MovieTickets.com joins suit vs. AMC

MovieTickets.com joined a lawsuit Wednesday against one of its founding shareholders, AMC Entertainment, previously filed on behalf of National Amusements and Hollywood Media Corp., the remaining founders of MovieTickets.com, stating that AMC is in breach of a joint venture agreement whereby MovieTickets.com would have exclusive rights to AMC's ticket inventory.Suit, which was filed in Palm Beach County, Florida, Circuit Court, comes the same day that competing online ticketing site, Fandango, announced a circuitwide multi-year deal with AMC.The plaintiffs have requested a jury trial.According to the lawsuit, AMC breached the exclusive terms of the founding companies' joint venture agreement when the exhibitor's demands for greater control and a larger share of MovieTickets.com were not met.Moreover, the suit claims that "AMC used its inside position with MovieTickets.com in order to advance AMC's goals in contravention of its duty of loyalty to the joint venture."MovieTickets.com currently partners with 247 exhibitors in 19 countries, including the U.S. The company's represented screen count totals 19,500, with upwards of 20 million registered users. Contact Andrew Stewart at andrew.stewart@variety.com