Tonight we are scheduled to see a movie. I thought that this would be a good opportunity to research this entertaining activity on the Web.

EVERY movie that comes out these days has a Website. These will usually explain what the movie is about and who is acting in them. They often contain "trailers". These are short movie commercials, used to promote interest in the movie. Often these are shown just before movies are shown in movie theaters. These sites may also contain biographic information, games, pictures, screensavers, etc....

You can find out where a movie is playing on the movie's Website sometimes. There are many other places that are dedicated to this, though. Most local activity guides provide this information (such as CUout.com in Champaign-Urbana). There are also services that specialize in providing location, time, and cost of movies. These sometimes offer to sell tickets online as well.

As I pointed out above, some Websites sell movie tickets online. These are still relatively new businesses and it will be interesting to see how they do. Many theaters don't want to pre-sell their tickets because people will often go to a theater and find that the movie they want to see is sold out. These people tend to see another movie offered at the same theater instead. Theater owners are afraid that if people find that they cannot get into their movie of choice, when they buy online, they may not come at all.