Today, the once-iconic movie-hotline-turned-web-and-mobile-service celebrates its 20th birthday. Parent company AOL is commemorating the day with a relaunch of the Moviefone.com site and new mobile applications that focus on Facebook integration, better movie recommendations, and improved access to show times and tickets.
The relaunch of the website and the enhanced mobile applications may not be enough to reclaim the movie throne (Moviefone was once such a staple of pop culture that it became a hilarious plot device in a Seinfeld episode), but it's a step in the right direction. Of course, AOL is not relying on the relaunch alone to attract moviegoer attention. As part of the 20th birthday celebration, Moviefone is also giving away 20,000 free film tickets in 20 days; one lucky winner will even get free tickets for life.