Palisades Center IMAX theater to try selling tickets via Bluetooth Marketing

Can a movie sell out 12 weeks in advance?
That’s the question Warner Bros. and IMAX will begin to answer this weekend as they run a high-tech experiment at the IMAX Theater at Palisades Center.
Patrons can go to the large-format theater and, using the Bluetooth connection on their cell phones, download an exclusive 30-second clip from the upcoming graphic novel adaptation “Watchmen,” which will be released March 6.
At the end of the clip, patrons will then be directed to a Web site that gives them a VIP opportunity to buy tickets to the first public showing of the film at 12:01 a.m. March 6.
“We’ll be the only theater in the United States selling tickets for the midnight show,” said theater director John Jarvie. “We get a crack at it because we’re one of the top four IMAXes in the country.”
Jarvie admitted IMAX is treating this “proximity marketing” as an experiment, but he thinks that timing it with “The Day the Earth Stood Still” should hit the same demographic that will be excited for “Watchmen.”
“It should be very hot,” he said.
After “The Dark Knight” broke all kinds of IMAX records this summer, IMAX is big business for Hollywood. After “Watchmen,” films such as “Star Trek” on May 8, “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” on May 22, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” on June 26 and “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” on July 17 will all be released in IMAX.
So if this experiment proves successful, expect more early ticket sales and high-tech hijinks.Source: http://www.recordonline.com

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