Movie ticketing startup hopes to fill empty seats

How can theaters fill just 1 percent of that inventory, resulting in hundreds of millions (if not billions) of dollars in added box office and concessions revenue?

Atom, a movie ticketing app and website, has made solving that puzzle its mission — and, as it seeks to increase its user base over the busy holiday film season, it has secured backing from three Hollywood heavyweights:

Atom, incubated by Lions Gate Entertainment, where the vice chairman, Michael Burns, has been a crucial supporter, makes it easy for groups of people — particularly those glued to their smartphones — to plan film outings.

Fandango, known for its playful marketing campaigns, has been the longtime leader in online movie ticketing and continues to grow, in part by embedding its ticket-selling technology into Facebook and Snapchat feeds.

Part of Atom’s appeal involves its polished app, which allows users to quickly spin through a wheel of movie posters representing current and coming releases.

Using “predictive analytics” — jargon for a Netflix-style recommendation system — Atom suggests movie tickets based on previous orders and information gleaned from linked social network accounts.

“The market needed shaking up,” said Matthew Bakal, Atom’s chairman, noting that even Universal Pictures, a corporate cousin to Fandango, recently contacted Atom to discuss a potential promotional partnership.

Atom, which has $60 million in funding from Lions Gate, 20th Century Fox and Disney, also learns which theaters users tend to frequent and with whom, allowing people to easily extend digital invitations to friends and family members for future group outings.

Because Atom facilitates payment splitting among multiple people, “one poor goat isn’t stuck buying tickets for everyone,” as Paleja put it.

Starting the week of Nov. 27, anyone using Atom to buy tickets to “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” set for release by Disney on Dec. 16, could also buy exclusive products tied to the film, including sweatshirts and T-shirts.