PLEASANT GROVE — Headed to a movie tonight? Don't forget to pull your tickets off the home printer. Oh, and grab your concessions voucher as well.
Both can now be bought online, printed out on a home or office computer and redeemed at the movie theater door — bypassing the box office entirely.
"As far as we know, we're the first anywhere to offer this," said Doug Call, director of marketing for Summit Entertainment also known as EntertainmentCentral.com.
EntertainmentCentral.com operates the Water Gardens Cinema 6 in Pleasant Grove and The Tooele Cinema 6 theaters.
"It's simple," said Mark Atwood, general manager for the Water Gardens Cinema 6. "Customers can use their credit card to purchase movie tickets as well as a concession voucher, then walk straight to their movie. Their home or office computer prints a bar code that we scan here at the theater. It's easy and safe."
It also saves time, Call said, because customers don't have to wait in lines outside the box office.
At the concession stand, they can get into the "combo meal only" line and save themselves additional time.
"This move to Internet ticketing is an attempt to provide greater convenience to our customers," said Tony Rudman, owner and president of Summit Entertainment. "The assurance of finding a seat for your movie as well as the ability to avoid any line at the box office, especially during the winter months, is a major benefit of the online ticketing system."
Call said ticket sales will be managed by the theaters to prevent overbooking.
For sold-out shows, customers must be at the theater five minutes before the curtain or lose their seats, he said.
"That's only if it's full," Call said.
Tickets can be purchased as far as three days in advance, either from the local theater sites or from EntertainmentCentral.com.
A test program of the system is already popular with audiences, Call said.
"We kicked this off on Friday, and we've had tremendous response."
Call said by December, most of the independent theaters in Utah will be offering the online-buying option.
He said the high availability of Internet access and the technically affluent Utah market makes the area a "perfect place for this kind of market test."
Two Web addresses may be accessed: www.moviesutah.com or www.entertainmentcentral.com.
E-MAIL: haddoc@desnews.com