Moviefone Has Gone Bankrupt And Is Being Run By Only 1 Employee

Variety- Is there a future for Moviefone? The relic of the high-flying dot-com days is in limbo, essentially running on life support after the movie listing and news site’s parent company, Helios and Matheson Analytics, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy last month. Helios and Matheson went belly-up after accruing unsustainable losses from MoviePass, the now-defunct theater subscription service. 

Nearly all of Moviefone employees were laid off at the end of January after Helios and Matheson’s Chapter 7 filing. However, the site still has one staffer left to keep the lights on (who, for the record, is not “Seinfeld’s” Cosmo Kramer): Moviefone general manager Matt Atchity tells Variety he’s been retained by the trustee overseeing Helios and Matheson’s liquidation to keep Moviefone running pending a sale of the property.

First of all, I had to include the gif of Kramer even though that joke has likely been made a zillion times since this news broke because of the code I've taken as a blogger to make sure I hit the most obvious joke. I also realize that more readers than I'd like to know never watched Seinfeld or have any clue that fossils like me actually used to call a phone number to get movie times. I bet people are imagining me calling from a house phone in black and white because that scenario seems old as fuck. But it was all too real because Moviefone was by far the most convenient way to get movie times if you didn't want to look them up in the newspaper. You know what? I'm going to stop talking because mentioning newspapers has officially made me an Old.

Nonetheless, finding out Moviefone is on life support because of those damn millennials and that upstart thing known as "The Internet" is sad for an old asshole like me. I almost would take back the gaggle of movies I saw for pretty much free using MoviePass if I knew I was killing Moviefone at the same time. Okay, that's not true because using MoviePass gave a pussy like me the thrill that I felt like I was stealing without actually stealing. But I am still bummed that Moviefone may die and join nostalgia heaven before likely being rebooted in 10 years to cash in on nostalgic idiots like me.

You know who I don't feel bad for? Matt Atchity. Sure he is the general manager of a dying company. But being the only guy in your office is a dream that every cube monkey has dreamt at some point of their lives. You can show up whenever you want wearing whatever you want before going home whenever you want and cashing a paycheck. Not the worst fate in the world for a guy that gets to put the title of General Manager in his LinkedIn profile. 

Obligatory Seinfeld clips for the fellow Olds as well as younger people with fine comedic tastes that can appreciate the thought of someone having the number 777-FLIM.