Competition with Fandango
Acquisitions and mergers of movie chains have complicated matters regarding which ticketing companies provide online ticketing for a particular theatre chain. MovieTickets.com lost the Hoyts theater chain when the latter was acquired by the Regal Cinemas theater chain, a founder of Movietickets.com's rival online ticketing agency Fandango; however, when Regal acquired Consolidated Theatres,[8] the latter retained its contractual relationship with MovieTickets.com.[9]
Prior to 2012, MovieTickets.com provided online ticketing for AMC Theatres except those cinemas originally part of the Loews Cineplex Entertainment chain, whose online ticketing is provided by Fandango due to contractual obligations in place prior to the 2005 merger of the two movie chains.[10] In 2002, Loews had attempted to break the contract under pressure of bankruptcy and from (then) AOL Moviefone and its partner, Loews' Cineplex subsidiary; Fandango successfully sued both Loews and Moviefone, and retained the Loews business.[11] Furthermore, as of February 8, 2012, Fandango began providing ticketing for non-Loews AMC Theatres in the US as well,[12] after which MovieTickets.com's fellow shareholders sued AMC for breach of contract.[13] AMC and MovieTickets.com settled in 2013, with an agreement that the theater chain's online ticketing would be available on both Fandango and MovieTickets.com.[14]
In May 2012, MovieTickets.com's former partner Moviefone announced a new partnership with Fandango, when its relationship with MovieTickets.com lapsed.[15][16]
In 2015, Regal Entertainment Group announced that they would begin to offer tickets on MovieTickets.com on a non-exclusive basis, as Regal tickets retained their availability on Fandango.[17]
The competition ended with Fandango's purchase of MovieTickets.com in the 4th quarter of 2017.[18][19]
