Over/Under on MoviePass going bankrupt
 

It was great while it lasted, but I'm giving them until Halloween before they call it quits.

I’ll be surprised if they make it through August. The interviews with their CEO are borderline delusional and their attempts to buy production companies and invest in movies made no sense. They’re not going to reach the critical mass to be able to influence enough movie going to force the theaters to negotiate lower prices (the Netflix model).

I purchased the annual pass back in April and have seen 11 movies with it s. I far. With the changes they made yesterday, my only way of seeing any new releases is to purchase tickets to a less popular movie and then go into the theater that is playing the movie I want to see. If I were paying month to month I would probably consider canceling their service.

If I had to guess, MP was also banking on most of their customers buying the membership and rarely seeing movies.

The business model is doomed from the start. Why wouldn’t the big chains just do this on their own? Cutting out the middleman and keep the money is a perfect idea for a huge corporation.

AMC was already all over this concept before MoviePass launched. Luckily Netflix is already estaished or the studios would have crushed it like a bug.

Moviepass Blocking Users from Watching Mission: Impossible—Fallout This Weekend

Things appear to be going from bad to worse for MoviePass. The subscription service had to shut down operations this past Thursday because it ran out of money, and to avoid the same thing from happening twice, it is blacking out all of its customers from watching one of the biggest summer blockbusters: Mission: Impossible – Fallout.

On Thursday night, MoviePass users experienced an issue that prevented them from using the app. It was later revealed that MoviePass had run out of money, so it completely suspended service. By Friday morning, it had secured a $6.2 million loan to continue services but not before blocking users from watching Mission: Impossible – Fallout during its debut weekend.

The option to pay for surge pricing is not even available for users who want to watch the movie.

Making matters worse, just about every movie time past 11 a.m. at any theater has surge pricing. It has been confirmed by multiple users that any movie with surge pricing will cost an additional $6. Prior to the money woes MoviePass ran into this week, surge pricing came in around $2 to $4.

[...]

Netflix lucked out when home video started to dry up. They just couldn’t help themselves or turn away from the extra check and ended up creating a monster.

Wife tried to use moviepass tonight and for the third time it wouldn't let her check in. They never did refund her first two tickets and we all know they won't refund this one. Great idea that soured fast.

They blacked out every movie where I live on Friday and Saturday so I couldn’t buy a ticket to anything. The metro area has 12 theaters yet all were supposedly “too busy”. I prepaid for a year back in April so I guess I am stuck with the membership until then, but it looks like I’ll be paying for my movies from now on.

A friend of mine used it to see Equalizer 2 on Saturday in KC. He used the e-ticket feature, not the card.

I hope it survives in some form or another? Havent some of the theater companies started their own version of it?

I think it helps drives more business/trips to a theater. People are more willing to take a chance on lesser known movies with lower budgets.

AMC started their own

The app shows no movies at all for us now. Click on a theater and it said no showings available and listed no movies.

Literally losing money on every ticket sold didn't work out? What a surprise.

Looks like they're raising the price soon...

I had month to month, we enjoyed it for 2 months then came the surge pricing..at over $8/movie surge pricing..which is basically the price for a movie anyways..we cancelled our memberships a few days ago.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a class action against them if they won't refund a portion of the yearly memberships..unless they had informed us of surge pricing coming when before everyone signed up

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">JUST IN: MoviePass will now limit customers to three movies a month, but it&#39;s backing away from a plan to raise prices <a href="https://t.co/y1o2xPBzSk">https://t.co/y1o2xPBzSk</a></p>&mdash; CNN International (@cnni) <a href="https://twitter.com/cnni/status/1026462314009186304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 6, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Doing away with peak pricing too but will still restrict some blockbusters

Apparently they were banking on the Amazon (lose money and go into debt to build the business/brand up) model in hopes of obtaining a legal monopoly on the service.

Yeah, that's a risky (and mostly doomed to fail) venture...

Well the company is now worth less than $200,000. Less than 7 months ago it was worth almost $15 billion. That's got to be close to a record in market cap being wiped out.

At this point you could pay 10 times what the current market value is and still probably harvest the data and make money.

Hmmm.....

That's outrageous. I didn't realize it had gotten so big. I must have been living under a rock.

monopoly on tickets to movies? ROFL

Even though they are a near monopoly, Amazon still adds value to my life that cheap movie tickets never would.

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I didn't sign up for Movie Pass, but I'm hoping to see a similar concept where I can pay $9.95 a month for unlimited groceries at my local grocery store.

Never really understood going to a movie theater so you could watch a movie in pretty much a non-social environment surrounded by a bunch of strangers unless it was a niche/cult film like 'Lord of the Rings' or 'Jackass' where everyone was on the same page overall.

Have you guys been in the DC forum? You want to pay for that experience? :D

It's stupid when the MoviePass (express) line is longer than the peasant line so if everyone is in the special line your wasting your time lol.

move theaters are past their time anyway..it's time to bring new releases to streaming.

