MovieGoer: A Social App for Going to the Movies

Between Netflix recommendations, TV check-in apps and sharing on YouTube and Hulu, there are lots of somewhat social ways to watch movies online or on your DVD player — but maybe not as many for actually going to see a movie in a theater.

A new iPhone app called MovieGoer aims to help people find movies through their friends, go to movies together and submit quick video reviews from their phone.

MovieGoer is the first product from Nettle, a La Jolla, Calif.-based start-up funded by Google Ventures, 500 Startups and Advancit Capital (Shari Redstone’s new early-stage investment firm).

“The theatrical business of movies is booming internationally, and flat in the U.S., but crying out for innovation,” said Nettle CEO Brian Dear in an interview today. He said MovieGoer’s mission is to help people enjoy more movies.

MovieGoer is trying to be both a public and private social network, said Dear, who previously founded Eventful. So users might make plans with their close friends but publish their 15-second mobile video reviews to a larger audience.

Users can also follow movies, cast and crew and other users to get updates about upcoming films. Dear said MovieGoer may make money through analyzing demand and also through offers from studios and theaters.

Another start-up working on similar ideas is called Can’t Wait and was in the last Y Combinator class.