MoviePass

[GadgetGuru]

Sounds like we just saw Moviepass fold. Customer Service hasn't responded in at least 6 hours on Twitter and there's complete radio silence from the company.

 

[HereWeGo]

Should we bury them or just cremate them and sprinkle their ashes over the nearest movie theater?

 

[Doug A.]

Anything Regal related will have to go through it’s new parent company Cineworld which bought Regal. Huge chain across the pond in Europe. I am not to sure where they stand on the subscription service side of things but we shall see.

I didn’t hold out a lot of hope for Movie Pass and am not surprised we may have seen it’s ultimate demise. It was a flawed business plan that ultimately didn’t stand a chance because profits needs to be greater than expenditures not the other way around. I know they were in the same vein as a lot of tech companies hoping to gain enough profit through volume but I don’t think it’s entirely possible. Just my $0.02 on the whole debacle surrounding Movie Pass and it’s current state.

 

[bob albert]

Moviepass wanted to corner the theater chains by building a subscriber base and the theater chains outlasted them. I wouldn't be surprised if the amc subscription lost value or went up in price as they really only wanted to keep some people off of moviepass.

 

[Mad Dog]

They were hoping to survive like Amazon & Netflex did all those years without making real profits . The scam worked with them but it didn't work for Moviepass. Sometimes it works, but in this case it didn't.

 

[zg44]

They were hoping to survive like Amazon & Netflex did all those years without making real profits . The scam worked with them but it didn't work for Moviepass. Sometimes it works, but in this case it didn't.

They never got the critical mass of users you need to succeed with this model. It worked for Amazon and Netflix because the former controls 50% of all e-commerce in many major markets, while the latter has 130 million subscribers (and rapidly increasing).

Moviepass has 2 million subscribers; it accounts for around ~3% of all movie tickets in the US, movie theaters just scoffed when they said they wanted lower ticket prices or a % of concessions because Moviepass was way too small to force theaters to play their game.

Sort of like how Disney forces theaters to put their blockbusters on their biggest screen for 4 weeks (with 65-70% payouts of ticket sales to Disney); if Moviepass had 20 million subscribers, then they'd be able to force concessions on theaters and maybe make the model work. But no VC firms or banks or funds would give them the kind of capital they needed to reach that point. It'd have taken billions to get there.

 

[GadgetGuru]

They were hoping to survive like Amazon & Netflex did all those years without making real profits . The scam worked with them but it didn't work for Moviepass. Sometimes it works, but in this case it didn't.

I wouldn’t quite call it a scam. The idea behind growth stocks is that companies are forgoing current profits for future profits. That means investing all of their money (and then some) into the underlying platform. The platform, over time, will make more money because of all the investment.

MoviePass didn’t have a platform. They were trying to build one, but it turns out it wasn’t valuable. All of their money was being used to pay for tickets. It was a Ponzi scheme basically.

 

[bob albert]

They were hoping to survive like Amazon & Netflex did all those years without making real profits . The scam worked with them but it didn't work for Moviepass. Sometimes it works, but in this case it didn't.

This would be more like netflix starting out now and paying current market rate for content. Studios used to give netflix content for cheap because they thought it would push viewers to new episodes on cable which it did for a while at least. Once people started to cut the cord they jacked up the rates accordingly. Netflix saw those rates and decided they were better off just paying to make their own shows.

Amazon is kind of a different deal as they were a bonus for prime subs and mostly took on budget deals apart from their own shows, although they have started to spend more on OC recently.

 

[Mad Dog]

I was referring to Amazon & Netflex during their early years operation. Lots of similarities, but they had the investors keep pumping money into them. Neither company had profits until well into their existence. We've had a store on Amazon for 15 years and my brother was selling content to Netflix when they were a start up, so I have pretty good understanding of where both were in their early years. Moviepass rolled the dice, and lost. The key is to keep the investor money coming in since the business plan ensured they were going to lose lots of money in the first years, like most internet start ups. The money flow stopped, they die. You win some, you lose some.

 

[Magic-Man]

 

[JoeCamel]

I was referring to Amazon & Netflex during their early years operation. Lots of similarities, but they had the investors keep pumping money into them. Neither company had profits until well into their existence. We've had a store on Amazon for 15 years and my brother was selling content to Netflix when they were a start up, so I have pretty good understanding of where both were in their early years. Moviepass rolled the dice, and lost. The key is to keep the investor money coming in since the business plan ensured they were going to lose lots of money in the first years, like most internet start ups. The money flow stopped, they die. You win some, you lose some.

I don't think any investor thought the business model would fly but they wanted the back end. The subscriber info is worth more than the subscription fees. Seems like they are giving the 3 movies a month for $10 a try. Might float til the end of summer - I guess????

 

[Viator]

 

[Nick]

What I want to know is why it took them so long to realize $10/month was unsustainable. I know they knew it was a money-losing method and they just wanted to build a subscriber base, but couldn't they have done the same at the new $15/month? I even think $19.99/month is reasonable, especially given what AMC A-List is charging for less movies.

Oh well. I give it 2 months before they close the doors for good. Announcing this new Bruce Willis film is basically them throwing out the "Everything is fine" meme. They refuse to admit that they are in trouble.

 

[HereWeGo]

I even think $19.99/month is reasonable, especially given what AMC A-List is charging for less movies.

I just signed up for A-List last week and I'm loving it! Granted, I live in Burbank and there are 4 AMC's within 15 minutes of each other (one right down the street from Disney Studios actually) and they're all very modern, fully renovated theaters which is nice (two of which have IMAX screens). So for me, A-List is an excellent investment, but I can totally understand how it wouldn't be for someone that doesn't have very many AMC's around them.

 

[TheGentTrent]

Gentlemen, it has been a privilege playing with you tonight.

:violin::violin::violin::violin:

 

[Viator]

Moviepass has now discontinued the Annual Payment.

MoviePass kills off its annual plan -- even if you already paid for it - CNET

And as that happens, AMC announces that they have hit 500K, and plan on expanding the offerings while doing a price increase.

AMC Theatres’ Stubs A-List Plan Hits 500,000 Subscribers | Deadline

 

[joelbryant11]

I’ve been using AMC A-List since late June. It’s so much better and worth the $20 if you have an AMC near you!

 

[Doug A.]

Moviepass has now discontinued the Annual Payment.

MoviePass kills off its annual plan -- even if you already paid for it - CNET

And as that happens, AMC announces that they have hit 500K, and plan on expanding the offerings while doing a price increase.

AMC Theatres’ Stubs A-List Plan Hits 500,000 Subscribers | Deadline

Not sure if you are aware but that article was from August

 

[JoeCamel]

I don't think any investor thought the business model would fly but they wanted the back end. The subscriber info is worth more than the subscription fees. Seems like they are giving the 3 movies a month for $10 a try. Might float til the end of summer - I guess????

Summer is over and the fat lady has sung.... rip MoviePass

 

[DK745]

I did manage to use it 3 times last month! This month though it's just been so impossible to use. Might as well just cancel it.

If AMC was closer to me I'd jump ship easily. Instead I have Cinemark and their $8.99 for 1 ticket a month...yay....