Who subscribes to MoviePass?

[Doctor Q]

MoviePass is a subscription service in the U.S. For $9.95/month, you can watch one movie per day in a movie theater of your choice, as long as the theater participates in the MoviePass program. Many individual and chain theaters do, but some don't.

I signed up to give it a try, and have certainly gotten my money's worth in the first months, especially because movie ticket prices are higher here in Los Angeles than the U.S. average ticket price.

MoviePass works in an interesting way. They send you a debit card when you sign up. Then you follow 3 steps when you want to see a movie:

1. Go to the theater box office.
2. Use the MoviePass app (iOS or Android) to select a movie. That causes the price of the ticket to be transferred to your debit card.
3. Buy the ticket with the debit card. If you don't, the money disappears after a while.

Overall, I'm glad I subscribed, despite a few drawbacks to the system.

Do you subscribe to MoviePass or are you considering it? What's your experience been like?

 

[RedKite]

I’m not into movies enough to join something like that. Seems like a neat thing to gift out though.

 

[eyeseeyou]

I love watching movies. Would be cool, and maybe good for business, if movie theaters included sports events.

 

[v0lume4]

It almost seems like there is something wrong. Like, it shouldn't be that cheap. One movie ticket for me at a Regal theater is $12. So you're telling me that for $10 per month, I can see as many movies as I want? Is it really that simple?

 

[Doctor Q]

It seems too good to be true, but it actually works. I saw a few movies this month and paid for them all with my MoviePass card. I paid for nothing except parking and popcorn and the $9.95 for my monthly subscription. That saved me a lot of money! And the more movies I see, the more money I've saved.

Apparently, they make their money through "kickback" deals with theaters, who give them a cut of the box-office take. MoviePass is currently feuding with AMC about this. An employee at another theater chain told me that they've seen an uptick in business based on MoviePass. Perhaps MoviePass is the disruptive agent that will change movie-going, as Uber did to taxi-riding.

The downsides of using MoviePass are tolerable, at least for me:

It takes many weeks to get your debit card after you sign up.

Not all theaters participate.

You can see only one movie (for free) per calendar day.

MoviePass works only for regular movies, not 3D or IMAX showings.

You can't buy tickets and reserve seats in advance. You have to be at the theater to buy your ticket. If no good seats are left, you have to pick a different movie or not see a movie at all. To avoid that, I go to the theater a little earlier than I otherwise would.

Exception: A few theaters (not in my area) support MoviePass advance e-ticket purchases, which you can do through the app.
​

If you go with a date or a group, you have to buy one ticket at a time because you have to pay with one debit card at a time. MoviePass says they might create a "couples" system, but so far they haven't. Sometimes the box office staff knows about MoviePass and lets us buy two tickets, pick two seats, and hand them two MoviePass debit cards, but otherwise each person in our group has to take a turn buying their own ticket.

Their terms and conditions are very picky. No sharing cards. No seeing a different movie than you indicated. No buying a ticket and skipping the movie (e.g., to build up theater-membership points). They presumably won't know if you are doing these things (are they tracking my GPS?), but they can revoke your card for such infractions. And if you cancel your subscription they say you can't re-subscribe for 9 months.​

Upsides:

Lots of theaters are in the program.

If a theater is in the program, you can choose any of the movies they are showing (except 3D and IMAX).

The app shows you local participating theaters, their locations, what's playing, and the show times.

Once you find the movie you want to see using the app, it's one tap to buy your ticket (i.e., fund your debit card).

It's hard to beat the chance to go to a free first-run movie any day you like!​

A couple of other downsides that you can't blame on MoviePass: If you see multiple movies in a given week, you might have to sit through the same trailers over and over. And you might get fat or poor from too much movie candy!

 

[mobilehaathi]

Even with a generous view, I’m not sure I’ve had more than 5 movies a year tickle even the slightest interest. And even then I don’t bother to see most of them: I probably average less than 1 movie per year at the theater.

Not worth it for me!

 

[eyeseeyou]

Even with a generous view, I’m not sure I’ve had more than 5 movies a year tickle even the slightest interest. And even then I don’t bother to see most of them: I probably average less than 1 movie per year at the theater.

Not worth it for me!

That’s why they should add sports events or even awards shows or just special showings of retro movies.

 

[0388631]

I'm not at all surprised there isn't some type of family plan. But as @mobilehaathi said, I can't even remember the last time there was more than a movie or two I really wanted to see. There's always Prima if you've got cash to burn or don't like being around strangers.

 

[mobilehaathi]

That’s why they should add sports events or even awards shows or just special showings of retro movies.

Well, sports and awards shows wouldn’t do much for me, but I could imagine that it would increase the popularity of the scheme. Old movies wouldn’t be terrible to see on a big screen, but I’m uncertain how much I’d realistically utilize the pass.

