Thursday, April 5, 2012

Hunger Games Pushes Surge In Sales For Fandango

The popularity of "The Hunger Games" has apparently helped out Los Angeles-based Fandango, which sells online and mobile tickets to movie-goers, as the firm said Thursday that it had the best selling, first quarter in the company's history. Fandango said that it saw a 127 percent year over year increase in ticket sales, and a 58 percent year over over year increase in monthly visitors, on the heels of the release of The Hunger Games. The company said it had its best first quarter in its 12-year history, pushed there both by the popular movie as well as recent deals with AMC Theatres, Regency Theatres and other chains. Fandango also looks to be significantly benefiting from the shift towards buying movie tickets via smartphone, and new social features in its services which connect with Facebook Timeline. The company reports that it sold around 23 percent of its total tickets via mobile in the quarter. Fandango said that it sold 22 percent of the Hunger Games' weekend box office, selling as much as 60,000 tickets per hour for the movie.

---