Movie Pass Is Back

[Martin McCaffery]

Place your bets...
https://variety.com/2022/film/news/m...b3059023f76675

MoviePass Sets Late Summer Relaunch With Tiered Prices — and a Waitlist

Rebecca Rubin
Aug 22, 2022 7:45am PTAP

MoviePass, the beleaguered moviegoing subscription service that collapsed in spectacular fashion, is returning at the end of the summer.

The subsidized ticketing subscription service will relaunch in beta form on Labor Day, though potential users will have to first join a waitlist. Starting on Thursday at 9 a.m. ET, MoviePass will allow customers to sign up on its website for a standby list, which will be open for five days. Anyone who makes the cut will be notified on Sept. 5.

MoviePass co-founder Stacy Spikes announced in November 2021 that he bought the company back after its parent company Helios and Matheson Analytics went bankrupt. In a press conference last February touting the return of MoviePass, Spikes gave few details other than teasing a monthly credit system — a la the fitness-based ClassPass — to watch movies on the big screen.

As first reported by Business Insider, prices will vary based on the customer’s ZIP code — and general tiers will be $10, $20 or $30 a month. Each option will give the user a number of credits each month. However, MoviePass has not specified the amount of credits that come with each plan, nor the number of credits required to reserve a movie ticket.

There are plenty more unanswered questions. Will first-run movies be included? (In the final days of MoviePass 1.0, users weren’t permitted to get tickets to new blockbusters.) And which theaters will be participating? MoviePass says it has partnered with 25% of movie theaters in the U.S., but it’s unclear if that includes major chains like AMC Theatres or Regal Cinemas.

“More details will be shared later,” a spokesperson for MoviePass told Variety.

The company did, however, reveal the new card will be black. The now-defunct piece of plastic that used to get film buffs at least one movie ticket per day was red.

It’s been a bumpy road, one with high highs and low lows, for MoviePass. The company shot to notoriety in 2017 by offering customers in any city the option to see one movie each day for $9.99 a month. The too-good-to-be-sustainable price point proved to be economically ruinous, and eventually in early 2020, Helios and Matheson Analytics, which owned MoviePass, filed for bankruptcy after running out of cash.

Still, MoviePass’s idea to offer cinephiles the option to watch an endless number of movies on the big screen proved to be something of a trailblazer. In the wake of MoviePass’s initial demise, theater chains like AMC Theatres, Regal and Cinemark launched their own rival subscription plans.

MoviePass, in its earlier iteration, will eventually be memorialized with a documentary series, executive produced by Mark Wahlberg, chronicling the rise and fall of the ill-fated company.

[Marcel Birgelen]

They should've hired Roland Emmerich as king of the disaster movie as directory for the documentary series. He could also already be signed up for the sequel, a reboot of "The Never Ending Story"...

[Armand Daiguillon]

This is something that could be very important for independent theaters.
I started at AMC way way way back when and now have two of my own theaters, I still have contact with people at AMC and even some Regal. These GM's in my area tell me that 50-60% of their attendance is driven by their subscription services. Let me repeat that 50-60% . A program like this is something we independents STRONGLY need if we ever want to be competitive. However a program like this needs a LARGE subscription base to work or it goes bust. I strongly urge everybody to sign up for your theater to participate.
Here is the form from their website .. here.
If that link doesn't work, just go to their website and click on "contact" tab.
So far it seems there is nothing to lose by trying.

[David Ferguson]

Spikes gave few details other than teasing a monthly credit system ... There are plenty more unanswered questions. ... More details will be shared later

The company did, however, reveal the new card will be black

I'm glad they're sharing the important details.

[Frank Cox]

A program like this is something we independents STRONGLY need if we ever want to be competitive.

The truth of that statement depends entirely on your location and local market.

If you're in a competitive situation with two multiplexes within five miles of your theatre, then some kind of a subscription service might be worth considering just to give people a extra reason to walk in your door rather than the other guy's.

