Movie Tickets With Click Of A Mouse
Tickets to the latest must-see movie could be just a couple of mouse clicks away under a system being tested by Moviefone.com.
The new system allows customers to bypass the box office by allowing them to buy tickets online with a credit card and print them out. The tickets contain bar codes readable by scanners at the theater door.
Moviefone.com already has an Internet-based ticket ordering system for movies in several major cities. But while the tickets can be reserved online, they still must be picked up at the box office.
Moviefone.com, operated by AOL Moviefone Inc., and United Artists Theatres began testing the new admission system in Seattle this week and six other leading movie chains announced Wednesday that they have similar Internet ventures in the works.
Entertainment Web site Hollywood.com also plans to join the fray with MovieTickets.com. Hollywood.com is a partner of CBS. com
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The site is scheduled to debut around Memorial Day, in time for Mission: Impossible 2 and other big summer releases. Theater chains AMC and National Amusements are partners in the site, and CBS on Wednesday announced it bought 5 percent of MovieTickets.com in exchange for $25 million worth of advertising on the networks TV and radio stations.
"When Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible 2 opens, it's going to be very hard to get a ticket," Hollywood.com President Laurie Silvers said Wednesday at ShoWest, a convention for theater owners.
"If you want to see it opening weekend, the last thing you want is to show up and see a line around the block, knowing you're not going to get in."
Meanwhile, a yet-to-be-named Internet service is planned for launch this summer by theater chains General Cinema, Regal Cinemas, Loews, Cinemark, Edwards and Century. The companies operate about 12,000 screens in North America, nearly a third of the industry total.
At first, the services will offer show times and let filmgoers pay for tickets online, but the tickets still would have to be picked up at the theater. The real innovation is emerging technology to allow tickets to be printed at home, which the upcoming services said they hope to add within a year.
"That's the big 'wow,"' said Lawrence Ruisi, Loews chief executive. "That's what's going to get people to push the button."
Ordering the movie tickets online will, in most cases, carry a service fee of a dollar or two, on top of the admission price, though executives say such fees eventually could be reduced or eliminated as the sites gain advertising revenue.
Moviefone and companies such as E-Stamp Corp. and ETM Entertainment Network showed off their verions of bar-coding systems at ShoWest, trying to interest theater owners.
Written By DAVID GERMAIN
©2000 CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report