In the beginning, it was beautiful: you could see all the movies you wanted for less than the price of single ticket in major cities. Then things turned sour once you realized the relationship was too good to be true. But still, you stuck it out, hoping things would improve until it became so catastrophically, hilariously awful that a swift breakup was the only viable escape. Now, your ex, a.k.a. MoviePass, wants to get back together, and they promise it will be just like it was in the beginning.
Erase the painful memories of “peak” pricing, last summer’s service outage, that time MoviePass cruelly wouldn’t let you see Mission: Impossible – Fallout, and capped the number of films you could see a month. That’s all in the past babe, because MoviePass has done some deep introspective work and learned from its mistakes. The ticketing subscription service is bringing back the unlimited monthly plan, and according to CEO Ted Farnsworth—mimicking that ex you swore you were done with—“it will be unfettered just like MoviePass was before.”
According to The Wrap, the ticketing service is reviving the infamous subscription deal that nearly led to its demise after the plan was first launched in August of 2017. Soon you can once again get that sweet sweet deal of a-movie-a-day at two different pricing options: either pay a one-time annual fee of $119.40, which breaks down to $9.95 a month, the original plan’s price; or $14.95 month-to-month, the latter being an ideal option for those not ready to dive back into a toxic relationship for a whole year. But be warned, those price points are just a limited time offer.
So what’s different about this plan that won’t cause MoviePass to lose a fuck ton of cash all over again? The details remain vague for now, but apparently there will be no limit on how many 2D movies you can see. When it comes to what movies will be available, that’s, uh, where things could piss people off again. According to Business Insider, the new unlimited plan could place restrictions on subscribers’ title choices, “based on their location, day of movie, time of movie, title, and the individual user’s historical usage.” Same shit, different plan, or has MoviePass really put in the effort at therapy to become a better partner? Only the most optimistic (er, the weakest?) of us will know the answer firsthand.
24 Comments
Hmmmmmmm, no… admiral-ackbar-trap.gif
Meh, I decamped for Cinemark Movie Club long ago.
This is like getting back together with your ex, probably not good for you.
All the intelligent MoviePass users went to A-List and have no need to go back.
The nearest AMC is 30 minutes from me; the nearest Regal is 5 minutes. I love A-List, but I’d go back to Moviepass in a minute if I could see even three movies a week at my Regal. For some people, there’s not an AMC for miles and miles.
A-List is great for those with convenient access to an AMC theater, and useless for those without it.
I’m frankly amazed that Moviepass still exists. I genuinely believed they collapsed at some point. It’s also worth noting that it seems like Moviepass was decades ago, given how much dumb bullshit happened in the past year.
Probably not good to do it again, but TBH, MoviePass was still the better option when it was like this, before the whole thing went off the rails. I tried Cinemia when it had its deal, but didn’t see a single movie while I had it due to it’s confusing system of picking a movie. Finally it cancelled itself when I couldn’t pay the fee one month. And other movie pass plans exclusive to theater chains are it because I love in the sticks and only have Regal Cinemas, which want nothing to do with their own unlimited system. So, I’m willing to roll dice on it if it gets me back to seeing movies again.
It was great while it lasted but the dream is dead. The best thing to come out of it was AMC A-List, which covers like 90 percent of my movie watching and doesn’t have movie times disappear on me constantly.
I’d love to try AMC’s plan, but I hate the AMC where I live. I wish regal would come out with something.
My local AMC is only a few years old and it’s already starting to go to hell. A bunch of times in the past few months the Dolby theater suddenly stopped working. The last time I went the fire alarm went off two times before they shut down the entire theater for the night. But the deal is so good that I’m ok with putting up with it.
That sucks. The AMC by my old house was a mile away and had recently renovated to the reclining chairs and whatnot. Now I’m a 3 block walk to an expensive Regal. So Moviepass was great for me while it worked. Until Regal comes out with something, I’ll just see a couple movies a year at the theater.
You and me both.
