Gerald Hanks
A new membership site offers moviegoers the chance to see at least one theatrical release a month for less than the price of a standard ticket.
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MoviePass offers members a monthly subscription by which they can receive one ticket per day for any standard (not including IMAX or 3D) theatrical release. At a proposed rate of $9.95 per month, the subscription rate would be lower than the standard ticket price for most theaters in major metropolitan areas.
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MoviePass is the brainchild of Mitch Lowe, the former president of Redbox and the co-founder of Netflix. Lowe sold a majority stake in MoviePass to Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc., a data analysis firm.
The plan is for MoviePass to purchase blocks of tickets for various screenings, then resell them to their customers.
While the resale part of the ticket purchase is a loss for the company, the goal is to recover that lost income — and reap a handsome profit — by analyzing customers’ ticket-buying patterns and selling that information to studios, giving them the data they need to target advertisements for future releases to MoviePass subscribers.
Executives with at least one movie theater chain have spoken out against the MoviePass model.
AMC Theaters, the nation’s largest theater chain, released a statement saying that MoviePass “is not in the best interest of moviegoers, movie theaters, and movie studios” and that the business model “is unsustainable and only sets up consumers for ultimate disappointment down the road.”
Is MoviePass the superhero, swooping in to help moviegoers and struggling theaters alike? Is AMC the Dark Lord, standing in the way of affordable tickets?
Movie fans should get their popcorn, sip their drinks, and get settled in their seats. It looks like the show is about to start!
