Moviefone

Last updated
Moviefone
Founded1989 (1989)
Founders
Headquarters
United States
ServicesOnline media, movie theatre information, movie tickets
Parent Born in Cleveland LLC
Website moviefone.com

Moviefone is an American-based moving pictures listing and information service. Moviegoers can obtain local showtimes, cinema information, film reviews, and advance tickets, as well as TV content and a comprehensive search tool that allows users to find theaters, channels, and streaming services offering movies and television shows. [1] The service is owned by Born in Cleveland LLC, Cleveland O'Neal III's holding company. O'Neal is creator and producer of Made in Hollywood syndicated daytime entertainment show.

Contents

History

In 1989, Russ Leatherman, Rob Gukeisen, Andrew Jarecki, Pat Cardamone, and Adam Slutsky launched the interactive telephone service, with initial service in Los Angeles and New York City. [2] Leatherman provided the voice of "Mr. Moviefone" for the automated phone service. [3] After gaining popularity, the service later expanded across the United States and eventually adopted an online presence as Moviefone.com.

In 1999, AOL purchased Moviefone for $388 million. [4] [5] The acquisition was completed on May 21, 1999. [6] [7]

In 2001, Moviefone entered into a partnership with MovieTickets.com that crosslinked their ticketing offerings; by 2004, Moviefone's online arm was acquired outright by MovieTickets.com. [8] However, in 2012, Moviefone announced a partnership with MovieTickets.com's rival Fandango. [9] [10]

On February 23, 2014, it was reported that Moviefone would be shutting down its call-in service and its "777-FILM" phone number, but would maintain its mobile app services. [11]

On May 5, 2014, Moviefone was relaunched with a new look, an expansion into TV content, and a comprehensive search tool that allows users to find theaters, channels, and streaming services offering movies and television shows. [12]

On April 5, 2018, Helios and Matheson Analytics, the majority owner of the movie ticketing service MoviePass, announced the acquisition of Moviefone from Oath Inc. for $1 million in cash and $8 million in stock. [13] [14]

In early 2020, Helios and Matheson went bankrupt in deep controversy over multiple changes to the MoviePass service, and at that point had one employee, Matt Atchity, handling Moviefone. The company was worth just $4,379,504, or about 1% of the 388 million when it was purchased by AOL. [15] Made in Hollywood Producer Cleveland O’Neal III purchased Moviefone out of bankruptcy in March 2020 via his holding company, Born in Cleveland LLC. [16]

In the Seinfeld episode, "The Pool Guy" (season 7, episode 8), the character Cosmo Kramer receives misdialed calls meant for a parodied Moviefone after getting a new phone number. [17]

In an episode of the TV series of Dilbert, the Pointy-haired Boss confuses Moviefone with an automated hotline for checking his stocks, being frustrated that trying to check his IBM stock leads to buying tickets to a horror movie.

In the 2001 film Josie and the Pussycats , Mr. Moviefone is the voice of subliminal advertising messages planted into pop music by an ominous record agency.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AOL</span> American internet portal

AOL is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by Yahoo! Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AIM (software)</span> Instant messaging service

AIM was an instant messaging and presence computer program created by AOL, which used the proprietary OSCAR instant messaging protocol and the TOC protocol to allow registered users to communicate in real time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WarnerMedia</span> American media conglomerate owned by AT&T (1990–2022)

Warner Media, LLC was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AMC Theatres</span> American movie theater chain

AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. is an American movie theater chain founded in Kansas City, Missouri, and now headquartered in Leawood, Kansas. It is the largest movie theater chain in the world. Founded in 1920, AMC has the largest share of the U.S. theater market ahead of Regal and Cinemark Theatres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fandango Media</span> American media corporation based in Los Angeles, California

Fandango Media, LLC is an American ticketing company that sells movie tickets via their website as well as through their mobile app, as well as a provider of television and streaming media information through its subsidiary Rotten Tomatoes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rotten Tomatoes</span> American review aggregator for film and television

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 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.

TracFone Wireless, Inc. (TFWI) is an American prepaid, no-contract mobile phone provider. TFWI is a subsidiary of Verizon Communications, and offers products and services under several brands. It operates as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), holding agreements with the three largest United States wireless network operators to provide service: AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile US, and Verizon.

WideOpenWest is the eighth largest cable operator in the United States with their network passing 1.9 million homes and businesses. The company offers landline telephone, cable television, and broadband Internet services. As of November 3, 2022, WOW! has about 538,100 subscribers.

Flixster was an American social-networking movie website for discovering new movies, learning about movies, and meeting others with similar tastes in movies, currently owned by parent company Fandango. The formerly independent site, allows users to view movie trailers as well as learn about new and upcoming movies at the box office. It was originally based in San Francisco, California and was founded by Joe Greenstein and Saran Chari on January 20, 2006. It was also the former parent company of Rotten Tomatoes from January 2010 to February 17, 2016. On February 17, 2016, Flixster, including Rotten Tomatoes, was acquired by Fandango.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MovieTickets.com</span> Movie ticket sales website

MovieTickets.com is an online movie ticketing website founded by AMC Theatres and Hollywood.com in 2000; CBS Corporation, Famous Players, and National Amusements all came on board prior to launch; and it is now a subsidiary of Fandango Media. MovieTickets.com provides movie times for all theaters, and online ticket purchasing for all Clearview Cinemas and National Amusements theaters, among other smaller chains; such as Mann Theatres in Los Angeles. In 2010, MovieTickets.com sold over 16 million tickets for over 200 exhibitors, with 14,000 screens.

