Logo

It Was Likely the Most Well-Known Phone Greeting of the Past Two Decades: ‘Hel-lo! And Welcome to Moviefone!’ Is Ending

Feb 24, 2014  •  Post A Comment

"Mr. Moviefone is hanging up," blares a sad headline from The New York Times.

The story says, "For 25 years, residents of America’s biggest cities have been able to call 777-FILM to receive movie listing information and buy tickets. The service’s goofily booming greeting became a cultural catchphrase: ‘Hello, and welcome to Moviefone!’"

The story continues, saying that if you call Moviefone today you get a new recording: " ‘The 777-FILM numbers will no longer be in service in the near future,’ intones a man with a voice decidedly scrawnier in timbre than Mr. Moviefone’s. ‘To buy tickets and for all of your showtime information please download the free Moviefone app on your smartphone or iPad.’ Russ Leatherman, a founder of Moviefone who provided the famous greeting, left the company last November."

The article adds that the Moviefone phone service "will be disconnected in about a month, before a planned reintroduction of the Moviefone brand by AOL and BermanBraun, a web and television company."

In a classic bit, the sitcom "Seinfeld" once parodied Moviefone:

:

Your Comment

Email (will not be published)