Failed Unlimited Movie Ticket Service MoviePass Relaunching in September

[Reason077]

I haven't gone to one since 2010'ish. I'd rather watch at home. Way more comfy, and better food.

You’d probably find the comfort level in many cinemas has improved vastly since 2010. Now days they have comfy armchair-like seats that fully recline, little fold-out tables to put your food and drinks on, etc.

The food is generally still poor and overpriced, however there are exceptions. One cinema I go to delivers proper, chef-cooked meals (and beer & wine of course!) right to your seat during the film - just order whenever you like through the app. And it barely costs more than a large popcorn & drink combo at some cinemas!

 

[Reason077]

Their problem was they took a great business plan for a money laundering operation and forgot to make the important connection to the unsavory types who needed money laundered.

Any good money laundering operation relies on cash payments being a plausible part of the sales process. I doubt anyone was paying for their MoviePass subscription with cash?

 

[Reason077]

We go to our local Dolby Theater when there’s something new we want to see. With Dolby Vision, Atmos, and seat rumblers it can be breathtaking. There’s just 2 of us, so $50 all in… and it’s only a few times each year.

Got to agree, the Dolby cinemas are incredible. As are the best IMAX screens. I don't care what anyone says about their insanely expensive home cinema setup - there's no comparison!

 

[Reason077]

I believe there's a formula for success in the home release format, but what it could be, I dont know.

Disney+ alone brought in $5.2 billion in 2021, only a couple of years after starting it, so it seems like they've found it.

And Netflix brought in nearly $30 billion. Admittedly those are primarily subscription-based, but I'll bet Amazon, Apple, etc like make huge money of digital rentals too.

 

[diggy33]

Disney+ alone brought in $5.2 billion in 2021, only a couple of years after starting it, so it seems like they've found it.

And Netflix brought in nearly $30 billion. Admittedly those are primarily subscription-based, but I'll bet Amazon, Apple, etc like make huge money of digital rentals too.

I was speaking more about the theatricsl releases, not the streaming services. Same day its released in theaters, the option to purchase and view at home is also available. That was a model I thought would take off.

 

[Martinpa]

I mean, I had a jolly ol’ time paying $9.99 a month and going to see a movie everyday while it lasted the first time around. If my situation was the same as it was back in 2017, I’d see what they have to offer.

 

[bbeagle]

If only MoviePass could have stuck around until March 2020, when all the movie theaters closed. Then they'd be able to keep taking out monthly payments and not offer their product - like many gyms did. They lost a great opportunity.

 

[saudor]

The most interesting and concerning aspect of their new business plan is that you'll apparently be able to earn extra credits by watching ads, and the MoviePass software will monitors your eyes with the camera to make sure you are watching the ad. If you look away, the ad will stop. Even if you don't have to use this feature, I'm sure it'll alarm many people that the feature exists at all.

sounds like a page out of black mirror! (15M merits)

 

[Lord Hamsa]

"Proven losers"?? The fact that they spent all of the investors' money GIVING unlimited movie tickets to consumers was great! The fact that it was too good to be true is WHY they were "losers" in business. But it is also why it was the deal of the century for members. I would love to do business with companies that LOSE money instead of MAKING money - that means they are giving me more value than they are charging for. So why, exactly, would you rather deal with a company that is making money off of you than one that is losing money by giving you too much?

Yeah, which means all they'll do is fail again.

I remember MoviePass, and it started out great but by the end it was next to impossible to use at my local theaters, no new releases, no upgraded showings (Dolby/IMAX/3D).

With my current plan, I can see 3 movies a week (I've only managed to see 3 in a single week once), new releases are available as are premium offerings (Dolby, IMAX, Prime, etc.) for no extra charges, plus I get extra perks in the rewards programs. I find it highly unlikely that MoviePass 2.0 will offer me nearly as much for the same price points.

That said, without MoviePass, I doubt the big chains would ever have moved to a subscription model.

Now, if only AMC and Fathom could work out a deal...

 

[surfzen21]

Any good money laundering operation relies on cash payments being a plausible part of the sales process. I doubt anyone was paying for their MoviePass subscription with cash?

1980s mentality.

 

[theluggage]

It is not clear how MoviePass will survive this time around nor what the service will be able to offer that's not already available from other theaters. Companies like Alamo Drafthouse, Cinemark, Showcase, Showplace ICON, Regal, and AMC all offer subscription-based movie passes.

...and, of course, those companies are mostly competing with each other to show the same films (and sell overpriced popcorn to the audiences) so they get a "lock in" benefit from offering their own subscription services. I don't see why they'd offer a comparable deal via a 3rd party start-up that could be used at their competitors.

I think, to work, they'd have to start with some sort of established business - something like a credit card company (in the UK there was a scheme run by a mobile phone network*, then sold on to a price comparison site...) - so they've got a customer base to "sell" to the cinemas/film companies and a promotional tool for their original business.

