Demand for tickets to movie premieres spawns black market sales, and four film distributors are cracking down. A New York Post newspaper article says that Disney, NBC/Universal, Sony and Warner Bros. filed a lawsuit against a broker that sells to the general public what are labeled as premiere and Hollywood awards show tickets in VIP packages.
The lawsuit by the major studios alleges that Hollywood Entertainment Group and its proprietor Craig Banaszewski sold premiere tickets to the general public, sometimes for as much as $5,000. Often, the tickets are labeled free or complementary.
“Banaszewski’s and his VIP Concierge site had previously rankled the Grammys and Victoria’s Secret so much that in 2015 they obtained injunctions against the executive and his site,” says the New York Post article by Richard Morgan. “The studios in the present suit seek the same remedy.”
Previously, Banaszewski said in press interviews that he buys the tickets from industry insiders, who presumably got the tickets for free. Freebie tickets and gift bags–called swag–are sought after by the general public.
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