I read an article about how MoviePass investors have lost over 99% of their money. There are more failures in the silicon valley then there are successes. Nobody wants to talk about them.

Going to a theater used to be the only way to see a movie so everyone did it.

Now you can see those same movies in your home after they are in the theatre so going out to see a movie has become a nice way to get out of the house and do something. Now less people are doing it as they choose to watch in their home for a fraction of the cost of a theater trip in a much more comfortable setting.

The current younger generations will consume movies more and more on-demand to watch what, when, where, and with who they want and theaters will go the way of the print newspaper.

I have actually been to more movies in theaters these past couple years than I have in a long time. My wife and I enjoy it. But a lot of that is because our theater we go to has moved to recliners seats that you can buy and reserve online, so the whole experience of having to get there early to get a good seat is removed.

Couple that with AMC doing $5 tickets and $5 popcorn/drink on Tuesdays, and it's a nice evolution of the movie theater experience.

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same here. $5 recliner seats that we can reserve have motivated us to go to more movies.

Lowering theater prices is the only way they can save themselves.The Force Awakens was the last time I have been to the theater, gambling $20 on a shit show isn't worth it,

When MoviePass goes under, I’ll probably just go back to waiting for the new movies to come out on Redbox, unless it’s something I can’t wait for like the next Avengers movie.

The best thing about going to a movie theater is the lack of distractions. But hardly worth $16 tix and $25 for popcorn for a small family.

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Depends on who you sit by..young kids, coughing adults, and idiots on their phones can cause plenty of distractions. At home I can just tell my wife to stfu:)

I've gotta admit, you have a point.

I usually go to movies that kids don't go to except for super heroes movies. Down here I don't see people on their phones during the movie. But, I saw that issue in KC alot.

I have a huge TV, great sound system. I still enjoy physically going to a movie. I don't ever pay $12+ for a ticket unless I go on opening night. Pay no more than $5 for popcorn. I have money. Maybe I'm being a cheapskate or something. But, paying $5 for a movie seems to make me more inclined to go see a movie in the theaters than just waiting to see it at home.

Maybe its like I-Tunes. I have bought over $600+ worth of music legally since its inception. I would bet I'd bought maybe 10 albums. Musicians and the industry gained money from me by allowing me to purchase music ala cart instead of paying full freight for an album when I only wanted the 1 song. I'll go see your movie in a theater but only if its $5.

The younger son and I went with the Scuba club to see "The Meg" this weekend and is was just over $12 a seat (recliners), and would have been over $16 if the movie had been showing in the theater where the seats shake for you. That being said, I guess I could find some obscure time to watch a movie and save some money, but that sucks too.

As for the popcorn, if you're paying $5, you have a great theater..

And yes, there were some cell phone that came out, but nothing that bothered me, no "Ohy ohy" or anything, and I never heard one of them ring or ding. Hell, one was mine when the widey texted me. Like the others, mine was on silent, but I was guilty too..

I love going to the theater. I often take a long lunch and see one during the week. It's great stress relief.

Nice..

It’s AMC theatres on Tuesday’s that have $5 tickets and popcorn. It’s all “regular” movies and times. No IMAX. New releases included. It’s a nationwide every week thing. KC has AMC theatres, correct?

AMC also has $6 tickets on any movie before noon too. No idea if that’s local or nationwide.

Over/Under on MoviePass going bankrupt
 

AMC started in Kansas City and was located downtown until their new corporate headquarters was built a few years ago in Leawood, KS.

The Brownback effect.










OK, OK, I'm sorry.....

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MoviePass will shut down for good on Sept. 14

MoviePass announced on Friday it’s shutting down the discount ticketing service on Sept. 14. Shares of MoviePass parent company Helios and Matheson Analytics dropped 10% Friday afternoon, though the stock trades for a fraction of a penny.

MoviePass notified subscribers that it plans to close down the service because its “efforts to recapitalize MoviePass have not been successful to date.” It has formed a strategic review committee, made up of the company’s independent directors, to explore “strategic and financial alternatives” for the company.

Among the options it’s considering are a sale of the company in its entirety, a sale of the company’s assets, including MoviePass, Moviefone and MoviePass Films, as well as the possibility of a reorganization of the company. Helios and Matheson Analytics noted that any transaction would include the “assumption or settlement” of any of its liabilities.

Prior to the service’s closure, MoviePass had been struggling for more than a year. Last March, MoviePass launched a revamped version of its unlimited plan, which let users watch one movie per day for $9.95 per month, as part of an eleventh-hour attempt to revive the subscription service. However, the service saw its subscriber base plummet from more than 3 million members to about 225,000 as of April 2019.

Additionally, MoviePass last month laid off at least seven of its employees, bringing the total staff down to about 12 people, according to Business Insider. That’s after the company was forced to add restrictions to the app in an effort to slow its cash burn, including limiting users to four movies per month, instead of being able to watch one movie per day. Helios and Matheson also took out sizable loans to cover its ballooning losses.

Last October, then-New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood opened a probe into Helios and Matheson’s business dealings, alleging the company misled investors regarding its financials.