A-List is the business model that these services should operate on. There’s no question. I’ve seen two or three movies in IMAX in the last month, one Dolby Cinema screening, and one other regular showing, and I’ve paid about $25 for all of them combined. My fees did go up by two dollars earlier this year, but the movies I’ve seen since the beginning of 2019 would’ve cost me well over $200. I’ve paid about $75 in fees altogether this year, and I still get the benefits of AMC Stubs on top of it. That includes discounts on concessions, $5 coupons about every other month, faster lines, and a few other things I’ve forgotten. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
The difference is, AMC isn’t losing money on their deal. It doesn’t really cost them anything if you sit in their theater and watch a movie they were going to show anyway. And if you buy anything from the concession stand, that’s just gravy. AMC’s only worry was that people who were going to pay them anyway for seeing lots of movies won’t have to, but since most people don’t see more than one or two movies a month, that wasn’t such a big gamble.Moviepass, on the other hand, has to pay someone else for every ticket you buy through them, so they lose money on every transaction. Moviepass just flatout can’t afford a plan like A-List, unless they augment it somehow (and not just by selling user data, which didn’t begin to cover their costs previously). Without theater buy-in, there’s no way Moviepass can continue.
If your business plan includes the words ‘losing money on every transaction’, it’s a bad business plan and you should start over. That’s like setting out to drive cross-country with the idea that you’re going to do all of the driving while locked in the trunk. I agree that AMC has a lot of resources and goodwill with their customer base that MoviePass could’ve never started off with, but come on. You can’t blame AMC for heading MoviePass off at the pass by coming up with a plan within their pre-existing business structure and making it work.Honestly, though, I’m just getting a little tired of people acting like MoviePass is some sort of valiant disruptive hero here. They’re under investigation for fraud for a reason. Although, I’m getting the idea that being investigated for fraud is getting to be some sort of achievement award when it comes to late-stage capitalism. Theranos much? lol
I DON’T blame AMC for coming up with a plan that works. I’m just explaining why Moviepass can’t use the same plan that AMC uses, or, indeed, ANY plan that relies upon them paying a third party for movie tickets. They need theater buy-in to survive, and they’re certainly not going to get it from AMC.
Oh, I know. I was really just referring to other theaters. MP tried to do it from the outside in, and from what I can tell, that’s pretty much impossible. No theater is going to want to cut in some third party like that. MP pretty much tried to bully and intimidate AMC and other theater chains over concessions and whatnot when they first started (disruption, bro!), and they’re reaping the benefits of doing that now. If services like this are going to continue, they’re going to have to come from the theater chains themselves, and I suppose there’s a chance they could morph into a cooperation of several chains down the line. But from some outside newb? Hell no.
Can someone explain their business model to me because I don’t get it?At first I thought it was supposed to be like gym memberships – ie., gyms get a whole bunch of people to sign up for lengthy memberships then hope 95% of them don’t bother showing up but that’s obviously too stupid to be the case as going to the gym is a chore that people try to avoid whereas going to the movies is a fun leisure activity. Then I thought, well, they must be trying to sell user data but, again, that’s too stupid to possibly be the case as the data set of “viewing habits of people who sign up to watch movies for free” can’t possibly have value to anyone.There surely must be some nuance I’m missing. As far as I can tell it would be like if I stood outside of Subway and said “Hey, instead of spending $5 on lunch why don’t you give me your $5 and in exchange I’ll let you use my credit card to buy as much food as you want!” then acting shocked when people buy a ton of food.
They’re addressing the wrong thing. 3 movies per month was plenty, but not being able to actually pick those movies makes the service near-worthless.
I’d disagree that three movies per month was plenty (though for the average person, it would probably be fine), but the biggest problem with Moviepass definitely was – and continues to be – that they decide what movies are available to you.
This sounds something like a movie version of ‘Groupon’. Vendors who participated discovered they weren’t getting the repeat business that was promised and Groupon was taking all of their profits. It turned out to be a losing proposition.
As I understand it, it wasn’t the theaters losing money but MoviePass itself, with no workable plan to stop losing money.
FWIW, the owner/manager of my local indie place told me that they loved MoviePass. It brought in a lot of customers who might not have otherwise known about the theater, and those people usually bought concessions. And even if MP corporate was a mess, the theater still got reimbursed.
MoviePass hates that it has to keep hitting you, but if you’d just listen to MoviePass, it wouldn’t have to. MoviePass will kill itself if you leave. MoviePass is so proud of you for staying with MoviePass, because you were always the strong one. And I hope you know that if you do decide to move out of this ski chalet and leave MoviePass, no one will ever love you like MoviePass does.Why do you keep making MoviePass hurt you?