Facebook, partnering with Fandango, now allows users to pick up movie tickets on the Facebook movie page or even when users search for a movie. Fandango is also working with Snapchat to offer a similar access. 

Will the convenience help the movie studios?  For urban residents, who have quick access to a movie theater and want to make an impulsive buy, most likely it will. Rural dwellers, not so much. They still have to factor in the gas and time it takes to get to the movie versus their excitement about the movie and the convenience of watching it at home a few months later.  For those who have a small screen and a lousy sound system, a theatre experience might warrant the expense. Word of mouth and critic reviews will most likely make their final decision.

Eliminating the location factor, Hollywood has a bigger problem. They’ve run sequels, reboots, and formula movies into the ground. Unless they have some vested interest in the storyline or characters, moviegoers don’t want to invest into movie franchises anymore. “This year’s sequel slump reveals Hollywood is in a creative funk,” says box-office analyst Jeff Bock said in a Variety article. “You could argue that sequel fatigue is feeding this; however, audiences still purchase tickets in droves to [some] continuing sagas. It’s all about forging new territory and sometimes waiting until significant momentum and interest is built up again, something Hollywood isn’t consistently good at.”

The numbers back up Bock’s statement. Just look at the third Blair Witch movie versus Sully. In eight days, Sully has raked in $55.1 million dollars after making $12 million on its first day. Blair Witch 3‘s one day total is an estimated $4 million with its projected 3-day total being somewhere in the ballpark of $9 to 9.5 million, which is $4 million less than Blair Witch 2’s opening weekend. Sully‘s biggest advantage is that it’s an original story based on a news event. There is, hopefully, no reason for a sequel.