Movie Pass is crashing

[patw]

Unfortunately, manners seem to be lacking in our society. I enjoy going to the movies with the family and love the movie theater popcorn. That is my vice. We always get the reusable plastic movie popcorn bucket each year. To me it is worth it.

[Baudler]

Didn’t bite on the pass even though I go to the movies. Could have saved some dough, but I didn’t want them to have my information.

[rug357]

I haven't been to a movie for years...I think last time was when 007 Casino Royal came out.
My wife takes kids to movies 2 or 3 times a year with their friends for a weekend get together.
My wife and I usually watch a movie or two on cable TV each month but that's about it.

[Slartibartfast]

MoviePass raises prices by 50 percent in effort to save company


http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/ct ... story.html

MoviePass took another step toward the abyss Monday, announcing that some of the biggest summer movies won't be available on the service as the company continues to suffer a massive cash crunch.

The company's 3 million subscribers won't be able to see shark thriller "The Meg" and Winnie-the-Pooh fantasy "Christopher Robin" - two of the most anticipated movies of the summer - with their MoviePass card in the coming weeks. The news follows a hiccup for many MoviePass users this weekend over the Tom Cruise hit "Mission: Impossible - Fallout. "

MoviePass chief executive Mitch Lowe made the announcement at a company meeting Monday, amplifying a letter he wrote to subscribers on Friday.

"As we continue to evolve the service, certain movies may not always be available in every theater on our platform," he wrote.

On Tuesday the company went a step further in outlining how these plans would work. Wide releases will now be "limited in their availability" during the first two weeks of their run unless they were part of a promotion--that is, subsidized by a studio. The company will also raise the price of a subscription by 50 percent to $14.95 per month.

Executives said that the new steps will cut MoviePass' burn rate by 60 percent.

"Through these new steps, the company believes it will be able to compress its timeline to reach profitability," it said in a statement.

Reducing its admissions for customers - and thus payouts to movie theaters - is key for MoviePass as the full bill for a $5 million loan comes due next week. MoviePass parent company Helios and Matheson took out the loan last week, according to SEC filings, so it could keep its app running properly. The app had failed on Thursday.

The news of reduced admissions could be a potentially fatal blow for MoviePass. Its cash woes and stock declines - the Helios and Matheson share price closed under a dollar Monday just days after a reverse stock split artificially boosted its price over $10 - have already been deep reason for analyst concern. But the decision to pull movies squanders the company's one ace in the hole: bottomless customer love.

That love was clearly slipping away on social media Monday, as users lamented the new policy.

In the letter, Lowe also explained the service's new practice of peak pricing - charging an additional fee for hot new releases. Subscribers have balked at what they see as a bait-and-switch, but MoviePass explains it as preferable to the alternative, which would be to raise subscription prices across the board.

Lowe also made another analogy to explain the moves. "This is no different than other in-home streaming options that often don't carry the latest shows or movies that may be available on other services. For example, you can't ever find 'Game of Thrones' on Netflix. "

What effect a reduced-admission policy -- or a MoviePass disappearance entirely -- could have on the box office remain to be seen. Since MoviePass slashed its prices a year ago, economists have debated whether the service spurs people to theaters or simply reduces the cost of movies they were going to see anyway.

If MoviePass does go under, it will join the short, illustrious list of digitally minded companies that seized the public's imagination only to be outdone by their own ambition. Twitter users on Monday were already paying homage.

"We're all working through some very difficult MoviePass emotions right now. The scars from Kozmo.com never fully healed," wrote the pundit Mark Lisanti, referring to the dot-com bubble's ill-fated delivery service.

"Pulled out my MoviePass card and it turned into a Circuit City gift certificate in my hand," posted the commentator Louis Virtel.

The comedian Josh Gondelman had perhaps the m

ost pithy reference. " 'It's better to burn out than to fade away'--MoviePass," he wrote.

[Outgunu]

I cancelled it today, and signed up for AMC's "A List". "A List", is a little more than movie pass but your allowed to see 3D, IMAX etc., all without surcharges and blackouts like movie pass is now trying to impose on normal digital. I also really like the AMC close to my house, it has recliners to sit in and also has booze.

[Slartibartfast]

MoviePass will limit customers to three movies per month


https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/06/media/ ... index.html

MoviePass, the struggling movie subscription service, will limit customers to three movies per month.

The company is trying to burn less cash so it can stay in business.

Under the previous plan, customers could see one movie per day in theaters. The change to three movies per month takes effect August 15. MoviePass says 85% of its customers already see no more than three per month.

"It has become clear that a small number — only 15 percent — of the subscriber base has been stressing the system," Ted Farnsworth, the CEO of parent company Helios and Matheson (HMNY), said in a news release.

If a subscriber wants to see more than three movies per month, the company will offer a discount of up to $5 on additional movie tickets.