(*which did at least give us the best 'please turn off your phone' PSAs, ever!)

 

[theluggage]

I'm TRYING SO HARD to find an Apple angle to this article... but nope

Apple make/distribute movies now...

 

[compwiz1202]

I would get it if it was as follows:

Unlimited access to the cinema, any category or time/date - 3D, premium whatever, all included and allowed.

For the price of 2 premium session tickets at max.

This way they guarantee 2 tickets a month from everyone that subscribes.
And if a person really loves going to the movies, they get the benefit.

That's AMC A-List except only 3/week, but that is plenty for us. And it's $22 and IMAX are easily over half that.

 

[compwiz1202]

Got to agree, the Dolby cinemas are incredible. As are the best IMAX screens. I don't care what anyone says about their insanely expensive home cinema setup - there's no comparison!

And I love that they have disconnected IMAX from 3D. My wife can't do 3D so now we can goto IMAX

 

[iksnirks]

why? almost every theatre company has their own version of it, and I figured my own great alternative. $5 tuesdays after work or saturday morning matinees with a coffee.

 

[Reason077]

why? almost every theatre company has their own version of it, and I figured my own great alternative. $5 tuesdays after work or saturday morning matinees with a coffee.

I guess the big advantage of MoviePass was that you could go to any cinema chain. Not every film plays in every cinema so if you want to see more obscure titles you're sometimes out of luck if you're tied to a particular chain.

 

[compwiz1202]

If only MoviePass could have stuck around until March 2020, when all the movie theaters closed. Then they'd be able to keep taking out monthly payments and not offer their product - like many gyms did. They lost a great opportunity.

So shady to do that garbage. AMC at least suspended and finally had a way to cancel in the app once theaters were reopening

 

[ggibson913]

No thanks, I loved when I could just sit at home and stream new releases.

 

[rafark]

who goes to the theaters anymore?

Wdym? Half a billion tickets were sold last year.

 

[CarlJ]

I was speaking more about the theatricsl releases, not the streaming services. Same day its released in theaters, the option to purchase and view at home is also available. That was a model I thought would take off.

The problem is, the theaters are highly resistant to the idea of day-of home releases. It destroys their window of exclusivity, which hurts their business a lot. The studios can't just say, "oh, by the way, we're going to do day-of home release as well as putting it in theaters", because the theaters will threaten to not show the movies at all in retaliation - it's sort of a "mutually assured destruction" argument, but it will (and does) happen. I seem to recall there was some of that threatened during the pandemic.

Currently, for something like Marvel movies, if I want to watch it at home (I'm not willing to go back into theaters yet), I have to wait 45ish days before Disney+ releases it on streaming, "for free" (that is, included at no extra charge if you have Disney+). I would cheerfully pay them $30-50 to watch it at home the same day it goes into theaters (they did something similar for a few movies during the height of the pandemic), but the power dynamics between the studios and the theaters isn't going to let that happen.

 

[diggy33]

The problem is, the theaters are highly resistant to the idea of day-of home releases. It destroys their window of exclusivity, which hurts their business a lot. The studios can't just say, "oh, by the way, we're going to do day-of home release as well as putting it in theaters", because the theaters will threaten to not show the movies at all in retaliation - it's sort of a "mutually assured destruction" argument, but it will (and does) happen. I seem to recall there was some of that threatened during the pandemic.

Currently, for something like Marvel movies, if I want to watch it at home (I'm not willing to go back into theaters yet), I have to wait 45ish days before Disney+ releases it on streaming, "for free" (that is, included at no extra charge if you have Disney+). I would cheerfully pay them $30-50 to watch it at home the same day it goes into theaters (they did something similar for a few movies during the height of the pandemic), but the power dynamics between the studios and the theaters isn't going to let that happen.

Yeah, I know (just didnt want to get into all that). Eventually something is going to give.

 

[visualseed]

Do they have a better business plan besides "Buy tickets for $20 and sell them for $10" this time?

The math never checked out. They were buying tickets at full price and selling them for less than they paid. Thus they were losing $40,000,000 every month.

I can kinda see what they were trying to do with selling data. But it didn't work then.

And with the state of the theater industry today... I can't see it working now either.

Plus most of the big theater chains are now doing their own subscription services. It's definitely a different world today.

I don't blame the investors who poured money into MoviePass the first time.

But you'd have to be an idiot to invest in them now.

🤣

What they were hoping for was an oversubscription ratio that would allow them to collect subscription fees from casual movie-goers that rarely used the service to more than offset those did as well as some add-on services that really never materialized. In reality, the service only appealed (and made economic sense) to those that saw a lot of moves and would use it often. This was never going to be a viable business model without coooperation from the cinema chains. Ironically, with many of them now facing bankruptcy themselves, they may launch similar services on their own as a way to book revenue during the movie release slumps and low turn-outs that look to extend for a few years.

 

[wanha]

Apple make/distribute movies now...

Nice one, although I don't believe this was mentioned in the article