Guaranteed Seating Lures Filmgoers : Movies: Small fee and convenience cited as reasons for more frequent use of telephone ticketing. Service may help offset declining attendance.

Carol Griffiths and 11 friends from the American Martyrs Catholic Church in Manhattan Beach knew they wanted to see “Aladdin” at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood. They also knew they didn’t want to wait in line for tickets.

“We had a really big group of people, so we called for tickets,” said Griffiths, who had just arrived at the theater’s box office, minutes before the movie was to start.

“It wasn’t worth the risk of making the drive,” said her friend Phil Pesavento of Torrance, “to stand in line, and then be told the show was sold out.”

So they called the advertised telephone ticket line and, for a small extra fee, guaranteed their tickets with a credit card. It’s a practice that many Southern Californians and residents of major cities nationwide are starting to use with more frequency, especially on weekends. For theater operators, telephone ticketing appears to be a way to help offset declining movie attendance by making it easier, if not less costly, for people to go to the movies.

“Let’s face it, living in a big city is complicated,” said Greg Rutkowski, vice president of West Coast operations for the AMC Theatres.. “So anytime you can make people feel it’s not a problem to go to the theater, you know what my decision will be. This is one of those things that can keep theatrical runs alive.”

In Southern California, almost all the major theater chains have begun offering advance tickets by phone, either through their own services or in conjunction with MovieFone, which operates the heavily advertised 777-FILM line. Now Orange County exhibitor Edwards Theatres Circuit Inc. reports it is in the process of negotiating with MovieFone.

One individual service is Cineplex Odeon’s CineCharge line. Another is General Cinema’s phone line offered via the TicketMaster service. The latter is unique in that it also offers tickets in a “preferred” seating section for some movies.

The fee for using telephone ticketing ranges from 75 cent to $1 per ticket, and theater exhibitors say the extra fee all goes to administration, not profit.

If customers call the theater chain lines directly, they’ll more than likely pay an extra 75 cents per ticket, while if they call MovieFone’s 777-FILM , they will have access to movies in many locations, a range of movie times--and pay another $1 per ticket.

For San Gabriel Valley resident David Quan, the phone system is a plus, and the extra cost worth it. “It would be a pretty lousy evening to drive in to Hollywood and not have a ticket,” he said, while in line at the El Capitan. Agreed his date, Rachel Chin, “The peace of mind is worth the extra dollar we paid.”

None of the services guarantees a specific seat--only that the buyer will have a seat for a movie at a specific time. While the customers at Pacific Theatre’s El Capitan pick up their telephone ticket orders at the box office, at many other locations customers can use automated ticket machines usually located in theater lobbies. At these, anyone who has called ahead and reserved seats can walk up, insert a credit card and the tickets will be issued.

“The fear of being sold out is the driving force behind the growth of telephone ticketing,” said J. Russell Leatherman, the president of MovieFone.

And that fear of being sold out is particularly acute at this time of year, a heavy moviegoing season that usually offers some of the most anticipated films of the year.

The Nov. 13 opening of one of the first holiday season releases, “Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” was widely supported with advertising billing the MovieFone line and the slogan: Say So Long to Sold Out.

The campaign for “Dracula” worked, as far as Jodie Bolstad, a manager of the Cineplex Universal theaters, is concerned. He said about 1,000 tickets for opening night were sold by phone, indicating to him that when there is a perceived rush for tickets, the public will call ahead.

Even though the El Capitan theater has been setting Southern California box-office records with “Aladdin”--grossing $25,000 per day for six weeks--there is rarely a lengthy line at the will-call window. That was the case when Griffiths and her friends from Manhattan Beach arrived. One member of the group flashed a credit card, they picked up their tickets, and they headed for . . . a line to get into the theater.

But had the church group not called ahead, it was very likely that, at 10 minutes before the showtime of “Aladdin,” that they would have been turned away, said El Capitan manager Todd Leader.

One young couple waiting in the line at the El Capitan seemed a little perturbed that they had “traded one line for another. We didn’t have to wait to buy our tickets, ‘cause we called ahead. But we’re waiting now.” Still, they weren’t too upset. They knew that they would get in.

“It’s irritating not to get a ticket,” said Patricia of Hollywood, who would not give her last name. “If the movie is popular, it’s worth the extra money to call ahead.”

One of the most popular locations for advance phone purchases is the frequently sold-out AMC Century City theaters. There, it is not uncommon for moviegoers to arrive on weekends and find virtually all of the 14 theaters sold out.

Rutkowski said AMC has sold 300,000 tickets by phone in the last year at Century City alone. He described that number as a “significant percentage” of total tickets sold.

AMC pioneered its own telephone ticket service and, in addition, is currently experimenting with MovieFone.

“With the kind of volume we’ve been getting, and with what we expect over the Christmas vacation period, it indicates this will be viable,” Rutkowski said. “But it’s pretty embryonic at the moment.”

Indeed, while the Los Angeles-based MovieFone has been around for three years, it began as a service to provide movie times and location information by telephone in several urban markets. But gradually it began to provide ticket ordering services, as customers began requesting it, said Andrew Jarecki, the managing director.

In recent months MovieFone and its TeleTicketing Co. arm have embarked on an expansion campaign that is being supported by extensive advertising. “Much of the growth has been due to the willingness of the major film studios to add our MovieFone line to their print and TV advertising,” Jarecki added.

Altogether, the company says it handles about 650,000 phone calls a week for either movie information or ticketing. Leatherman said 1 million tickets have been sold since the expansion campaign began with the opening of “Dracula.”

Theaters in Santa Monica, Burbank, and AMC’s Mainplace Mall in Santa Ana are also popular with the telephone crowd. In the San Diego area, AMC’s Fashion Valley 4 theaters will have an exclusive showing of Al Pacino’s new film, “Scent of a Woman,” and the chain believes that singular showing will prompt phone orders.

“When you have an exclusive situation or any time on the weekends, you’ll see the telephone ticket business rise,” said AMC’s Rutkowski.

It certainly a good idea as far as John Doyle and his friends are concerned. They drove in to Hollywood from Palos Verdes and Doyle said his only qualm about paying a dollar more per ticket had nothing to do with the comfort of an assured seat. “I just hope the movie itself is worth it,” he said.

Times staff writer Zan Dubin contributed to this report.