 

[Doctor Q]

I tend to see the most movies in November/December, when many Oscar contenders are released, or in January, after Oscar nominations are announced. Then I get lazy and watch most movies at home.

But when I'm not paying by the movie, I might lower my standards and go to more movies (not always the top rated ones) the rest of the year. We'll see.

 

[0388631]

when many Oscar contenders are released,

Aren't those typically referred to as Oscars bait?

 

[D.T.]

Saw this article, thought of this thread Maybe there's a tip or two that winds up being helpful for @Doctor Q:

https://lifehacker.com/the-moviepass-tips-you-need-to-know-1822731444

 

[Mlrollin91]

I subscribed to MoviePass and "cancelled" within a month. This is still extremely fresh from this weekend so bear with my rant, but it is a warning to all. (You will see why cancelled is in quotes later)

Got my card 2 weeks ago, my first one was lost in the mail and did not arrive. After 3 weeks of waiting I emailed them and after 1 week got a response. They sent out my new card. Mind you, I had already been charged the $9.95.

Fast forward to this week. I used the card last week, no issues. I thought okay, took a while but this is definitely worth it.
Well everything changed Saturday. I go to my local theater that takes MoviePass (15 minute drive from my house). I arrive 45 minutes before the movie, check in on the app and get in line to purchase the ticket. Card is declined. I re-check in and try again. Card declined.

At this point I'm a little irritated, but I get out of line and message support in-app chat like it tells me to. The FAQ clearly states you much reach out to support before purchasing a ticket and getting a refund if your card does not work. I wait for 20 minutes, no response. I email them, tweet them, nothing. A little more angry at this point, I go home. So now I am out almost 2 hours including driving time. I get home and check my email, twitter and in-app chat - no response.

I find a backdoor phone number to reach support. I am on hold for 2 hours before someone answers. No I am out 4 hours. The person was extremely rude, unapologetic and honestly did not care. She looks at my account and says everything should be fine now, they were having an app outage earlier in the day. I said maybe CS should have tweeted about the issue to let people know. She said, oh that would be smart, we probably didnt think of that. Great. 4.5 hours wasted. She told me that they would have reimbursed me for my purchased ticket, but because I didnt buy one I dont get anything. Well I followed the directions. It explicitly states that if you purchase a ticket without CS approval first, it will not be refunded. So I follow the instructions, miss my movie and I'm out.

4 hours later, I head back to the theater, get in line, re-check in and go through the process again. Guess what? Card declined. I was assured by support it would work, but alas, no. I call back the phone number to find out they are closed. They close at 4PM PDT on a Saturday. Wonderful. In-app chat till has not responded, I tweeted MoviePassCS three times over the course of 8 hours to not get a response. Their customer service is absolutely horrid. If you have ANY problems they just do not get back to you.

It is now Monday evening, I have not received an email back or in-app chat response. And Good luck cancelling your account. When you click cancel in the app it says "pending" but then 5 minutes later reverts back to "cancel account?". It just does not cancel.

Avoid at ALL COST. Its not worth the time and frustration. I literally wasted my entire Saturday trying to see a movie. Over 12 hours wasted with trying to contact CS, driving to and from the theater - twice and missed both of my movies. You will regret joining this company. I'm currently in the process of disputing charges with Chase and to prevent future charges because my account won't cancel.

I went to contact the BBB about it and didnt bother. They have an F rating with 87/831 complaints addressed.

 

[Doctor Q]

Saw this article, thought of this thread Maybe there's a tip or two that winds up being helpful for @Doctor Q:

Thanks. Some of those tips may indeed be handy.

Having no customer service hours in the evening Pacific time is pretty silly. Do they think that most of their customers are going to the morning matinee on a weekday?

 

[sman789]

I signed up with the program when they first started up, maybe 4-5 years ago. Even when they were fresh, I never had any issues getting tickets. I moved to a different city and didn’t have time to go out to movies as often, so I cancelled the service.

I may join back up, Costco has an insane deal for 1 year of Moviepass and Fandor (movie streaming) for $90.

 

[kazmac]

I will pass on moviepass. For the nitpick bs, for the lack of customer service, and most importantly, if I see more than 2-3 movies a year now that is a lot. Plus it does not work at revival theatres like the Quad or Metrograph here.

I wait to rent most movies. For those I do see, I will try to arrange so it’s the cheaper showings only.

 

[yaxomoxay]

Ordered my card (and my wife’s). We are movie lovers but we don’t like spending $20/movie, so I guess this might work well for us. I expect to watch 5 or 6 movies a month, depending on what’s available.

 

[ucfgrad93]

This looks pretty interesting, thanks for posting this @Doctor Q.