The company also announced Monday that it will keep the monthly subscription price at $9.99. It is backing away from a plan, announced just last week, to raise the price to $14.99.

As part of its new model, MoviePass is doing away with a bunch of other changes, too.

The company will suspend surge pricing, which sometimes added as much as $8 to the cost of an individual ticket. And it will no longer enforce ticket verification, which required users to take a picture of their ticket stub and submit it to the company as a way to stop abuse of the service.

The new plan will also include "many major studio first-run films," according to the company. That reverses a change announced last week that would have cut access to blockbusters within the first two weeks of release.

MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe described the changes in an interview earlier Monday with The Wall Street Journal.

"I should have accelerated the process of reducing the burn faster in hindsight," he told the newspaper. "Now I realize no matter how patient investors say they will be, they never are."

Helios and Matheson stock has plunged as investors have grown increasingly doubtful about the viability of MoviePass.

The stock plunged from $39 last October to just 8 cents last month. The company approved a reverse split — a cosmetic change that boosted the stock 250-fold, back up to $21. Since then it's fallen all the way back to 7 cents.

The stock gained 2 cents on Monday after the new plan was announced.

Two weeks ago, the company also borrowed $5 million in cash to pay its merchant and fulfillment processors after it had a service outage and couldn't afford to pay for movie tickets. It later said it paid back that loan.

[Slartibartfast]

MoviePass changes its pricing and plans once again


https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/compani ... smsnnews11

MoviePass wants to win back angry customers.

The movie subscription service on Thursday announced a new, complicated pricing structure that is dependent on geography and the kind of movies customers want to watch.

Starting in January, MoviePass will offer three plans that members can choose from. The first, called "Select," starts at $10 a month and will allow subscribers to see three movies each month. The company will announce available titles a week ahead of time. The plan excludes movies during their opening weekends, and limits customers to standard 2D movies.

A second level, called "All Access," starts at $15 a month. The plan allows customers to see any three 2D movies each month at any time during their theatrical run.

The highest tier, called "Red Carpet," starts at $20 a month. It also limits subscribers to three movies, but they can choose from films shown in special formats such as IMAX or 3D.

Not every customer will be charged the same monthly fee. MoviePass says the price for each tier will vary by "zone," with the highest level costing as much as $25 in some markets. The company says the different prices are designed to reflect the "differences in the average ticket price" around the country.

It's been a rough year for MoviePass, which upset many of its original members by tweaking and changing the terms of its service several times. But executives say they are confident the latest plan will help them regain the trust of old members while winning over new ones.

"Change is necessary. We won the hearts of millions of moviegoers, now we need to win back their confidence," said MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe in a statement. "We realize that the past year brought our subscribers many modifications and even some surprises, some of which weren't well-received; but we listened, we reassessed, and we believe we are primed to offer the American consumer the absolute best offering across America in 2019 and beyond."

MoviePass exploded in popularity more than a year ago when it began charging $10 a month for the ability to see a movie every day. Its membership swelled to more than three million paying customers, but critics derided the model as unsustainable.

By May, it became clear that MoviePass was running out of money. The company began introducing changes to its plan, including surge pricing and ticket verification. Neither were well received by customers.

MoviePass announced in June it would raise the price of a subscription to $15 before reversing course and limiting the number of movies people could see instead.

Meanwhile, the stock price of parent company Helios and Matheson has plunged more than 99%, putting the company in danger of being delisted from the Nasdaq. The company tried to artificially boost the price of the stock this summer, but the value has continued to plunge. The stock is now worth about 2 cents a share.

Helios and Matheson is also facing other problems.

Board member Carl Schramm, an economist and Syracuse University professor, quit his job in August and claimed that executives mismanaged the business and withheld crucial information from the board.

Purported stockholders also filed two federal class-action complaints against Helios and Matheson in August, claiming the company made "materially false or misleading" statements to the market. The company said at the time that it intended to "vigorously defend" itself and believed the complaints were "without merit."

And the New York attorney general is investigating whether the company misled investors about its finances. That probe is being conducted under New York's Martin Act, an anti-fraud and investor protection law.

Helios and Matheson said in October that it was "fully cooperating" with that investigation.

"We believe our public disclosures have been complete, timely and truthful and we have not misled investors," the company said at the time. "We look forward to the opportunity to demonstrate that to the New York Attorney General."

[zeebaron]

The only thing I can think of at this point as to why this business even exists is that it's some kind of money laundering scheme.

Who is dumb enough to drop money into investing in such a thing? They are outright stupid.

[Slartibartfast]

it's still a good deal if you actually use it !

iMax movies average $15-$18 x 3 = $45-54

Movie Pass Red Carpet includes 3 iMax for $20

[Outgunu]

AMC movie pass is much better. You can see any format movie and can see movies everyday, not limited to 3. You can also reserve seats in advance with AMC and just show the QRC code they give you on your phone for admittance.