotten Tomatoes. While users can still leave reviews without verifying, those reviews will not account for the average audience score displayed next to

1638-451: A woman would do. Called upon for a royal performance, Maria panics and her friends implore Kynaston for coaching, during which she coaches him to develop his ability to regain a theatrical career in male roles. He agrees, with the proviso that he replace the company head Thomas Betterton in the role of Othello . Maria becomes a theatrical star. While the film is rooted in historical fact – the first English theatre actress, although her name

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1716-725: Is a "common tactic employed by indie titles to get visibility." American director Martin Scorsese wrote a column in The Hollywood Reporter criticizing both Rotten Tomatoes and CinemaScore for promoting the idea that films like Mother! had to be "instantly liked" to be successful. Scorsese, in a dedication for the Roger Ebert Center for Film Studies at the University of Illinois later continued his criticism, voicing that Rotten Tomatoes and other review services "devalue cinema on streaming platforms to

1794-691: Is a romantic story with a historical period setting, normally with a turbulent backdrop of war, revolution, or tragedy. This includes films such as Gone with the Wind , Doctor Zhivago , Reds , Titanic , A Very Long Engagement , Atonement , Portrait of a Lady on Fire , and Cold War . Paranormal romance is a popular genre of film which features romantic relationships between humans and supernatural creatures. Popular tropes include vampirism , time travel , ghosts and psychic or telekinetic abilities – i.e. things that cannot be explained by science. The genre originated in literature and moved on to

1872-820: Is a term associated with romance films mostly targeted to a female audience. Although many romance films may be targeted at women, it is not a defining characteristic of a romance film and a ' chick flick ' does not necessarily have a romance as a central theme, revolve around the romantic involvement of characters or even include a romantic relationship. As such, the terms cannot be used interchangeably. Films of this genre include Gilda , The Red Shoes , Sense and Sensibility , Gentlemen Prefer Blondes , Dirty Dancing , The Notebook , Dear John , A Walk to Remember , Thelma & Louise , Fifty Shades of Grey , Sleepless in Seattle , You've Got Mail and Romeo + Juliet . Also known as epic romance, this

1950-457: Is able to surmount most obstacles. Humour in such films tends to be of a verbal, low-key variety or situational, as opposed to slapstick. Films within this genre include City Lights , A Night at the Opera , It Happened One Night , His Girl Friday , My Wife's Goblin , The Philadelphia Story , Intolerable Cruelty , Roman Holiday , Good Morning, My Dear Wife , The Big Sick , Enough Said , Lost In Translation , To All

2028-464: Is an accepted version of this page Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley : Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang. Although the name "Rotten Tomatoes" connects to the practice of audiences throwing rotten tomatoes in disapproval of

2106-402: Is considered wide release. There are also two categories purely for British and Australian films. The "User"-category represents the highest rated film among users, and the "Mouldy"-award represents the worst-reviewed films of the year. A movie must have 40 (originally 20) or more rated reviews to be considered for domestic categories. It must have 500 or more user ratings to be considered for

2184-790: Is intended for use in the US only; permission is required for use elsewhere. As of 2022, API access is restricted to approved developers that must go through an application process. Major Hollywood studios have come to see Rotten Tomatoes as a potential threat to their marketing . In 2017, several blockbuster films like Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales , Baywatch and The Mummy were projected to open with gross receipts of $ 90 million, $ 50 million and $ 45 million, respectively, but ended up debuting with $ 62.6 million, $ 23.1 million and $ 31.6 million. Rotten Tomatoes, which scored

2262-464: Is often employed to indicate the emotional mood, creating an atmosphere of greater insulation for the couple. The conclusion of a romantic drama typically does not indicate whether a final romantic union between the two main characters will occur. Some examples of romantic drama films and shows before 2000 are Man's Way with Women , Casablanca , María Candelaria , Pride & Prejudice , Appointment with Happiness , Wakeful Eyes , Among

2340-514: Is the Warmest Colour , Carol , Moonlight , and Call Me by Your Name . Romantic fantasies describe fantasy stories using many of the elements and conventions of the romance genre. Some examples include The Lady Eve , Top Hat , The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les Parapluies de Cherbourg) , Singin' in the Rain , Groundhog Day , Enchanted , Cinderella , Beauty and

2418-472: Is to include other services in the future for users who do not use Fandango. Upon its creation, the "Verified Hot" badge was installed retroactively on over 200 films which achieved a verified audience score of 90% or higher since the launch of Rotten Tomatoes' verified audience ratings in May 2019. In February 2021, a new "What to Know" section was created for each film entry, combining the "Critics Consensus" and