 

[jkcerda]

MoviePass is a subscription service in the U.S. For $9.95/month, you can watch one movie per day in a movie theater of your choice, as long as the theater participates in the MoviePass program. Many individual and chain theaters do, but some don't.

I signed up to give it a try, and have certainly gotten my money's worth in the first months, especially because movie ticket prices are higher here in Los Angeles than the U.S. average ticket price.

MoviePass works in an interesting way. They send you a debit card when you sign up. Then you follow 3 steps when you want to see a movie:

1. Go to the theater box office.
2. Use the MoviePass app (iOS or Android) to select a movie. That causes the price of the ticket to be transferred to your debit card.
3. Buy the ticket with the debit card. If you don't, the money disappears after a while.

Overall, I'm glad I subscribed, despite a few drawbacks to the system.

Do you subscribe to MoviePass or are you considering it? What's your experience been like?

what is the draw back?

 

[yaxomoxay]

what is the draw back?

As far as I know nada.
There are a few limitations (no imax etc) and you can’t preorder the ticket (it has to be same-day). Other than that, it seems legit. I will keep you posted.

 

[Huntn]

MoviePass is a subscription service in the U.S. For $9.95/month, you can watch one movie per day in a movie theater of your choice, as long as the theater participates in the MoviePass program. Many individual and chain theaters do, but some don't.

I signed up to give it a try, and have certainly gotten my money's worth in the first months, especially because movie ticket prices are higher here in Los Angeles than the U.S. average ticket price.

MoviePass works in an interesting way. They send you a debit card when you sign up. Then you follow 3 steps when you want to see a movie:

1. Go to the theater box office.
2. Use the MoviePass app (iOS or Android) to select a movie. That causes the price of the ticket to be transferred to your debit card.
3. Buy the ticket with the debit card. If you don't, the money disappears after a while.

Overall, I'm glad I subscribed, despite a few drawbacks to the system.

Do you subscribe to MoviePass or are you considering it? What's your experience been like?

This is impressive. For regular movie going this seems like an obvious slam dunk. I would not be surprised if there are not black out days when a movie is first released?

For myself and spouse, we go to the movies on average, once every couple of months if not less, so it would not pay off. However, I’ll ask her. We maybe susceptible to changing our movie going habits. It would take two passes and seeing two movies per month to pay off. Usual ticket price for early bird shows about $7 each, not counting concessions where the big money is made.

 

[Rollexx]

We signed up around Nov. of last year. It was right around the time they lowered their price to 9.95 a month. It did take several weeks before we received our cards. No biggie. After using for a few months with no problems we received an offer to pay $89.95 for one year. We were a little hesitant to shell out $180.00 bucks but figured if they did go belly up we had already saved twice that in the previous months. We are retired so we go to a lot of movies. Out of around 40 shows we have had only one problem with a card being declined.
I see they are now changing their terms for new customers though.
Now it’s only 4 shows a month and no more yearly rate. I figured they couldn’t sustain their original terms forever.
Still not a bad deal. I will say though...their customer service is pretty much non existant.

 

[Doctor Q]

I read that they are getting tougher about enforcing the requirement that you not see a movie more than once. Customers may be required to upload a photo of their ticket stub to show which movie they bought a ticket for.

 

[Mlrollin91]

I read that they are getting tougher about enforcing the requirement that you not see a movie more than once. Customers may be required to upload a photo of their ticket stub to show which movie they bought a ticket for.

More than just being tougher on the requirement. You flat out cannot see a movie twice. When you try to book a ticket for a movie you seen, you get a pop-up saying you have already seen it. And that applies to my friends with the unlimited Costco plan. I'm so glad I jumped ship when I did. There is so much bait and switch with this company.

 

[yaxomoxay]

We signed up around Nov. of last year. It was right around the time they lowered their price to 9.95 a month. It did take several weeks before we received our cards. No biggie. After using for a few months with no problems we received an offer to pay $89.95 for one year. We were a little hesitant to shell out $180.00 bucks but figured if they did go belly up we had already saved twice that in the previous months. We are retired so we go to a lot of movies. Out of around 40 shows we have had only one problem with a card being declined.
I see they are now changing their terms for new customers though.
Now it’s only 4 shows a month and no more yearly rate. I figured they couldn’t sustain their original terms forever.
Still not a bad deal. I will say though...their customer service is pretty much non existant.

The 4 shows a month rule is only for new subscribers.
[doublepost=1525087438][/doublepost]

More than just being tougher on the requirement. You flat out cannot see a movie twice. When you try to book a ticket for a movie you seen, you get a pop-up saying you have already seen it. And that applies to my friends with the unlimited Costco plan. I'm so glad I jumped ship when I did. There is so much bait and switch with this company.

It’s a bummer but not a deal breaker for me.