Fandango Enjoys Record-Breaking Summer; Fans Pick Most Anticipated Fall Films

Fandango Enjoys Record-Breaking Summer; Fans Pick Most Anticipated Fall Films

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- As summer draws to a close, Fandango (http://www.fandango.com/), the nation's leading moviegoer destination, is reporting significant growth in terms of ticket sales, traffic, and screen count.

   (Logo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20061016/LAM046LOGO-b)   Here are a few of Fandango's accomplishments this summer:   

-- Most tickets sold per hour, day and month: Fandango broke its own hourly, daily, and monthly ticketing records with "The Dark Knight" (for which Fandango sold over two million tickets through the film's opening weekend). The July 18 release now holds the record as Fandango's best-selling film of all time (the previous record-holder was "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith").

-- Fastest pace of tickets sold: For "The Dark Knight," Fandango sold tickets at the fastest pace in company history, at the rate of 15 tickets per second during extended peak periods on July 18 (knocking out the previous record-holder, 2007's "Spider-Man 3," which sold 10 tickets per second).

-- Highest percentage of opening weekend box office: At the end of May, Fandango sold more than 16 percent of "Sex and the City's" domestic opening weekend box office, the company's highest percentage for a film in wide release. In July, Fandango achieved its second best percentage, representing 13 percent of "The Dark Knight's" domestic opening weekend box office.

-- Record-Breaking Traffic: The site has seen a 19% year-over-year increase in traffic*, according to Nielsen//NetRatings, with July representing Fandango's best month yet.**

-- Wider expansion of theatrical footprint: Fandango now has a greater number of exhibitor partners and theaters than ever before, adding hundreds of U.S. screens in the last few months. Reading International has come on board with their circuits including Angelika Film Centers, City Cinemas, Hawaii's Consolidated Theatres, and Reading Cinemas, while Fandango has added new reserved seating locations like the Cobb CineBistro and the Kerasotes Chicago Webster.

"Even through tough economic times, our business has flourished," says Rick Butler, Chief Operating Officer of Fandango, "as people still look to the movies as a great escape. Our record-breaking numbers show that there's nothing like a slew of good films to get moviegoers to the theater. It continues to be a great social outing for family and friends."

The next few months look promising for moviegoers. In an online survey during the final days of August (August 15-26), Fandango asked more than 3,000 respondents to pick the one film they're most looking forward to seeing in the coming months. The most anticipated Fall films -- plus the percentages of Fandango moviegoers who picked them as their top choice -- are as follows:

-- Sept. 2008's Most Anticipated: "Burn After Reading" (18%), followed by "The Women" (14%).

-- Oct. 2008: "Body of Lies" (13%), followed by "High School Musical 3: Senior Year" (11%).

-- Nov. 2008: "Twilight" (31%), followed by the James Bond adventure, "Quantum of Solace" (20%).

-- Dec. 2008: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (16%), followed by "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (15%).

-- Fall 2008 (ranking all films from Sept.-Dec.): "Twilight" (34%), followed by "Quantum of Solace" (19%).

-- 2009's Most Anticipated: "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (43%), followed by "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" (16%), "Night at the Museum 2" (7%), "Watchmen" (7%) and "Star Trek" (6%).

About Fandango

One of the Web's top movie and entertainment destinations, Fandango sells tickets to more than 15,000 screens. Fandango entertains and informs consumers with reviews, commentary and trailers, and offers the ability to quickly select a film, plan where and when to see it, and conveniently buy tickets in advance. Fandango is available at http://www.fandango.com/, 1-800-FANDANGO and via your wireless mobile device at mobile.fandango.com. Fandango is a unit of Comcast Interactive Media.

* Based on 2008 year-to-date unique visitors, Nielsen//NetRatings.

** Nielsen reports 8.5 million unique visitors for Fandango, July 2008.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20061016/LAM046LOGO-b
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com

Source: Fandango

CONTACT: Harry Medved of Fandango, +1-310-954-0461,
harry.medved@fandango.com

Web site: http://www.fandango.com/

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Profile: International Entertainment