Quack.com was an early voice portal company. The domain name later was used for Quack, an iPad search application from AOL.

Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by the American company Dropbox, Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, California, U.S. that offers cloud storage, file synchronization, personal cloud, and client software. Dropbox was founded in 2007 by MIT students Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi as a startup company, with initial funding from seed accelerator Y Combinator.

The Air Bud film series is an American film franchise based on a sports-playing Golden Retriever named Buddy, portrayed by Air Buddy. The franchise began in 1997 with the theatrical release of Air Bud, followed by the theatrical release of Air Bud: Golden Receiver in 1998. Following the box office failure of Golden Receiver, the rest of the films in the series were released in direct-to-video form. The Air Buddies or Disney Buddies spin-off series began in 2006 with the release of Air Buddies and it focuses on the adventures of Buddy's talking Golden Retriever puppies. The franchise features fourteen films, in addition to two Christmas spin-offs of the Air Buddies series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nokia Lumia 610</span>

Nokia Lumia 610 is a Windows Phone smartphone announced at Mobile World Congress 2012. It is designed for young consumers that are buying their first smartphone. The Lumia 610 has a curvy, metallic design. Like the Lumia 710, it comes in cyan, magenta, black and white. The black and magenta version have a rubberized back instead of the glossy back as found in the white and cyan version of this phone.

iOS 6 2012 mobile operating system

iOS 6 is the sixth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc, being the successor to iOS 5. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 11, 2012, and was released on September 19, 2012. It was succeeded by iOS 7 on September 18, 2013.

MoviePass, Inc. is an American subscription-based movie ticketing service owned by co-founder Stacy Spikes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fran Hauser</span>

Francesca Hauser is a startup investor and advisor, funding and advising consumer-focused companies such as HelloGiggles, Levo, Mogul, The Wing and Gem&Bolt. Formerly President, Digital for Time Inc.'s Style and Entertainment Group, she is also a philanthropist and advocate for women in business.

Vista Group International Limited provides film industry technology for studios, distributors, exhibitors and moviegoers globally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yahoo! Inc. (2017–present)</span> American technology company

Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational technology company that focuses on media and online business. It is the second and current incarnation of the company, after Verizon Communications acquired the core assets of its predecessor and merged them with AOL in 2017. The resulting subsidiary entity was briefly called Oath Inc. In December 2018, Verizon announced it would write down the combined value of its purchases of AOL and Yahoo! by $4.6 billion, roughly half; the company would be renamed Verizon Media the following month in January 2019.

References

  1. ↑ "About Moviefone". Moviefone.com. Archived from the original on 2019-07-10. Retrieved 2019-10-12.
  2. ↑ Goldsmith, Jill (2020-03-20). "Moviefone Sold For $1M, MoviePass Next On Block As Bankrupt Parent Dismantled". Deadline. Retrieved 2021-01-31.
  3. ↑ "Moviefone voice: 'I'm not bummed' that phone service is ending". TODAY.com. Retrieved 2021-01-31.
  4. ↑ "AOL buys MovieFone". CNN . February 1, 1999. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
  5. ↑ "America Online to Acquire MovieFone, Inc., Nation's No. 1 Movie Listing and Ticketing Company". Business Wire . Berkshire Hathaway. February 1, 1999. Archived from the original on May 28, 2013. Retrieved June 28, 2019– via TheFreeDictionary.com.
  6. ↑ "America Online, Inc. Completes Acquisition of MovieFone, Inc". Business Wire (Press release). Berkshire Hathaway. May 21, 1999.
  7. ↑ "America Online, Inc. Completes Acquisition of MovieFone, Inc". warnermediagroup.com. May 21, 1999. Archived from the original on August 24, 2019. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  8. ↑ "Press release". MovieTickets.com. 2004. Archived from the original on February 16, 2017. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
  9. ↑ Verrier, Richard (May 23, 2012). "Fandango and Moviefone dial up new partnership". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
  10. ↑ Shaw, Lucas (May 23, 2012). "Fandango and Moviefone partner for ticket sales". Reuters. Archived from the original on July 16, 2012. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
  11. ↑ Barnes, Brooks (February 23, 2014). "Moviefone Is Hanging Up, but Its App Will Go On". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 20, 2019. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
  12. ↑ Barnes, Brooks (May 5, 2014). "Moviefone will add broadcast and on-demand TV information". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
  13. ↑ Ben Fritz (April 5, 2018). "Upstart MoviePass to Join With Cinema Service Moviefone". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on June 20, 2019. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
  14. ↑ Carr, Flora (April 5, 2018). "MoviePass Just Bought Moviefone. Here's What It Means for Moviegoers". Fortune. Archived from the original on July 9, 2018. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
  15. ↑ Spangler, Todd (2020-02-15). "Moviefone, Worth 1% of Its Former Value, Is Being Run by One Employee After Parent Company's Bankruptcy". Variety. Archived from the original on 2020-02-15. Retrieved 2020-02-17.
  16. ↑ Spangler, Todd (March 25, 2020). "Meet Moviefone's New Owner: 'Made in Hollywood' Producer Cleveland O'Neal III". Variety. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  17. ↑ The Pool Guy, IMDb.com, Inc.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.