MovieTickets.com Joins Lawsuit Against Founding Shareholder AMC Entertainment

MovieTickets.com Joins Lawsuit Against Founding Shareholder AMC Entertainment

BOCA RATON, Fla., Feb. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- MovieTickets.com, Inc., the leading global online movie ticketing provider, joined a lawsuit against one of its founding shareholders, AMC Entertainment, Inc. The lawsuit was previously filed on behalf of National Amusements Inc. and Hollywood Media Corp., each founding shareholders of MovieTickets.com, in Circuit Court for Palm Beach County by prominent trial attorney, Eugene Stearns of Stearns, Weaver, Miller, Weissler, Alhadeff & Sitterson, P.A. The plaintiffs have asked for a jury trial.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100430/MOVIETICKETSLOGO )

MovieTickets.com began 12 years ago when Hollywood Media Corp. along with two exhibitors, National Amusements Inc. and AMC entered into a Joint Venture Agreement in order to create and grow the company. MovieTickets.com has grown from its two founding exhibitors to 247 exhibitors in 19 countries/territories. The company added over 3,000 screens in 2011, bringing its total representation to 19,500 screens and nearly 20 million registered users. The company maintains a 99.6 percent exhibitor retention rate, and continues its growth trajectory on a global basis.

The lawsuit contends that when AMC's demands for greater control and a larger share of MovieTickets.com were not met, AMC breached and continues to breach the MovieTickets.com Joint Venture Agreement, which obligates AMC to exclusively provide its ticket inventory to MovieTickets.com. It further specifies breaches by AMC of its contractual and common law duties of good faith, fair dealing, and loyalty and violations of Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. Among other things, the company alleges that AMC used its inside position with MovieTickets.com and access to MovieTickets.com's proprietary information in order to advance AMC's own goals in contravention of its duty of loyalty to the joint venture and to the detriment of MovieTickets.com, a company, whose estimated market value would, as stated in the Complaint, have been in excess of $500 million had AMC fulfilled its obligations and commitments.

Despite exhaustive efforts by MovieTickets.com to resolve the dispute among the founding shareholders, AMC disabled its ticketing inventory from MovieTickets.com. This is the first time MovieTickets.com has ever sued anyone. The company is fully prepared to take all necessary action to protect its rights, the value and integrity of the MovieTickets.com service, and the rights of the other MovieTickets.com shareholders.

About MovieTickets.com

MovieTickets.com (www.movietickets.com), the worldwide leader in advance movie ticketing, offers moviegoers a quick and convenient way to purchase tickets, while serving as a top destination for movie news, reviews and trailers. The Company currently enables consumers across 19 countries/territories, including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Argentina, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean to buy movie tickets online, from any mobile device or by phone at 877-789-MOVIE. Formed in 2000, MovieTickets.com is a joint venture between AMC Entertainment, Hollywood Media Corp., National Amusements, Cineplex Entertainment, Marcus Theatres, Viacom and Time Warner. Its elite collection of partner theaters consistently represents more than 50 percent of the top 100 grossing theaters in North America on any given weekend. The MovieTickets.com theater chain group includes 247 theater chains, which is about 10 times the number of chains of its nearest competitor.

SOURCE MovieTickets.com, Inc.

Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100430/MOVIETICKETSLOGO
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
MovieTickets.com, Inc.

CONTACT: Melissa Zukerman, Principle Communication Group, +1-323-658-1555, melissa@pcommgroup.com

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

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