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'Dark' Friday Looms, as 'Batman' Sells Out Hundreds of Thursday Midnight (and Beyond) Showtimes on Fandango.com

Across the country, hundreds of showtimes are sold out through the weekend, fromWashington, D.C. toPuyallup, Washington, at http://www.fandango.com/thedarkknight.

The new "Batman" movie, which currently represents more than 90% of all weekly ticket sales on Fandango, may end up creating a "'Dark' Friday" effect at some offices around the country. In a recent poll on Fandango, 38% of "Knight" fans said they intend to take off a few hours or the entire day on Friday, July 18, in order to catch the movie.

"At this point in the film's sales cycle, 'The Dark Knight' is outselling all major releases since 2005's 'Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith'," notes Rick Butler, chief operating officer of Fandango, "and it's benefiting from the highest fan anticipation of any movie this year. The late Heath Ledger's portrayal of The Joker marks one of those rare occurrences where an actor's Oscar-worthy performance coincides with certain box office success."

"The Dark Knight" is contributing greatly to increased traffic and ticketing on the Web. With nearly 7 million monthly unique visitors, Fandango is seeing an 18% increase in year-over-year traffic to its site, according to Nielsen//NetRatings for June 2008.

About Fandango

One of the Web's top movie and entertainment destinations, Fandango sells tickets to more than 15,000 screens. Fandango entertains and informs consumers with reviews, commentary and trailers, and offers the ability to quickly select a film, plan where and when to see it, and conveniently buy tickets in advance. Fandango is available at http://www.fandango.com, 1-800-FANDANGO and via your wireless mobile device at mobile.fandango.com. Fandango is a unit of Comcast Interactive Media.

SOURCE Fandango