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Fandango's Mobile Phone Ticketing System Launching This Weekend

by Alex Billington
November 18, 2011
Source: PR Newswire

They seem a little behind in catching up with this technology, as airlines already have it, but Fandango is finally opening mobile ticketing to the public this weekend. We first wrote about mobile phone movie tickets coming through Fandango in March of 2010, quite a while ago, and its taken this long to officially launch. Regal has partnered with Fandango for this week's opening of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 and will be rolling out the ticketing program to more than 1,000 screens in the Regal circuit this weekend. The system simplifies ticketing to a barcode you pull up on a phone and show as a ticket, that's it!

If you want hear some marketing mumbo jumbo, here you go: "Fandango has always been on the forefront of ticketing technology," says Greg Dunn, President of Regal Entertainment Group, "and Regal is happy to introduce one more Fandango convenience. Our guests will enjoy getting to the movies with the ease of Fandango's Mobile Ticket program, which is perfectly timed for the busy holiday moviegoing season." Fandango's Mobile Ticket works with all mobile carriers, and does not require a smart phone or additional convenience fee. I believe the option automatically shows up if you're buying tickets online at one of the many theaters included in this weekend's roll-out (full list). This paperless convenience allows film fans to simply take their mobile phones straight to the theater's ticket-taker, who scans the barcode and you're in!

Fandango's Mobile Ticket works with all mobile carriers, and does not require a smart phone or additional convenience fee. The program is rolling out to more than 1,000 screens in the Regal Entertainment circuit. I'm glad to see this finally rolling out to more theaters, as we should be using paperless systems as much as possible anyway. Other chains, including Arclight in Los Angeles, have already been offering ticketing like this, so it isn't a new feature by any means. I would really love to see it accepted on a nationwide scale, with all theater chains offering simple paperless options like this, making a trip to the movies easier for everyone.

Filed under General, Movie News

From around the web:

http://www.facebook.com/MrDuarte Daniel Duarte

Good, i'm sick of reading off the long number to the people at the theaters.
http://profiles.google.com/snears Nick Sears

Yeah, they're pretty late to the game, but you'd be surprised how many people still don't know what QR codes are all about, regardless that they're everywhere. I'm creating a 3-segment video series that explains all things QR codes. Not sure if it would help shed some light, but, here it is http://vimeo.com/31786873
- http://www.firstshowing.net Alex Billington
  
  Ugh, I hate the QR code takeover. I'm fine with barcodes and mobile tickets like this, these work great. But I don't like that QR codes are showing up everywhere, wine bottles, every product package, billboards, literally everything, it's annoying. I know what they are and don't care and don't like scanning them! Anyway, did anyone use a mobile ticket this weekend? Oh right, Twilight came out...
  - Chris Amaya
    
    Sadly Twilight will probably shatter more records than it deserves to...I haz shed a tear for society today :'(
  - http://profiles.google.com/snears Nick Sears
    
    They're going to be as commonplace as the barcode, so you'd better get used to them haha. Since they're 'hip' right now, plus they can do A LOT, we're going to continue seeing them until our phones have NFC (Near Field Communication) - that's when our phones become digital wallets, but that's a whole can of worms.
rennmaxbeta

What's the big deal? Bar codes have been used on tickets for a long time here. Yeah, you have to print them out and those are on your phone, but it's more or less the same.