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Given the level of interest MoviePass had around here during its lifetime, lots of Film-Techers should be interested in this documentary. It came out on 5/29 exclusively on "Max," so I can't see it, but I'm just wondering if anyone else has seen it? I'm hoping it will hit Amazon or Netflix later on in its straight-to-video life.
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I have seen it. It did give me a whole new perspective on the company and its origins. The A-Holes that were the "face" of the company were indeed as much A-holes as everyone thought they were. The originators, in particular Stacey Spikes seems like quite the interesting person that actually had a pretty decent idea. The Doc is worth a watch and HBO er MAX is is a service that I subscribe to. I, generally, have liked the HBO products over the years. The other originator of MoviePass was Hamet Watt. As the doc tells...nobody ever hears about those guys...just the blowhards and thieves ) Mitch Lowe and Ted Farnsworth.
That said, I still see a problem with the MoviePass concept...the movie patron becomes THEIR customers...not the theatre's. MoviePass is paying the theatre. The patron is paying MoviePass.
That said, one thing it can do, particularly if you are not AMC with the ability to have your own loyalty program is get people in the habit of going to the movies and not thinking about the ticket price. That part of the concept can work (and did for Movie Pass, in its beginnings). It just depends on the benevolence of Movie Pass to not try and strong-arm the exhibitors with a money/percentage for patrons. As in...we'll send our patrons your way if we get xx% of the ticket price (in the form of a discount...so, if you are charging $10...a MoviePass card gets it at $8.00...that sort of thing). The problem is, I don't see how it wouldn't devolve into that. Part of Movie Pass' problem was money. How do you make money on a system that pays full price to the boxoffice and has the potential of people seeing a lot of movies? They would have to depend on enough people not seeing enough movies to make the Movie Pass profitable for the patron to keep (like a gym membership you don't use). It's a tough business model, I think. However, I'm sure they can figure out the right balance of cost/benefits such that it always tilts in the black even if they don't profit on every patron. -
The business model of large gyms with relatively inexpensive memberships is exactly that. There are large numbers of members that rarely use the facilities. The facilities can't accomodate frequent use by a high percentage of members. The facility size necessary to handle that level of usage would require charging more for the memberships (which would lead to fewer members).Originally posted by Steve Guttag View Post
Since going to a movie is more fun than going to the gym is for most people, a company like Movie Pass can't rely on such low usage.
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