Moviefone

Moviefone is an American-based movie listing and information service. Moviegoers can obtain local showtimes, theatre information, film reviews, or advance tickets. The service is available nationwide in many but not all area codes, and is owned by AOL.

History

In 1989, Russ Leatherman, Rob Gukeisen, Andrew Jarecki, Pat Cardamone and Adam Slutsky launched the interactive telephone service, with initial service in New York City and Los Angeles.^[1] After gaining popularity, it later expanded across the United States and eventually adopted an online presence as Moviefone.com. In 1999, Moviefone was purchased by AOL for more than $400 million. In 2004, MovieTickets.com acquired outright the online arm of Moviefone.com, after having entered in a partnership in 2001 that crosslinked their ticketing offerings.^[2]

In media

In an episode of Seinfeld entitled The Pool Guy, Kramer's phone number is very similar to Moviefone's, and gets many calls from people wanting listings. In the end he decides to just play along and give out movie listings. Unfortunately, Mr. Moviefone himself eventually finds out and comes after Kramer, angry that Kramer is stealing his business.^[3] As of January 2009, the actual Moviefone has incorporated voice recognition, prompting users with "Now you can just tell me the name of the movie you want to see", almost identical to Kramer's line in the Seinfeld episode.

Kansas City rapper Kutt Calhoun spoofs the use of Moviefone in his intro track for his album Feature Presentation. The skit includes someone calling "KCMO Moviefone" and goes through the steps to find a listing for "Kutt Calhoun: Feature Presentation".

In one episode of the Dilbert TV series, the Pointy-Headed Boss uses Moviefone to check on his IBM stock.

In the 13th season of The Simpsons, in the episode "Blame It On Lisa", the "real" Mr. Moviefone is seen at the phone company with a woman he's about to take on a date. He advises the woman that "tonight's date is rated R, for scenes of nudity."

In the movie The Sweetest Thing, Christina (Cameron Diaz) gives men the AOL Moviefone number when she doesn't want to hear from them again. In the opening sequence, a man dials the number and the familiar voice says, "AOL MOVIEFONE!"

In the movie "30 Minutes or less" the number used to dial the bomb vest is replaced by the number for moviefone.

References

1. ^ Pat Cardamone's Bio on IMDB
2. ^ MovieTickets.com press release
3. ^ Seinfeld: The Pool Guy - TV.com

External links

• Official website
• Leatherman Interview on Fox News Radio
• List of U.S. states with Moviefone local numbers