Fandango acquires Rotten Tomatoes and Flixster

The online movie world got a little smaller today with the announcement that Fandango has acquired Rotten Tomatoes and Flixster.

In a surprise move it was announced on Wednesday that Fandango would acquire popular film review site Rotten Tomatoes and its subsidiary Flixster. The deal sees Fandango take over control of both sites from Warner Bros. Entertainment for an equity position in the movie ticket company and the creation of an ongoing strategic partnership.

“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,” Yanover added.

“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 Warner Bros. exec Thomas Gewecke. “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.”

This is just the latest acquisition by Fandango after it purchased M-Go back in January. With the addition of Rotten Tomatoes and Flixster, the company believes it is creating “the industry’s premier digital network for all things movies.”