MoviePass, the besieged startup that aims to revolutionize movie theater viewing (and kind did, indirectly) has returned. Afterward bankrupta pandemic caused movie theaters to close, and repurchase, it is making another foray to the subscription model. Here’s what we know about MoviePass 2.0.
What happened to the old MoviePass?
In case you’re not up to speed, here’s the short version: For several years, MoviePass has offered a simple subscription to watching movies in theaters. The company tested different models, such as $15/month for a few movies or $40 to $50 per month for an unlimited number of movies.
Then, in 2018, the company made a bold and silly change: to film Daily for $10 a month. In many parts of the country, that’s less than the price of a movie ticket. And MoviePass paid full price to theaters for each ticket. Millions of registered users and why wouldn’t they? It’s essentially free money from MoviePass.
Plan not going well. Over time, MoviePass must price increasecustomer support starts to weaken and the company’s alternative failed revenue generation plan. Worse (for MoviePass, but great for us), the theater chains themselves have begun to offer their own subscription services.
These are more financially viable, as cinemas pay the studios less for tickets than MoviePass pays the cinemas. Additionally, even if theaters lose money on ticket sales, they will still benefit from increased franchise revenue. (At one point, in an effort to bring in revenue, MoviePass argued that it should cut movie theaters’ franchise sales. It’s not going well either.)
MoviePass eventually went bankrupt and one of the company’s co-founders, Stacy Spikes, bought the company. Why is all this history relevant? Well, if you’re planning on signing up, you should remember that this is another thing in the a long line of tried business models. It remains to be seen whether this will work out.
How do I sign up for MoviePass?
The current version of MoviePass (dubbed MoviePass Beta) is being rolled out in phases—perhaps to help reduce the same rush and bump that its predecessor experienced, here definitely a risk factor, because The waitlist itself was broken as soon as it was released). On August 25, 2022, the company opened a five-day waiting list.
If you signed up for the waitlist during that time period, you’ll be in line to receive a new MoviePass invite. Once you’ve joined, you’ll receive a cache of invitations that you can send to your friends. If you missed the waitlist period, finding someone with one of these invitations will be your best bet until around the summer of 2023.
MoviePass Beta doesn’t launch in all markets at once. The company says that it is assessing interest in different parts of the country based on the number of people who sign up for a waitlist in an area. Many major cities like Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas and Austin already have access. Prices will also vary slightly based on the city you’re in, especially in New York and California.
