FANDANGO TO ACQUIRE POPULAR ONLINE TICKETER MOVIETICKETS.COM, CREATING GLOBAL SUITE OF MOVIE TICKETING PROPERTIES WITH MISSION OF GETTING MORE MOVIEGOERS INTO THEATERS WORLDWIDE
Suite of Ticketing Properties - Fandango, MovieTickets.com, Flixster, Ingresso and Fandango Latin America - will Serve Hundreds of Millions of Moviegoers with Movie Discovery, Planning and Ticket-Buying Innovations for Top Mobile and Social Platforms
Acquisition to Grow Company's Footprint in the U.S. and Latin America, and Offer Ticketing in Canada and the United Kingdom for the First Time
Oct 13, 2017, 13:45 ET
LOS ANGELES and BOCA RATON, Fla., Oct. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Fandango, a leading digital network for all things movies, announced today it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire MovieTickets.com, a popular online movie ticketer serving moviegoers in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Latin America. MovieTickets.com will join brands Fandango, Flixster, Ingresso and Fandango Latin America to create a suite of movie ticketing properties, serving hundreds of millions of moviegoers worldwide. The deal is subject to customary closing conditions and is anticipated to close in Q4 2017.
The addition of MovieTickets.com will further Fandango's goal of full national coverage, ensuring that moviegoers can purchase advance tickets to their favorite local theaters anytime, anywhere and on any device. Once completed, the acquisition will bring to Fandango's ticketing network new exhibitors including National Amusements, Cineplex, Landmark Theatres and Marquee Cinemas, as well as many independent theater chains.
It will also expand the company's footprint in Latin America, and establish a ticketing presence in Canada and the United Kingdom for the first time. After the acquisition is complete, MovieTickets.com will continue to operate from its headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida.
"MovieTickets.com has done a terrific job, building a popular and trusted brand with millions of loyal customers and hundreds of exhibitors, and has been a champion of serving theater circuits large and small for nearly two decades," said Fandango President Paul Yanover. "We look forward to sharing an array of mobile and social media innovations with their customer base to enhance the movie discovery, planning and ticket buying experience."
Fandango continues to build world-class technology, pioneering new movie discovery and ticketing experiences for leading mobile, social, AI bot and voice recognition platforms with partners including Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, and others. These platforms enable moviegoers to use Fandango to discover movies, access showtimes and buy tickets with their friends, without ever leaving their favorite messaging apps, social networks and voice recognition platforms.
The company has also incorporated leading digital payment platforms into its ticketing service, including Apple Pay, Android Pay, PayPal, Visa Checkout and Masterpass, enabling ticket purchases via debit and credit cards with just one touch. Fandango also offers PayPal split pay, making it easier to split the bill for tickets with multiple friends.
"MovieTickets.com is committed to serving moviegoers and exhibitors to enhance the total moviegoing experience," said MovieTickets.com CEO Joel Cohen. "Teaming with Fandango will enable MovieTickets.com to further its mission and increase advance ticket sales."
In addition to building its domestic business, Fandango announced earlier this year a new global brand strategy for Latin America, launching innovative new online and mobile ticketing destinations at Ingresso.com in Brazil and Fandango Latin America (www.Fandango.lat, formerly Cinepapaya) in multiple Latin American countries, including Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Ecuador and Bolivia. The addition of MovieTickets.com will help Fandango increase its presence in Latin America, especially in the popular moviegoing countries of Argentina and Mexico.
About MovieTickets.com
MovieTickets.com offers moviegoers a quick and convenient way to purchase tickets online and via mobile devices. The company currently enables remote movie ticketing for consumers across the globe, including the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, and the Caribbean. Fans can stay connected with MovieTickets.com through Facebook (facebook.com/MovieTicketscom), Twitter (twitter.com/movietickets) and YouTube (youtube.com/c/movietickets).
About Fandango
Fandango is the ultimate digital network for all things movies, serving consumers with best-in-class movie information, ticketing to more than 33,000 screens worldwide, movie trailers and original video content for movie discovery, and home entertainment. Its portfolio reaches more than 67 million unique visitors per month globally, with 210 million app downloads in the U.S. and South America, and includes popular movie properties Flixster, Rotten Tomatoes and the Tomatometer™ rating, and Fandango Movieclips, the No. 1 movie trailers and content channel on YouTube. Its new premium on demand video service, FandangoNOW offers new release and catalog movies and next-day TV shows on a wide variety of connected, over-the-top (OTT) and mobile devices. Also part of the Fandango family are Latin America's leading online ticketers, Ingresso.com and Fandango Latin America (formerly CinePapaya) – extending Fandango's reach to Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Bolivia.
SOURCE Fandango