- by Jerry
[Friday, April 12, 2002]

Tickets for "Spider-Man," one of the summer's most highly anticipated movies, are spinning their way onto the World Wide Web.

Fandango (www.Fandango.com), the online movie ticketing service, started selling the May 3 release on Friday—offering showtimes at about 70 theaters, mostly locations across the southeastern part of the country. By Monday morning, more than 300 of the 360 cinemas wired into Fandango will have "Spider-Man" screenings listed on the site.

"What we're hearing from all of our exhibitors is they'll have showtimes locked and loaded by then," said Sallie Green, Fandango's vice president of marketing and product development.

Fandango exhibitors include Edwards Theatres, Century Theatres, Cinemark, Loews Cineplex, Magic Johnson Theatres and Regal Cinemas.

Selling "Spider-Man" tickets three weeks before the release date gives Fandango a jump on its two major rivals. Representatives at AOL Moviefone and Movietickets.com said Friday they didn't know how soon the film would be available on their sites.

Interest in the Marvel Comics action-adventure, about a student (Tobey Maguire) who gains superhuman strength after being bitten by a genetically altered spider, has been building all year. The Movies.com Buzz Bin ranks "Spider-Man" ahead of every summer release except one: "Austin Powers in Goldmember."

"It's so top of mind," Green said of "Spider-Man." "Sony broke its advertising about a week ago, and we've seen a dramatic increase in the number of customers asking when we were going to have tickets on sale."

"Spider-Man" has the potential to unseat "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" as the top movie in terms of advance ticket sales on the Internet. More than 350,000 moviegoers bought "Potter" tickets through Fandango in the three weeks before its November release. The cinematic remake of the J.K. Rowling novel also is the top performing title at AOL Moviefone and Movietickets.com.

"There's even more of a demand for online movie ticketing now than there was six months ago," Green said.

The ability to purchase "Spider-Man" tickets comes as die-hard "Star Wars" fans have lined up near Grauman's Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles to be among the first to see "Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones," which opens May 16.

"Who knows when 20th Century Fox is going to release (the list of) 'Star Wars' (theaters), but we're going to be ready," Green said. "I don't want to miss an opportunity to sell a ticket."