Before we could easily look up the start times of movies, we had Moviefone.
You’d call the number, punch in the first few letters of the movie you’d like to watch, and you’d know where it as playing and exactly what time. It was great.
The internet kind of made the service obsolete, however, and Moviefone was purchased by Helios and Matheson from Verizon in 2008 for $1 million. Now at its height in 1999, AOL had a stock deal with Moviefone worth $388 million!
Helios and Matheson are the geniuses also behind MoviePass, which allowed patrons to see as many movies as they wanted in theaters for a nominal monthly fee. Of course, that plan turned out to be unsustainable, and the company crashed, which took Moviefone down with it.
Now, Moviefone is estimated to be worth $4,379,504, about 1.1% of its worth in 1999. On top of that, nearly ALL of Moviefone’s employees were laid off, apart from one.
Moviefone general manager Matt Atchity has been retained by the trustee overseeing Helios and Matheson’s liquidation to help keep Moviefone running pending an eventual sale of the property.
Moviefone’s current movie listings are automated, with showtimes linking directly to AMC Theatres, Regal, Cinemark and other movie theaters on its website.
Via Variety