SAN FRANCISCO — Diana Noble, a 32-year-old insurance underwriter and self-described movie freak from Cleveland, joined Flixster.com to make friends with other movie buffs.
That's where Nick Montalbano, a 37-year-old Ford salesman and fellow horror film fan from Toledo, Ohio, fell for her while reading her reviews of such classics as "House of 1,000 Corpses." Less than a year later, he proposed on bended knee during a preview for "You Don't Mess With the Zohan."
Such is the special effect Flixster Inc. has on its users, who have collectively created 2 billion movie ratings, 100 million reviews and 1 million trivia quizzes on the social networking website.
The San Francisco start-up sent Noble and Montalbano fleece zip-up sweatshirts with corporate logos as an engagement gift.
Their movie-themed wedding in May will feature an old-fashioned popcorn maker, tables named after such favorites as "Shaun of the Dead" and a cake topped with a clapboard. Noble and Montalbano hope to splatter another cake, for the groomsmen, with enough fake blood to celebrate their love of gore -- but not enough to offend her pastor.
"We are definitely a match made in movie heaven," Noble said.
It's unclear whether Flixster will get its own Hollywood ending.
As long as online advertising was booming and marketers were drooling over young, spendy consumers, social networking sites were all the rage. But with the economic trough deepening and competition growing, these sites are scrambling to turn their large audiences into megabucks.
This year is shaping up as a make-or-break one for many. It's that classic Silicon Valley cliffhanger -- some sought-after start-ups are bought or go public; others end up in the dot-com dustbin.
Several large companies, including Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp, flirted with buying Flixster a year ago but weren't willing to pay the asking price. So it's looking to break out as an indie hit. The company has raised nearly $8 million from angel investors and venture capitalists and plans to be profitable by the second quarter.
"Flixster certainly seems well-positioned as long as they can continue to innovate," said Doug Neil, senior vice president of digital marketing for Universal Pictures, which has promoted movies on the site.
The premise is simple. People often trust recommendations from their friends, family or colleagues over those of critics. So why not create a network for movie fans to share their ratings and reviews?
