Fandango features the cell phone as ticketing and marketing tool

Figuring on a high cross-over of cell phone users and movie goers, Fandango will launch next month a service that will let consumers use their web-enabled cell phones other handheld devices to research and buy movie tickets, receive marketing messages and view theater directions from Mobile.Fandango.com.

“There’s a significant cross-over audience of active mobile users and frequent movie-goers,” said CEO Art Levitt. “With nearly 200 million wireless subscribes in the U.S. –and over 50 million mobile devices connected to the wireless web—it makes perfect sense for us to launch this service. This new platform will extend the Fandango brand and broaden our reach, while offering fun services such as text messaging, premium content and mobile promotions.”

Fandango currently lets consumers purchase tickets and get information on movie schedules and locations over the phone at 1-800-FANDANGO and through the web at Fandango.com. The new cell phone service, developed with Crisp Wireless, will let consumers with web-enabled phones or other handheld devices view movie reviews as well as theater locations and times, receive alerts and marketing promotions, and purchase tickets with a credit card account. To request information about a particular movie, users will send a text message to Fandango that includes a key word from the movie title and their ZIP Code.

To receive the tickets purchased through a cell phone, users will hand their credit card to a ticket clerk or use the card to swipe a kiosk that will print out a ticket based on their order, a spokesman says. But Fandango eventually expects to enable purchasers to download a ticket barcode from Movie.Fandango.com, save it to their handheld device, then have it scanned by a ticket-taker at the theater, he said.

In addition, Fandango plans to extend the service to let users download movie clips and movie-related ringtones and games, the company said.