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Invitation to Feature Comprehensive Movie Information and Link to Buy Tickets
Los Angeles - May 19, 2004 - Evite, the leading free online event planning service, complete with invitations and local event listings, has teamed up with Fandango, the nation's largest online and phone advance movie ticketing service, to provide customers with online tools to organize a group movie outing.
The free service, powered by Evite, is now available on Fandango's website, www.fandango.com, where moviegoers can purchase tickets to nearly 70 percent of all theaters enabled for remote ticketing in the United States. "Evite Friends" links, presented throughout the Fandango site, start a simple process of transferring selected movie and theater information directly into a customized, Fandango-branded Evite invitation. Once the host sends out the invitation, guests can post messages to the group, confirm attendance, vote on which showtime works best and link back to Fandango to purchase tickets for the movie. The invitation features the "Fandango Bag Puppet" characters, which star in the company's in-theater trailers.
"The 'Evite Friends' functionality is fun, simple and provides users with the ability to plan a great group trip to the movies. This is just another example of how we make the movie-going experience more convenient and easy," said Art Levitt, president and chief executive officer for Fandango, Inc.
"Over the last year, Evite has experienced a tremendous increase in events planned in the movie night category, so we knew that a partnership with Fandango was a natural extension of user behavior," said John Foley, president of Evite. "We are excited to work with Fandango and look forward to a long term relationship."
Evite is also offering a Fandango-branded invitation in the "Movie/TV Night" category on its own site (www.evite.com). On this version of the invitation, users can manually add movie details and enjoy Evite's core features including creation tools, RSVP management, event reminders, polling, payment collection, design customization features and an address book.
About Fandango:
Fandango, the nation's largest online and phone movie ticketing service, sells tickets to nearly 950 theaters and 11,000 screens - nearly 70 percent of all theaters enabled for remote ticketing in the country. Fandango offers moviegoers the ability to select a film, theater and show time, and purchase tickets in advance on www.fandango.com or 1-800-FANDANGO, the only advertising-free, nationwide phone service for buying movie tickets in advance. Fandango sells tickets to more theaters than all of its competitors combined and is the exclusive remote ticketing service for the largest North American exhibitors: Carmike Theatres (NASDAQ: CKEC), Century Theatres, Edwards Theatres, Loews Cineplex Entertainment, Regal Cinemas (NYSE: RGC) and United Artists Theatres, as well as to Brenden Theatres, Cinemark Theatres, Eastern Federal Theatres, Kerasotes Theatres, R/C Theatres, Star Theatres and Wallace Theaters. Fandango allows moviegoers to bypass the box office line via Print at Home ticketing and theater kiosks, and offers Fandango Bucks electronic currency and Evite Friends, an e-mail invitation tool. Fandango investors include Accretive Technology Partners, Technology Crossover Ventures, and several exhibitor partners.
About Evite:
Evite is the leading free online event planning service, complete with invitations and local event listings. From planning a dinner party for friends, to finding something to do on Saturday night, to locating a tennis partner, Evite makes it easy to explore local areas, communicate, coordinate, and make decisions. Launched in 1998, Evite was acquired by Ticketmaster, the World's leading live event ticketing and access company, in 2001 and is currently headquartered in Los Angeles. Evite is an operating business of IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI).
Media Contacts:
Evite
Kristen Wareham
213-739-3275
Kristen@evite.com
Edelman for Fandango
Michel Schneider
323-202-1054
Michel.schneider@edelman.com
