RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Fans eager to see “Dune: Part Three” on the biggest screens in December first had to survive the online ticket queue. Many on social media reported long waits and ticketing site crashes Tuesday as they scrambled to snag seats for early IMAX 70 mm screenings in December. “Am I tripping or did every website for Dune 3 IMAX 70MM crash?” an X user wrote. “Help! Has anybody beaten this bug/error to secure Dune 3 tickets???” another person asked, sharing a screenshot of the Fandango site with a message that read: “Internal server error. Please try again.” “I HAVE THREE DEVICES OPEN TRYING TO GET DUNE TICKETS AND NONE OF THEM WORK,” another X user said. The rollout is the latest sign of a growing frenzy around seeing major movies in specific premium formats, in which securing the right seat and screen has become an event of its own. A similar rush unfolded in June, when advance sales for Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” overwhelmed AMC’s website, with some moviegoers reporting hourslong waits. “Dune: Part Three” is the latest installment in Warner Bros. Pictures’ adaptation of Frank Herbert’s seminal 1965 novel set thousands of years in the future in a world devastated by ecological collapse. The movie, directed by Denis Villeneuve, picks up 17 years after the previous one, with Paul Atreides (played by Timothée Chalamet) ruling the galaxy while in a political marriage to Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh). The sci-fi franchise, which also stars Zendaya and Jason Momoa, has become an audience must-see since the first installment’s box-office success in 2021. Though the new film isn’t being released until Dec. 18, some fans had already bragged about getting their tickets in April when IMAX first released a limited number of tickets for some screenings. Last week, IMAX sent out an email telling fans to “Save the Date” for another chance to get early tickets. “Dear IMAX fans, You showed up in a big way when the first DUNE: PART THREE tickets were released,” the email read. “We’ve heard you and know you want more access to tickets and more time to plan. So, here you go... The next opportunity to get DUNE: PART THREE tickets will arrive in one week on Tuesday, August 18 at 9:00 a.m. PST. This ticket drop will unlock more opening week DUNE Insider Screenings in IMAX and IMAX 70mm, so mark your calendars, make your plans, and get ready to return to Arrakis.” By Tuesday, people’s efforts to secure tickets had turned into viral mayhem. Fans reported that at certain points, AMC’s and Fandango’s apps had crashed. (AMC and Fandango did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.) Several people who managed to get tickets said it took them over an hour of waiting. A person on X posted a picture of a line wrapped around an AMC in New York, where fans tried to secure tickets in person. Some people also began reselling their early tickets on eBay for up to $1,000. The demand for multiformat viewing experiences is fueling moviegoing FOMO, reshaping how studios market tentpole films and prompting an effort to bring order to an increasingly crowded premium-screen landscape. Some frustrated cinephiles argue theater chains and studios should do more to ensure a smoother ticketing process. “If you’re going to turn movie ticket-buying into a competitive sport, then you need to have the tech and UX to support that shift,” film critic Barry Hertz wrote on X. “Theatrical exhibition is not easy, certainly, but it doesn’t need to be this hard.” AMC CEO Adam Aron addressed fan frustration Tuesday on X. He said that “ticketing traffic across AMC’s website and mobile app reached levels approximately three times higher than what we experienced during the Spider-Man: Brand New Day ticket launch, which itself followed strong advance sales for The Odyssey ticket launch before that.” “It’s not that our systems totally failed,” he added. “We have been selling enormous numbers of tickets today, but when any of our customers experience less than our best, it is just not right.” Aron wrote that while there was “much discussion internally” and preparation for the ticket launch, “We thought we were ready, but we weren’t.” The theater chain, Aron said, requires “about $2 million of IT programming resource” to “fully address the issue.” “Of course, that money has been approved already,” he wrote, “and we’ve asked our IT team to move at a whirlwind speed to take whatever steps are needed so that our ticketing systems are — in all situations and in all quantities —again top shelf.”
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