Stage Beauty - Misplaced Pages Continue

2496-462: Is unknown, is believed to have performed the role of Desdemona – some liberties with the truth were taken. Nell Gwynne is represented as a mistress of the King who subsequently becomes an actress, but in reality she already was a noted theatre personality when Charles II met her. The sequence in which Maria and Kynaston discover naturalistic acting is anachronistic , as naturalism was not developed until

2574-469: Is unlikely to change". Other studios have commissioned a number of studies on the subject, with them finding that 7/10 people said they would be less interested in seeing a film if the Rotten Tomatoes score was below 25%, and that the site has the most influence on people 25 and younger. The scores have reached a level of online ubiquity which film companies have found threatening. For instance,

2652-572: The 2020 Webby People's Voice Award for Entertainment in the Web category. In February 2021, the Rotten Tomatoes staff made an entry on their Product Blog, announcing several design changes to the site: Each film's 'Score Box' at the top of the page would now also include its release year, genre, and runtimes, with an MPAA rating to be soon added; the number of ratings would be shown in groupings – from 50+ up to 250,000+ ratings, for easier visualization. Links to critics and viewers are included underneath

2730-519: The DVD commentary , several cast members recall the film was shot during the hottest UK summer on record (2003), and the temperature under the lights usually hovered at 46 °C (115 °F), making performing in the heavy, layered costumes a grueling experience. The Costumes were designed by Tim Hatley . Twelve costume houses were involved in the production, including The Royal Shakespeare Company , The National Theater, and Angels & Bermans, as well as

2808-696: The Rodgers and Hammerstein productions. Some examples include South Pacific , West Side Story and its 2021 remake , Grease , High School Musical , Across the Universe , Moulin Rouge! , the Mamma Mia! franchise, Sunshine on Leith , and La La Land . Romantic thriller is a genre of film which has a storyline combining elements of the romance film and the thriller genre . Some examples of romantic thriller films are Desire , To Catch

2886-419: The romance super genre. Using this approach, films like Gone with the Wind (noted above) would be classified as a dramatic (type) historical/family (macro genres) romance (genre) rather than simply a historical romance; while The Notebook would be identified at dramatic (type) disease (macro genre) romance (genre) rather than simply a romantic drama. Similarly, musicals are categorized as one option for

2964-469: The "Certified Fresh" seal. When a film or TV show reaches the requirements for the "Certified Fresh", it is not automatically granted the seal; "the Tomatometer score must be consistent and unlikely to deviate significantly" before it is thus marked. Once certified, if a film's score drops and remains consistently below 70%, it loses its Certified Fresh designation. In 2000, Rotten Tomatoes announced

3042-406: The "Critics Consensus", it summarizes the reviews noted by registered users into a concise blurb. The Rotten Tomatoes staff noted that for any given film, if there were any external factors such as controversies or issues affecting the sentiments of a film, they may address it in the "Audience Says" section to give users the most relevant info regarding their viewing choices. Localized versions of

3120-467: The "User"-category. Films are further classified based on film genre . Each movie is eligible in only one genre, aside from non-English-language films, which can be included in both their genre and the respective "Foreign" category. Once a film is considered eligible, its "votes" are counted. Each critic from the website's list gets one vote (as determined by their review), all weighted equally. Because reviews are continually added, manually and otherwise,

3198-718: The 19th century. Interiors were filmed at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich and Shepperton Studios in Surrey. According to commentary by production designer Jim Clay on the DVD release of the film, because so little English Restoration architecture remains in London, and documentation of the period is minimal, he was required to use his imagination in creating buildings and back alleys on sound stages . In

Stage Beauty - Misplaced Pages Continue

3276-582: The Beast , Knowing , Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind , Midnight in Paris , Her , and The Shape of Water . Romantic musical (alternatively musical romance ) is a genre of film which features romantic relationships and whose story is partially explained through song and/or dance numbers. This genre originated on Broadway and moved to the silver screen thanks in part to the popularity of

3354-460: The Boys I've Loved Before , Four Weddings and a Funeral , Dave , Say Anything... , Moonstruck , In Summer We Must Love , As Good as It Gets , Something's Gotta Give , When Harry Met Sally... , Annie Hall , Manhattan , The Apartment and Pablo and Carolina . Romantic dramas usually revolve around an obstacle that prevents deep and true love between two people. Music

3432-950: The Italian houses Sartoria Farani, Tirelli , Costumi d'Arte , E. Rancati, G.P. 11, and Pompei . The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in May 2004 prior to its general release in the UK. It was shown at the Deauville Film Festival , the Toronto International Film Festival , and the Dinard Festival of British Cinema in France before opening in New York City. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes ,

