Fandango Rolls Out Digital Barcode Movie Ticket System

on 15 Mar 2010 12:46 PM

Fandango is making the move to bring movie goers into the future by going paperless. The internet movie giant is testing out a plan to use 2D barcodes in theaters instead of the age-old physical paper tickets. Your tickets are delivered to a mobile device in the form of a barcode which the ticket taker can scan with a provided 2D scanner. A great move in making things easier and eliminating the need to pick up your purchased tickets once you arrive at the theater. Fandango is starting out with just a few theaters to start (hit the jump for the full list) but hopefully more will follow along in the near future.

[TechCrunch]

New York: City Cinemas 1, 2 & 3, Angelika Film Center, East 86th Street Cinemas, Village East Cinema, Beekman Theatre, The Paris Theatre.
New Jersey: Manville 12 Plex.
Houston: Angelika Film Center.
Dallas/Plano: Angelika Dallas; Angelika Plano.
San Diego: La Mesa Grossmont Center, Clairemont Town Square Stadium.
Bakersfield: Valley Plaza 16.
Sonoma County: Rohnert Park 16.
Hawaii: Ward Stadium, Kahala Theater, Kapolei 16, Mililani Stadium.

Filed Under: News & Rumors; Tags: Barcode, Fandango

20 Comments

Posted by Roscopcoletrain Monday, Mar 15, 2010 801 days ago

Our local Empire does this if you purchase online. they send you a sms with a bar code the employee scans as you go in. Very cool!

Posted by Mario_Brewed_For_Thought Monday, Mar 15, 2010 801 days ago

That's Sonoma County - Rohnert Park 16

Nice, because that's my local theater

Posted by mconk Monday, Mar 15, 2010 801 days ago

Hopefully more theaters follow suit! Funny story - went to the theaters with an ex-gf a few weeks ago...the line was ridiculously long, so we opted to use the quick-ticket machine. This machine also let you pickup fandango tickets. There happened to be a small line for the machine - so while in line, I bet her that I could order the ticket online via BB, and by the time we were next up, it would be ready to pick up. Lo and behold, as soon as we were next-up, I had JUST pressed SUBMIT on my BB...it hung there for about three seconds, and just as I pressed PICKUP on the quick-ticket machine, the order finished on the BB and the ticket was on-screen and ready to print. Was pretty sweet. I figured there would be some sort of delay, but immediately after pressing submit on the BB, the ticket was in the system on the quick-ticket machine. QR codes would definitely be convenient though!

Posted by BenWitt08 Monday, Mar 15, 2010 801 days ago

I love this. Basically because not needing a ticket is one less thing to deal with. I love things that allow me to go paper less because I would hate to forget say...a concert ticket and be screwed. Being able to pull out my phone and get in would be so awesome. I think movie theatres is a good pilot for this idea but the boundries are endless

Posted by 07thking Monday, Mar 15, 2010 800 days ago

I agree 100%, I could not have said it better!
Also this saves trees :)Go Green!

Posted by buecker Monday, Mar 15, 2010 800 days ago

Come on Fandango! Austin should definitely be on the trial list. It's geek central down here and it could have coincided with SXSW perfectly.

Posted by Rockafella Monday, Mar 15, 2010 800 days ago

I like this route very much because even though you ordered your tickets ahead of time, you still had to wait in that long line just to print them out. Just jumping in line now and have your barcode read seems much faster. Just make sure the screen on your phone is readable

Posted by SkySoldier Monday, Mar 15, 2010 800 days ago

Those two San Diego areas are Iphone central. Lots of teens hang out and go to movies at these malls. Very smart on the part of Fandango I think.

Posted by lonestar1135 Monday, Mar 15, 2010 800 days ago

I like to keep my tickets. I've been hanging onto them for as long as I can remember and its fun to go back and see what I hit the theater for. Good idea and could work for some, I'll keep my physical ticket though.

Posted by Roscopcoletrain Monday, Mar 15, 2010 800 days ago

you could always keep a copy of your bar codes :p

Posted by HofstraJet Monday, Mar 15, 2010 800 days ago

Lufthansa does this for flights. Wish more airlines did this. Would save the trip to the hotel lobby to print boarding passes.

Posted by wobly Monday, Mar 15, 2010 800 days ago

I flew Delta out of Atlanta a couple weeks ago and they do this, too. The only issue I ran into all the way on to the plane was at security, they had two lines and only one scanner. Otherwise, it was smooth sailing.

Posted by drozek Tuesday, Mar 16, 2010 800 days ago

American Airlines, in select cities do this. At O'Hare, where I fly out of weekly does, it is nice to have.

Posted by Ebscer Monday, Mar 15, 2010 800 days ago

but that is a pretty short list of theaters.

Posted by TheAx78 Monday, Mar 15, 2010 800 days ago

and they can roll this out in the very near future! scanners are relatively cheap, and for a multiplex to pick up a couple would keep the lines moving for a while. I am eagerly waiting for this to get to Fresno...

Posted by Diggs31 Tuesday, Mar 16, 2010 800 days ago

Used it today at City Cinema 1,2,3 to see The Ghost Writer. The system is convenient but the posting for it could have been better, in fact there was no posting at all, the usher had to show me to the machine. Once this is implemented more widely there should be a way that it should be completely self service with an attendee to check. If I'm paying the extra dollar convenience fee I expect it to be clear and convenient. Its a great idea...but City Cinema hardly deserves to be a test site, its a dump, I'm surprised the rather upscale clientèle aroud there (its on 59th and 3rd Ave, the beginning of the Upper East Side) haven't fouled cry. Maybe they don't go to movies...

Posted by jforce Tuesday, Mar 16, 2010 800 days ago

I love the idea of getting to pull out the berry on any occasion. Well no, I don't have a ticket sir. But I do have a....barcode. (pulls out Javelin) Here it is. Seeeeeeeeeeeee ya!

Posted by blindguy Tuesday, Mar 16, 2010 800 days ago

This is cool. Can't wait for it to come to my city.

Posted by BBNewbie2010 Tuesday, Mar 16, 2010 800 days ago

I live in central NJ and the only cinema is in Manville? I know it's a trial. I hope they roll out to more cinemas soon.

Posted by weazl2000 Wednesday, Mar 17, 2010 799 days ago

This has been available in Canada at Empire Theaters since February. It's a great idea I really like it.