Rotten Tomatoes: The Evolution of a Movie Review Aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes was launched in August 1998 by Sehn Duong, Patrick Y Lee, and Stephen Wang, a trio of University of California students.

The name "Rotten Tomatoes" was inspired by a scene from the 1992 film Léolo, where a woman believed she became pregnant with tomatoes.

The Tomatometer rating system, introduced in December 1998, assigns a percentage based on the number of positive reviews.

The first movie to be awarded a rating via the Tomatometer was Star Trek: Insurrection, receiving a 55% rating.

Rotten Tomatoes was initially created as a platform to share opinions about movies, and the site gained momentum after being featured in Usenet movie groups and Yahoo!

In 2004, Rotten Tomatoes expanded into news, covering movie news and updates.

Rotten Tomatoes has had a significant impact on the film industry, influencing the reputation of a movie's quality and box office success.

The Tomatometer has become a benchmark for measuring a movie's quality, and the Fresh and Rotten elements have become a standard part of movie reviews.

Rotten Tomatoes has remained a cornerstone of the film industry, with the site continuing to evolve and expand its coverage of movies.

Rotten Tomatoes has become synonymous with movie reviews, with the site's influence evident in the way movies are marketed and promoted.