Seeing people talk about the 555 phone numbers in movies/TV had me wondering. Should studios buy a few phone numbers to use them in movies/tv shows? Audiences know 555 is a fake number & it does pull them out of the movie for a second.

Maybe buy 3-4 in LA, NYC, and Chicago (since those seem to get the majority of movies set in them). Then just cycle them in movies. If a movie is set in a city other then those, use one from whatever city is closest. The numbers don't even have to be connected to anything. Anyone who calls just gets a ringing phone. I'm sure a studio can afford 12 phone numbers.

No. Waste of money. What's wrong with 555?

Other then the fact that 555 screams fake, nothing. Movies try to make you believe in the story but then just put something in that reminds you it is fake. If it was once or twice, it'd be fine but every one in any movie or TV has a 555 number? At least for me, it takes me out of the movie for a few seconds.


Its the same with the cheap productions that have people drinking "Cola Soda" instead of Coke or Pepsi. Or when kids go to get breakfast & pull out "Corn Chips" instead of a name brand. Just get a damn sponsor. I'm sure Kellogs would allow Fruit Loops to be seen since it might give them a few sales.

Call Turk

I think Kellogg's would prefer to have Froot Loops in the movie.

Heat did it right by making the 7 digit number start with a 1, which doesn't exist in our system because of the way long distance works. And it still sounds like a real number with the whole 555 business.

If 3 5's takes you out of a movie, then I don't think you had much interest to begin with.

People complain about there being product placement in movies though too.

Normally I don't mind, but the repetition of "cinco cinco cinco" in Sin Nombre was a bit too obvious.

Yep. Casino Royale is a fantastic Bond movie. But the Sony advertising really got annoying.

Don't you mean Ford Presents James Bond in Sony's Casino Royale? Yeah that was a little ridiculous.

Doesn't bother me, although I do like it when they give out a real number that leads to something fun, like Tom Cruise's self-help seminar from Magnolia.

I think at this point, hearing a non-555 number in a movie would take me out of the movie more.

If I hear 555-XXXX, I might think for a moment "oh, yeah, movie" and carry on watching the show.

But if I heard a "real" phone number, I'd start thinking, "Did they just use a real phone number? What if that was someone's home phone? No, probably not. I bet if you call it you'd get a promotional message about this movie. Hopefully it's not like the 867-5309 number- hey wouldn't it be funny if someone named Jenny really had that phone number? She'd never know if the caller was really calling for her, or someone who just heard the song on the radio. Nah, anyway, it's probably a promotional number. Maybe they have a funny message if you call it. Maybe I should rewind and write down the number. Oh crap. Maybe a should rewind because I just missed the last 5 minutes of the movie..."

No country for old men:

Didn't Denzel use a real phone number in Deja Vu? I think I remember him using a 504 number which would be New Orleans number.

This.

wouldn't it get annoying hearing the same phone number used in every movie?

I think part of it is how actors pronounce "five five five." It regularly sounds artificial because each "five" is successively longer than its predecessor. A more casual way would be for each "five" to be shorter, moving through the prefix quickly.

And, yeah, it's a movie. The fact that I'm seeing actors I've seen in other roles pretty much shatters any illusion that I'm watching a documentary. They don't even need to mention a phone number for me to realize it.

I've never had a problem with 555 numbers, it usually doesn't bother me one bit.

However, I don't think it would be a bad marketing strategy for studios to buy a couple real numbers to use throughout their films. For instance let's say Universal buys a couple real numbers and when people call it it would be a recording of upcoming Universal movies, upcoming DVDs, Universal merchandise for sale, etc.

I have more of a side note, but its funny so I decided to share. Back it the day when professional wrestlers were allowed to write their own promos and speaking parts they lived for any skit where they could squeeze in a phone number.

My personal favorite was when the performer Al Snow held up a "Lost Dog" poster on TV with the real cell phone number of another wrestler. The poor guy was flooded with calls for weeks.

555s definitely annoy me.

P.T. Anderson's films use non-555 numbers, I believe.

FLASH FACT: Nobody cares about this except for obsessive movie nerds.

Absolutely they should, and it definately pulls me out of the movie whenever I see a 555 number.

Thank you.

I agree. They should start using "Klondike-5" instead.

List of Web sites, IP addresses and e-mail addresses used in TV or Movies.
http://attrition.org/misc/ee/tv_tech