3510-649: The RT Awards honoring the best-reviewed films of the year according to the website's rating system. The awards were later renamed the Golden Tomato Awards. The nominees and winners are announced on the website, although there is no actual awards ceremony. The films are divided into wide release and limited release categories. Limited releases are defined as opening in 599 or fewer theaters at initial release. Platform releases, movies initially released under 600 theaters but later receiving wider distribution, fall under this definition. Any film opening in more than 600 theaters

3588-606: The Ruins , The River of Love , Dearer than my Life , Love Story , Paris and Love , Featureless Men , Coming Home , Daughters of the Dust , Like Water for Chocolate , Sommersby , The Bridges of Madison County , The English Patient , Shakespeare in Love , An Officer and a Gentleman , Saptapadi and Cinema Paradiso . 21st century examples include Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna , Sideways , Memoirs of

3666-475: The Tomatometer. On August 21, 2024, Rotten Tomatoes rebranded its audience score as the Popcornmeter and introduced a new "Verified Hot" badge. The designation is only given to films which have reached an audience score of 90 percent or higher among users whom Rotten Tomatoes has verified as having purchased a ticket to the film through Fandango. A representative for Rotten Tomatoes stated that their goal

3744-438: The companies. In 2011, Warner Bros. acquired Rotten Tomatoes. In early 2009, Current Television launched The Rotten Tomatoes Show , a televised version of the web review site. It was hosted by Brett Erlich and Ellen Fox and written by Mark Ganek. The show aired Thursdays at 10:30 EST until September 16, 2010. It returned as a much shorter segment of InfoMania , a satirical news show that ended in 2011. By late 2009,

3822-495: The creation of the website was Rush Hour (1998), Chan's first major Hollywood crossover, which was originally planned to release in August 1998. Duong coded the website in two weeks and the site went live the same month, but the release of Rush Hour was delayed until September 1998. Besides Jackie Chan films , he began including other films on Rotten Tomatoes, extending it beyond Chan's fandom . The first non-Chan Hollywood movie whose reviews were featured on Rotten Tomatoes

3900-491: The ease at which large companies are able to manipulate reviewer ratings. The article cited publicity company Bunker 15 as an example of how scores can be boosted by recruiting obscure, often self-published reviewers, using the example of 2018's Ophelia . Rotten Tomatoes responded by delisting several Bunker 15 films, including Ophelia . It told Vulture in a statement, "We take the integrity of our scores seriously and do not tolerate any attempts to manipulate them. We have

3978-399: The film "an intelligent and entertaining adaptation ... skillfully acted, handsomely crafted" and added, "Eyre's spry direction of the refreshingly literate, witty drama shows a pleasingly light touch and a genuine feel for the bustle, backbiting and rivalry of the theater milieu ... In a delicately measured performance that favors graceful subtlety over campy mannerism, Crudup conveys

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4056-1148: The film C+ and described it as "an odd amalgam of high spirits, lively ambition, and botched execution." The film won the Cambridge Film Festival Audience Award for Best Film, was cited by the National Board of Review for Excellence in Filmmaking, and was named the Overlooked Film of the Year by the Phoenix Film Critics Society. Romance film Romantic films often explore the essential themes of love at first sight , young and mature love, unrequited love, obsession, sentimental love, spiritual love , forbidden love, platonic love, sexual and passionate love, sacrificial love, explosive and destructive love, and tragic love . Romantic films serve as great escapes and fantasies for viewers, especially if

4134-555: The film holds an approval rating of 64% based on 128 reviews, with a weighted average of 6.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Uneven but enjoyable, Stage Beauty uses historical events as the springboard for a well-acted romance with a charming Shakespearean spin." On Metacritic , the film has a weighted average score of 64 out of 100, based on 38 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". In his review in The New York Times , A. O. Scott said, "At times,

4212-433: The films at 30%, 19% and 16%, respectively, was blamed for undermining them. That same summer, films like Wonder Woman and Spider-Man: Homecoming (both 92%) received high scores and opened at or exceeded expectations with their $ 100+ million trackings. As a result of this concern, 20th Century Fox commissioned a 2015 study, titled "Rotten Tomatoes and Box Office", that stated the website combined with social media

4290-581: The gender role-playing puts spine in this period piece that is vital to the here and now." Carla Meyer of the San Francisco Chronicle said, "The film rarely matches Crudup's performance, appearing confused itself about whether it's farce or drama. But its palette of burnished browns and reds pleases the eye, and at its best, Stage Beauty captures the tensions and electricity of backstage dramas." In The New Yorker , David Denby observed, "Second-rate bawdiness—that is, bawdiness without

