Fandango buys Movies.com
Online ticketing service purchases Disney site
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Disney once envisioned Movies.com as a video-on-demand platform, but the joint venture with Fox never got off the ground, and the site remained an entertainment news repository. Its offerings are more complementary to Fandango, an online ticketing service for more than 15,000 screens.
Site quietly took over Movies.com last week and tweaked its offerings.
Fandango's ad team will sell both sites, which each offer trailers, ticket services and other showbiz news.
Fandango exhib partners include AMC, Carmike, Cinemark, Edwards and Regal.
Comcast purchased the 8-year-old Netco last year.
Sale removes last vestige of former Mouse House digital strategy. Like its rivals, Disney hoped to control digital distribution of its movies by owning platforms. It eventually backed away from its Movies.com plans, but five rivals poured millions into the Movielink.com service before eventually selling it to Blockbuster at a tremendous loss.
Netcos have had a tough time getting any traction on movie purchases and rentals until Apple brokered deals with all the majors earlier this year. Movie downloads have jumped considerably since iTunes ramped up its offerings (Daily Variety, June 20).
Mouse House has retooled its Internet strategy to focus on brands such as Disney, ABC and ESPN.
