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They were a service that was uniquely suited to the time of general widespread cellphone usage but pre-smartphone usage. You'd call the Moviefone number and get

They were a service that was uniquely suited to the time of general widespread cellphone usage but pre-smartphone usage. You'd call the Moviefone number and get a phone tree for local theaters and then movie times. They were uniquely positioned to grab people and pitch them a movie at exactly the moment they were trying to find a movie (which doesn't sound revolutionary, but at the time the overall culture of movies and trailers wasn't nearly what it is and people were relying on the local paper for times). As a result, they were charging millions for ad placements - it's entirely possible that on a cash basis that AOL made their money back from the purchase simply because they were able to bundle advertising packages. Studios spend stupid amounts of money to promote their movies (look up how much Kevin Hart was paid for single tweets to promote movies).

briandear 7y ago
“Hello! And welcome to Moviefone! If you know the name of the movie you’d like to see, press 1..” I still remember that.
- CalChris 7y ago
  Jon Stewart used it in his 2006 Oscars intro. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfAwXWs0TXQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfAwXWs0TXQ
- chasd00 7y ago
  and the simpsons parody where Bart is dialing 911 and gets frustrated by the menu and just presses a bunch of buttons. "you have selected Regicide! If you know the name of the king or queen being murdered press one!" https://youtu.be/FAsIx3oPY-8 https://youtu.be/FAsIx3oPY-8
subpixel 7y ago
Actually Moviephone predated widespread cell phone usage. It was just seen as a novel AND useful way of getting movie times. There was no Google, you had to look through the paper and find ads for individual theaters to know where and when movies were screening.
- dragonwriter 7y ago
  > Actually Moviephone predated widespread cell phone usage. Also, predated the Web. It was founded in 1989. > There was no Google, you had to look through the paper and find ads for individual theaters to know where and when movies were screening. Not so much “look through”, theater listings were on a distinct page or group of pages, depending on the size of the market covered by the paper.

briandear 7y ago

“Hello! And welcome to Moviefone! If you know the name of the movie you’d like to see, press 1..” I still remember that.

CalChris 7y ago
Jon Stewart used it in his 2006 Oscars intro. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfAwXWs0TXQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfAwXWs0TXQ
chasd00 7y ago
and the simpsons parody where Bart is dialing 911 and gets frustrated by the menu and just presses a bunch of buttons. "you have selected Regicide! If you know the name of the king or queen being murdered press one!" https://youtu.be/FAsIx3oPY-8 https://youtu.be/FAsIx3oPY-8

subpixel 7y ago

Actually Moviephone predated widespread cell phone usage. It was just seen as a novel AND useful way of getting movie times. There was no Google, you had to look through the paper and find ads for individual theaters to know where and when movies were screening.

dragonwriter 7y ago
> Actually Moviephone predated widespread cell phone usage. Also, predated the Web. It was founded in 1989. > There was no Google, you had to look through the paper and find ads for individual theaters to know where and when movies were screening. Not so much “look through”, theater listings were on a distinct page or group of pages, depending on the size of the market covered by the paper.