4368-618: The legitimate theatre but is forbidden because of a law, at that time in effect, forbidding theatres to employ actresses. Instead, she appears in productions at a local tavern under the pseudonym Margaret Hughes . Her popularity is aided by the novelty of a woman acting in public, which attracts the attention of Sir Charles Sedley , who offers his patronage. Eventually, she is presented to Charles II . Nell Gwynn , an aspiring actress and Charles II's mistress, comes upon Kynaston ranting about women on stage and seduces Charles II into banning men from playing female roles. Kynaston, having gone through

4446-445: The level of content". In 2015, while promoting the film Suffragette (which has a 73% approval rating) actress Meryl Streep accused Rotten Tomatoes of disproportionately representing the opinions of male film critics, resulting in a skewed ratio that adversely affected the commercial performances of female-driven films. "I submit to you that men and women are not the same, they like different things," she said. "Sometimes they like

4524-465: The movie feels like a fancy-dress version of A Star Is Born  ... Mr. Crudup's fine features, which flicker between masculine and feminine as the lighting changes and the mood shifts, are well suited for the role, though his sinewy, birdlike frame suggests Hollywood anorexia more than Restoration curviness  ... Stage Beauty is both timorous and ungainly, words that might also describe Ms. Danes's performance. Trapped in an English accent and in

4602-401: The movie page on the website, and need to mark their review "fresh" if it is generally favorable or "rotten" otherwise. It is necessary for the critic to do so as some reviews are qualitative and do not grant a numeric score, making it impossible for the system to be automatic. The website keeps track of all the reviews counted for each film and calculates the percentage of positive reviews. If

4680-581: The occasion of the 75th anniversary of the New York Film Critics Circle , its chairman Armond White cited Rotten Tomatoes in particular and film review aggregators in general as examples of how "the Internet takes revenge on individual expression". He said they work by "dumping reviewers onto one website and assigning spurious percentage-enthusiasm points to the discrete reviews". According to White, such websites "offer consensus as

4758-568: The positive reviews make up 60% or more, the film is considered "fresh". If the positive reviews are less than 60%, the film is considered "rotten". An average score on a 0 to 10 scale is also calculated. With each review, a short excerpt of the review is quoted that also serves a hyperlink to the complete review essay for anyone interested to read the critic's full thoughts on the subject. "Top Critics", such as Roger Ebert , Desson Thomson , Stephen Hunter , Owen Gleiberman , Lisa Schwarzbaum , Peter Travers and Michael Phillips are identified in

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4836-553: The ratings. By clicking on either the Tomatometer Score or the Audience Score, the users can access "Score Details" information, such as the number of Fresh and Rotten reviews, average rating, and Top Critics' score. The team also added a new "What to Know" section for each film entry page, which could combine the "Critics Consensus" blurb with a new "Audience Says" blurb, so users can see an at-a-glance summary of

4914-550: The scores are regularly posted in Google search results for films so reviewed. Furthermore, the scores are prominently featured in Fandango's popular ticket purchasing website, on its mobile app, on popular streaming services like Peacock , and on Flixster, which led to complaints that "rotten" scores damaged films' performances. Others have argued that filmmakers and studios have only themselves to blame if Rotten Tomatoes produces

4992-589: The screen in the early 2000s, following the success of the Twilight Saga adaptations from Stephenie Meyer 's books. By 2007–08, film studios were producing various paranormal romance films, many adapted from novels. Examples of paranormal romance films include The Exterminating Angel , The Twilight Saga , Warm Bodies , Vampire Academy , I Am Dragon , and The Shape of Water . Romantic comedies are films with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as that true love

5070-451: The sentiments of both certified critics and verified audience members. Rotten Tomatoes staff first collect online reviews from writers who are certified members of various writing guilds or film critic-associations. To be accepted as a critic on the website, a critic's original reviews must garner a specific number of "likes" from users. Those classified as "Top Critics" generally write for major newspapers. The critics upload their reviews to

5148-516: The site announced that user reviews would no longer be accepted until a film is publicly released. The site also announced plans to introduce a system for "verified" reviews, and that the "Want to See" statistic would now be expressed as a number so that it would not be confused with the audience score. Despite arguments on how Rotten Tomatoes scores impact the box office, academic researchers so far have not found evidence that Rotten Tomatoes ratings affect box office performance. In January 2010, on

5226-474: The site available in the United Kingdom, India, and Australia were discontinued following the acquisition of Rotten Tomatoes by Fandango. The Mexican version of the site, Tomatazos  [ es ] , remains active. The Rotten Tomatoes API provides limited access to critic and audience ratings and reviews, allowing developers to incorporate Rotten Tomatoes data on other websites. The free service