But if you're in a location where there are no other theatres anywhere near you for miles in any direction, then as far as I can see the only thing you would be accomplishing is to give away money.

When I opened my theatre I had "sheep night" every Thursday. (I have a little sheep that I put on the ticket counter. It's a cute gimmick and everyone thought it was great.)

On sheep night everyone got in for the child admission price. After a decade or so I realized that sheep night didn't make any difference in terms of the attendance; people who were coming to the movie were coming anyway, and a lot of non-regular customers were surprised when they got change back on sheep night. All I was accomplishing was giving away money.

So I stopped doing sheep night. I had a few of my regular customers ask what happened to the sheep, but it made exactly zero difference to my attendance.

[Jim Cassedy]

I'mBack.jpg

[Armand Daiguillon]

The truth of that statement depends entirely on your location and local market.

If you're in a competitive situation with two multiplexes within five miles of your theatre, then some kind of a subscription service might be worth considering just to give people a extra reason to walk in your door rather than the other guy's.

But if you're in a location where there are no other theatres anywhere near you for miles in any direction, then as far as I can see the only thing you would be accomplishing is to give away money.

When I opened my theatre I had "sheep night" every Thursday. (I have a little sheep that I put on the ticket counter. It's a cute gimmick and everyone thought it was great.)

On sheep night everyone got in for the child admission price. After a decade or so I realized that sheep night didn't make any difference in terms of the attendance; people who were coming to the movie were coming anyway, and a lot of non-regular customers were surprised when they got change back on sheep night. All I was accomplishing was giving away money.

So I stopped doing sheep night. I had a few of my regular customers ask what happened to the sheep, but it made exactly zero difference to my attendance.

If you are in a non-competitive zone that's different ..... but for the rest, it can be very important to be on a level playing field with your competitors.

[Mike Blakesley]

All I was accomplishing was giving away money.

We had the same thing, except without the sheep. Ours was just "discount night." Most people were surprised that the price was lower, so after several years we just stopped it. No complaints at all.

MoviePass might make sense in a competitive situation or a multiplex with a large number of screens, but for smaller places it's a non-starter. Even in a multiplex, how many new movies does the average person want to see in a month? Of course there are going to be people who want to go to everything, but I think the majority of film fans have a couple or three titles a month they want to see, if that...so they'd probably about break even, so why bother with MoviePass? It sounds like its going to be much more complicated this time than it was before, too. It'll be fun, sort of, to see what happens this time. Could lead to some funny memes, too.

[Armand Daiguillon]

We had the same thing, except without the sheep. Ours was just "discount night." Most people were surprised that the price was lower, so after several years we just stopped it. No complaints at all.

MoviePass might make sense in a competitive situation or a multiplex with a large number of screens, but for smaller places it's a non-starter. Even in a multiplex, how many new movies does the average person want to see in a month? Of course there are going to be people who want to go to everything, but I think the majority of film fans have a couple or three titles a month they want to see, if that...so they'd probably about break even, so why bother with MoviePass? It sounds like its going to be much more complicated this time than it was before, too. It'll be fun, sort of, to see what happens this time. Could lead to some funny memes, too.

What you are saying is true of all these services, like AMC A-list and Regal Unlimited ......these rely on people subscribing and then not going as much as they think they will.
But you can't really argue that these types of things work and bring people in ... they just do, its undeniable - thats why all the big companies have these programs. But to succeed it needs a large pool of people, because you will have those that see EVERY movie and those are offset by those who don't use it as much as they think they will. (like gym memberships...)
it does drive attendance to the theater - this is just a fact. Like I said AMC and Regal get sometimes over 50% of all their ticket sales from these types of programs. Its something independants have never had a way to compete with. I hope as many independants sign up as possible - get with the times people !!!

