I don’t remember where I first heard about GoFobo, but when I did I went directly to the site to sign up. GoFobo is an online community where movie fans can interact with the movies through advance movie screenings, promotions, contests, sweepstakes and special events. I get to see free movies at the theater by being a registered GoFobo user.
I got to see the movie Where the Wild Things Are last month, compliments of GoFobo. Tomorrow night I’m excited to go see The Blind Side, with Sandra Bullock. These movies are advance screenings shown a few days prior to the opening of the movie. I’ve heard that people got to see the latest Harry Potter and the Star Trek movies for free this past summer through GoFobo.
Once you’re a registered user, GoFobo will send you a notice when a movie screening is coming to your area. You must enter the reservation code you receive at the GoFobo site and then you can print 1 or 2 passes for the movie. Each registered person is allowed to bring a guest. Since each person is only allowed 2 passes, I’d suggest that all adults in your household register so you have enough tickets for your family and maybe even some friends.
On the day of the screening, you will want to show up early to the theater since I believe that GoFobo gives out more passes than there are seats. You may need to stand in line for 1/2 to 1 hour, but it’s worth it to see a movie in a theater for free.
When I went to see the last movie, management asked that no one bring a cell phone into the theater for fear people would use it to film the movie. They told people waiting in line to take their cell phones out to their car. They actually wanded everyone going into the theater to make sure no one brought one in. If you are going to a free screening, contact the theater to verify whether there are any rules about what you can and can’t bring in with you.
Head to GoFobo to register now and find free movie screenings in your area!
Money for stuff 
I saw The Hangover for free/early because of that!
Nam
It’s nice to be one of the first people to see a movie. (I’m usually one of the last because we wait until movies come out on DVD and then wait to get them from Netflix.) It’s also nice to know you didn’t pay for it, especially if it’s a bad movie. 😉
Michele
Hi Michelle,
With free tickets, get there early. Our’s filled up really early and we were out of luck. On the sly the Manager let us see another movie (because we asked nicely).
Thanks for the great advice!
Dorothy
Dorothy,
Thanks for pointing this out. I agree about getting there early. For one you’ll have a better chance of getting in and two you’ll probably get a better seat when you get in. The more popular a movie might be the earlier people will start lining up.
Michele
Shame on GoFoBo.com. My brother and I tried to attend a screening of “A Haunted House” this evening in Hollywood. We got in line at 6 p.m. for a 7:30 p.m. screening. We ended up waiting in line for two whole hours and not once did a GoFoBo staff member or anyone else come tell us that we might not get in to see the film.
At around 8 p.m. those of us left in line started walking toward the theater. The line disintegrated because no staffer was keeping it in order. It wasn’t until all of us in line — and there were literally HUNDREDS of us — entered the theater that someone bothered to tell us that the screening was full.
How can they do that to people? I can understand overbooking a little but GoFoBo.com knowingly gave out HUNDREDS of tickets that were never going to be honored. And hearing them respond that “having a ticket does not guarantee admission” over and over to the hundreds of people asking what happened was not a fair response. They showed only contempt to their audience and made it clear that they really don’t care how they treat them and are only beholden to the studios who hire them to fill screenings.
I have been to screenings run by several other firms in Los Angeles and have never been treated with such contempt before. And this isn’t the first time such a thing has happened with GoFoBo.
I hope every other of the hundreds of people who were also turned away tonight warns their friends about this company’s deceptive and abusive tactics.
Larry,
Sorry to hear about your bad experience with Gofobo. I’ve never been to a Gofobo screening before where they had so many people to turn away. I’ve probably been to at least a 1/2 dozen and I have friends who’ve gone to others and I’ve never heard of a similar problem. I do always make it a point to get to a screening early to be sure I get a seat because I do realize they over book. Here in Rochester I don’t think there’s as big a market. I also wonder if the fact that people can print their own tickets (and maybe multiples) leads to a situation like this. They never seem to check the tickets when they collect them but maybe they do afterwards. Michele
I registered with GOFOBO about a month ago. I haven’t gotten any offers or heard from them since. They sent a thank you for registering email and that’s it. What should I do?
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