5304-738: The two leads finally overcome their difficulties, declare their love, and experience their "happily ever after", often implied by a reunion and final kiss. In romantic television series, the development of such romantic relationships may play out over many episodes or different characters may become intertwined in different romantic arcs. Screenwriter and scholar Eric R. Williams identifies Romance Films as one of eleven super-genres in his screenwriters' taxonomy , claiming that all feature length narrative films can be classified by these super-genres. The other ten super-genres are action , crime , fantasy , horror , science fiction , comedy , sports , thriller , war and western . ' Chick flick '

5382-669: The vocal disgust of influential critics such as Roger Ebert, who was prone to derisively condemn such moves, with gestures such as "The Wagging Finger of Shame", on At the Movies . Furthermore, the very nature of withholding reviews can draw early conclusions from the public that the film is of poor quality because of that marketing tactic. On February 26, 2019, in response to issues surrounding coordinated " bombing " of user reviews for several films, most notably Captain Marvel and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker , prior to their release,

5460-602: The website for "reducing hundreds of reviews culled from print and online sources into a popularized aggregate score", while expressing respect for traditional film critics. Writer Max Landis , following his film Victor Frankenstein receiving an approval rating of 24% on the site, wrote that the site "breaks down entire reviews into just the word 'yes' or 'no', making criticism binary in a destructive arbitrary way". Vulture ran an article in September 2023 that raised several criticisms of Rotten Tomatoes's system, including

5538-537: The website was designed to enable Rotten Tomatoes users to create and join groups to discuss various aspects of film. One group, "The Golden Oyster Awards", accepted votes of members for various awards, spoofing the better-known Academy Awards or Golden Globes . When Flixster bought the company, they disbanded the groups. As of February 2011, new community features have been added and others removed. For example, users can no longer sort films by Fresh Ratings from Rotten Ratings, and vice versa. On September 17, 2013,

5616-479: The website's editor-in-chief since 2007, Matt Atchity, left to join The Young Turks YouTube channel. On November 1, 2017, the site launched a new web series on Facebook, See It/Skip It , hosted by Jacqueline Coley and Segun Oduolowu. In March 2018, the site announced its new design, icons and logo for the first time in 19 years at South by Southwest . On May 19, 2020, Rotten Tomatoes won

5694-556: The wit of Boccaccio or Shakespeare or even Tom Stoppard —is more infantile than funny, and I'm not sure that the American playwright Jeffrey Hatcher, who concocted this piece for the stage and then adapted it into a movie, is even second-rate. Stage Beauty might be called the spawn of Shakespeare in Love , and, unfortunately, this is a Shakespeare that lacks the graceful spirit and breathless narrative drive of its progenitor ." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly rated

5772-416: The work. The "Certified Fresh" seal is reserved for movies that satisfy two criteria: a "Tomatometer" of 75% or better and at least 80 reviews (40 for limited release movies) from "Tomatometer" critics (including 5 Top Critics). Films earning this status will keep it unless the positive critical percentage drops below 70%. Films with 100% positive ratings that lack the required number of reviews may not receive

5850-520: Was Your Friends & Neighbors (1998). The website was an immediate success, receiving mentions by Netscape , Yahoo! , and USA Today within the first week of its launch; it attracted "600–1,000 daily unique visitors" as a result. Duong teamed up with University of California , Berkeley classmates Patrick Y. Lee and Stephen Wang, his former partners at the Berkeley, California -based web design firm Design Reactor, to pursue Rotten Tomatoes on

5928-466: Was built for people under 18 ... so we wanted to give the movie its best chance. What other wide release with a score under 8 percent has opened north of $ 20 million? I don't think there is one". Conversely, Warner Bros. also did not do critic pre-screenings for The House , which held a score of 16% until the day of its release, and opened to just $ 8.7 million; the lowest of star Will Ferrell 's career. That marketing tactic can backfire, and drew

6006-413: Was going to be an increasingly serious complication for the film business: "The power of Rotten Tomatoes and fast-breaking word of mouth will only get stronger. Many Millennials and even Gen X-ers now vet every purchase through the Internet, whether it's restaurants, video games, make-up, consumer electronics or movies. As they get older and comprise an even larger share of total moviegoers, this behavior

6084-486: Was launched on August 12, 1998, as a spare-time project by Senh Duong. His objective in creating Rotten Tomatoes was "to create a site where people can get access to reviews from a variety of critics in the U.S ". As a fan of Jackie Chan , Duong was inspired to create the website after collecting all the reviews of Chan's Hong Kong action movies as they were being released in the United States. The catalyst for

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