Studios Object to Moviefone Policy

“We put the movies at your fingertips,” reads a current newspaper ad for Moviefone. But if the movie your fingers wanted to find on Friday morning was Woody Allen’s “Deconstructing Harry,” just released by Fine Line Features, you were out of luck.

It was the latest example of what studio marketers and exhibitors contend has been a pattern by Moviefone of excluding in its listing those films from companies that don’t pay Moviefone thousands of dollars in advertising money.

Moviefone lists movies and show times for theaters in major markets nationwide. Callers can purchase advance tickets (to be picked up at the box office) with a credit card for a fee of about $1 over the ticket price.

Moviefone Chief Executive Andrew Jarecki acknowledged in a phone interview Monday that “we do more with people that advertise with us, and we always have. . . . We are [financially] supported by the studios.” He attributed the delayed listing of “Harry” to Moviefone’s prioritizing based on advertising relationships: “If we have a lot of movies to load, their [studios that don’t advertise] movies may go up a little later.”

This policy hasn’t set well with executives of at least two studios, New Line Cinema, the parent of Fine Line, and 20th Century Fox. In the last two weeks, representatives from those studios have met with Moviefone executives to discuss the omission of their movies from Moviefone listings in major U.S. markets, including Los Angeles and New York.

On Friday, the Allen film was listed among new releases on Moviefone’s Web site, https://www.movielink.com. But callers who tried to use Moviefone’s automated telephone menu (777-FILM) drew a blank when they tried to enter the film by name. By midafternoon Pacific time, following complaints by New Line, the movie was listed. Moviefone similarly listed Fox’s “Anastasia” only after Fox executives complained days after the film’s recent opening.

All concerned say the issue appears to be resolved for now. “Those studios can have the same expectation as others that their movies will be listed by the morning that they open,” said Jarecki, who said the studios were not pressured to advertise with Moviefone to reach a settlement.

Still, there is lingering resentment among some studio and theater chain executives.

“If I go into Moviefone and . . . I don’t get ‘Deconstructing Harry,’ that’s not a full service,” said one theater chain source who asked not to be named.

Exhibitors are skittish about criticizing Moviefone, since they--along with newspapers including the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times--have reciprocal agreements to advertise each other (with no money changing hands).

The exhibitor said that although it’s hard to measure what, if any, impact such exclusion has on attendance, it could have an impact on pictures with modest marketing budgets, such as “Harry.” But the movie, which opened on only 10 screens in Los Angeles, New York and Toronto, didn’t seem to be hurt; it had the highest per-screen average of any movie over the weekend.

Said New Line distribution president Al Shapiro: “I don’t deal directly with Moviefone. But I do know that when people start calling me to complain that they couldn’t find the movie--and when theater owners call to say they aren’t being listed--that makes me very upset.”

Shapiro said other recent New Line releases, including “Boogie Nights” and “Mortal Kombat: Annihilation,” also were not listed initially on Moviefone.

According to Fox senior vice president of publicity and promotions Jeffrey Godsick, both “Anastasia” and the limited release “A Life Less Ordinary” were not initially listed by Moviefone.