'Harry Potter' on Track to Eclipse 'Twilight' as Third Top-Selling Advance Ticketer in Fandango History

'Harry Potter' on Track to Eclipse 'Twilight' as Third Top-Selling Advance Ticketer in Fandango History

More Than 1,000 Sold-Out Showtimes, from Anchorage to Ft. Lauderdale

LOS ANGELES, July 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Harry Potter is successfully casting his spell on moviegoers across the country, selling out more than 1,000 showtimes on Fandango, from San Francisco to New York, from Anchorage, Alaska to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. As Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince opens tomorrow night at midnight, theater owners are scrambling to add additional showtimes throughout the witching hours on Wednesday morning.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20061016/LAM046LOGO-b)

The sixth Harry Potter movie currently represents:
-- One of the fastest-selling titles in Fandango's nine year history, on
track to replace Twilight as the company's third top-selling advance
ticketer (following Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith and
The Dark Knight, occupying the #1 and #2 spots, respectively).
-- A higher number of advance tickets sold for Harry Potter 6 than sold
for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Iron Man or Sex and the City
at the same point in the sales cycle on Fandango.

-- 96% of daily ticket sales on Fandango.

According to a Fandango survey of more than 3,000 moviegoers planning to see the movie:

-- 63% are female.
-- 62% planning to see it at midnight say they will go with a group of
friends.
-- 45% claim they're also fans of the Twilight saga.
-- 36% picked Order of the Phoenix as their favorite Potter movie,
followed by Goblet of Fire (26%) and Azkaban (21%).
-- 23% picked Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) as the supporting character
they would most like to see on the screen, while 17% picked Ginny
Weasley (Bonnie Wright).

-- 22% picked Alnwick Castle (Hogwarts exterior) as the Potter series
location they would most like to visit, while 20% chose Oxford's
Christ Church College Dining Room (Hogwarts Great Hall) and 17% chose
King's Cross Train Station (site of Platform 9 3/4).

"Harry is tracking to match last year's juggernaut, The Dark Knight, in advance ticket sales," says Rick Butler, Chief Operating Officer of Fandango. "Showtimes are selling out at a very fast pace, and it's clear that the film's wider blockbuster appeal, solid word-of-mouth and positive Internet buzz on Half-Blood Prince are helping fuel the demand."

As a bonus, every Harry Potter advance ticket buyer on Fandango will receive a free music download of the song Friends and Love, from the film's soundtrack. Details of the promotion are available at www.fandango.com/promo/harrypotter.

Potter fans can also visit the Fandango Summer Movie Guide to view photos of favorite Potter locations from the movie, offering suggestions on where fans can "vacation on location." The gallery can be viewed at http://summermovies.fandango.com/2009/roadtrips/.

About Fandango

One of the Web's top movie and entertainment destinations, Fandango sells tickets to more than 16,000 screens. Fandango entertains and informs consumers with reviews, commentary and trailers, and offers the ability to quickly select a film, plan where and when to see it, and conveniently buy tickets in advance. Fandango is available at www.fandango.com, 1-800-FANDANGO and via your wireless mobile device at mobile.fandango.com. Fandango is a unit of Comcast Interactive Media.

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20061016/LAM046LOGO-b
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Fandango

CONTACT: Harry Medved, +1-310-954-0461, harry.medved@fandango.com, or
Melinda Petrow, +1-310-954-0278, ext. 231, melinda.petrow@fandango.com, both
of Fandango

Web Site: http://www.fandango.com/

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