[Steve Guttag]

It remains a bad idea for independents. You change the dynamic. Your customers cease to be your customers and they become MP's customers. You are then replaced with a single MP customer that can put the screws to you or divert the business to a different theatre that "pays up." A system like this works at major chains because their customers remain their customers and it also gets a degree of commitment from their customers. That is not the dynamic for MP. It will hold the cards on who goes to your theatre and they won't do it for free.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

There is an article about it and a Video on CNN today. You can find it here... https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/24/media...nch/index.html

[Marcel Birgelen]

I simply can't see this working for any independent single, twin or even tripple screen theater operating in a fairly isolated market. As being indicated before, those models are all based on the "Gym model", where many people pay subscription for services they eventually don't use. MoviePass didn't even manage to survive the first wave, where every subscriber still visits the gym at least twice a week...

A small independent simply can't offer sufficient content for such a subscription to be worthwhile to anybody.

Given the fact that multiplexes are already struggling to fill their screens with new movies, I don't really see the added value for such a subscription service either. Also, why should a movie theater be enticed to give yet another chunk of their already thin margin towards a third party? Even worse, like Steve pointed out, they're not even your customers anymore, as MoviePass is now your customer and if they actually manage to survive this time, the time they'll start screwing you over will come, just like with all those food delivery outlets out there.

Also, all major chains offer their own subscription services by now, often offering extra perks. I don't see any market for this "service".

[Martin McCaffery]

The one way MoviePass worked for us is we have a two tier ticket structure: Member and NonMember (we're a non-profit, single screen). NonMember Tix are $2 more than Member Tix. Anyone using a MoviePass was charged at the NonMember rate. NonMembers didn't know, Members didn't care, it was all make believe money to them. And it is not like it was a whole lot of money to us. After sales taxes and distributor percentage there's really not enough left of $2 to worry about.

[Armand Daiguillon]

I simply can't see this working for any independent single, twin or even tripple screen theater operating in a fairly isolated market. As being indicated before, those models are all based on the "Gym model", where many people pay subscription for services they eventually don't use. MoviePass didn't even manage to survive the first wave, where every subscriber still visits the gym at least twice a week...

A small independent simply can't offer sufficient content for such a subscription to be worthwhile to anybody.

Given the fact that multiplexes are already struggling to fill their screens with new movies, I don't really see the added value for such a subscription service either. Also, why should a movie theater be enticed to give yet another chunk of their already thin margin towards a third party? Even worse, like Steve pointed out, they're not even your customers anymore, as MoviePass is now your customer and if they actually manage to survive this time, the time they'll start screwing you over will come, just like with all those food delivery outlets out there.

Also, all major chains offer their own subscription services by now, often offering extra perks. I don't see any market for this "service".

Well.....first i'd say that its not for a small independent with no competitors.(although they could benefit some) Its for any independents who DO have competitors.
As to what the added value is ... it gives customers the flexibility to not always be tied to AMC or Regal - they can do either or another altogether.
And as to no market .....there's a huge market, thats why everybody has these types of programs. My customers ask for it all the time, but it's obviously something I couldn't do just by myself.
And ...it does not in any way cost us anything more. If anything it costs us LESS - like AMC and Regal do with their similar programs, these tickets are rung in at a reduced rate - so film rent paid on these is less.
And yes ...the film cos are aware and its fine.
More people in equals more money spent at concession. Add in a lower film rent .....there is nothing bad here.

[Mike Blakesley]

it does not in any way cost us anything more. If anything it costs us LESS - like AMC and Regal do with their similar programs, these tickets are rung in at a reduced rate - so film rent paid on these is less.

Umm, if you're selling tickets at a reduced rate then you're also making less profit on those tickets.

All this debate is putting the cart before the horse anyway. No terms between MP and its "partner" theaters have been announced, have they? They've got to do SOMETHING different than they did before, because the deal they had then was unsustainable. There's NO WAY they can just unilaterally reduce the price charged without somebody, somewhere having to pick up the slack. You know MoviePass isn't going to want to operate at a loss this time.

We're only one screen here so there's no reason for us to ever embrace it -- but I remain a skeptic. After all that's happened, it's probable that anybody who gets into bed with MoviePass runs the risk of losing their nightshirt.