The Nation's Leading Movie Ticketing Service

Sells Nearly 12 Percent of Opening Weekend Box Office

for HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE

    LOS ANGELES, Nov. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Fandango, the nation's largest
 online, phone and mobile movie ticketing service with exclusive access to
 nearly 70 percent of the nation's wired theaters, announced today that it sold
 an estimated $12 million of the projected three-day $101.4 million* domestic
 opening weekend box office for HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE, nearly 12
 percent of GOBLET ticket sales.
     This new milestone represents Fandango's largest percentage of tickets
 sold for a Hollywood blockbuster. By comparison, Fandango sold 10.5 percent of
 domestic opening weekend box office for STAR WARS EPISODE III - REVENGE OF THE
 SITH in May 2005 and 8 percent of domestic opening weekend box office for the
 blockbusters Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in June 2004 and THE
 LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING in December 2003.
 
     A few more facts from Fandango:
     -- On Friday, November 18, the fourth HARRY POTTER installment broke
        Fandango's record for daily and hourly sales, selling an average of
        nearly 10 GOBLET tickets per second.
     -- GOBLET represents nearly 90% percent of the company's weekly ticket
        sales (as of Sunday at 9:00 am PT).
     -- HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE now stands as Fandango's second
        best-selling movie for advance ticket sales (following REVENGE OF THE
        SITH, see list below).
 
     Top Five Advance Ticket-Sellers from Fandango's Five-Year History:
     1. STAR WARS: EPISODE III - REVENGE OF THE SITH
     2. HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE
     3. LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING
     4. THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST
     5. HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
 
     "As of Sunday morning, ticket sales are still going strong," says Fandango
 President and CEO Art Levitt.  "It's a tremendous kick-off for the holiday
 movie season. As the nation's single largest sales outlet for the theatrical
 distribution of movies, we are pleased that millions of moviegoers are taking
 advantage of the ease of Fandango to avoid the SOLD OUT signs and long lines
 and to guarantee a hassle-free moviegoing experience."
 
     * Box office information from Box Office Mojo.
 
     About Fandango
     Fandango, the nation's largest movie ticketing service, sells tickets to
 approximately 13,000 screens and 1,100 theaters (nearly 70 percent of theaters
 in the U.S. enabled for remote ticketing) and to four out of the five largest
 U.S. theater circuits (according to National Association of Theater Owners,
 June 2005). A consortium of the nation's largest theater chains (including
 Regal Entertainment Group, Carmike Cinemas, Cinemark, Loews Cineplex
 Entertainment and Century Theatres, among others), Fandango sells tickets to
 more screens than all of its competitors combined. One of the Web's top movie
 destinations (according to Nielsen//NetRatings), Fandango allows moviegoers to
 quickly select a film, plan where and when to see it, read reviews, view
 trailers and buy tickets up to 45 days in advance.   Fandango is available at
 www.fandango.com, 1-800-FANDANGO and via your wireless device at
 mobile.fandango.com.
 
 

SOURCE  Fandango