I've been a member since January and felt like I was getting a bargain at $35/month. How they can drop the price to less than the price of a single ticket in many places in the USA baffles me. http://blog.moviepass.com/our-new-9...ail&utm_term=0_38e07cde14-6f5b9a4863-89267333
And here I was thinking my wife was bankrupting them by seeing a movie every single night for $50 a month in Chicago.
Apparently they are going with the strategy of losing a little money on every transaction but making it up by dealing in bulk. They must have struck up some overwhelming deal with the larger theater chains, who apparently want popcorn eaters and soda drinkers in their seats to the point where they are prepared to essentially give away admission. They had me at $35/month ... at $9.95 I would think they'd have most anyone who sees 2 movies a month or more.
That's definitely the case with my wife Vickie. After resisting for years, she joined AMC's Stubs program, and has been racking up the points and will choose an AMC theater almost every time. That loyalty counts for a lot, and I'm sure MoviePass was able to demonstrate that to AMC.
Does anyone get the impression that eventually everything on the US will cost $9.95 a month? Music? $9.95! Movies? $9.95! Also, AMC is getting into a lot better food options, and has those bars in a lot of their theaters as well. If the movie is basically free, you're not going to have as much of a problem paying $5.95 for a hot dog.
I'd be really interested to hear someone explain this business model, and how on Earth money can be made from it. From a consumer standpoint I can't see this lasting - the price will go back up or the company will go bankrupt.
I'm sure the theater refunds part or even all of the ticket price back to MoviePass. They supply the thing the theater chains most need - butts in seats. By limiting members to a single screening of each film, and disallowing 3D and "luxury" screenings, it's not really all that different than if the same viewers were to be going to free preview screenings. They are appealing to the people, like my wife, who see a huge number of films anyway - and those people tend to be "influencers". Sadly, most people only see the films that Hollywood advertises to them. Those are the people who say "there's nothing out there but remakes and sequels." Those people are so astoundingly wrong that it would be hilarious if it weren't so sad. My last four films in the theater were: Jab Harry Meet Sejal Detroit Brigsby Bear Wolf Warrior 2 Only one was a "remake" and it was a Bollywood version of "When Harry Met Sally" with the great Shahrukh Khan that was as different from the original as possible. Detroit is a serious, sober and deeply depressing film that has only become more vital due to events of the last week. Brigsby Bear is a Lonely Planet production that is like no film ever made, and in a better world would be a cult movie. And Wolf Warrior 2 is the most insane action film I have seen in years, and shames the plastic "action" of the Fast and Furious franchise. If MoviePass can get people into films like these, all of which I saw in my local AMC, it can only help.
While I can see the "Only $14.99 for the giant popcorn/soda combo" chains agreeing to underwrite this affair, I can't see art house and film societies doing so (and the card has worked for me at both). But maybe that audience is so small compared to the mainstream that the loss we create will hardly matter in the larger picture. Unfortunately Bollywood films have been getting harder rather than easier to see in the recent places I've called home. Even ones with SRK, the king of the box office!
Sadly, neither Landmark or Arclight participates in MoviePass, though the Gene Siskel and Music Box do. I started getting into them when Laagan was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film in the Oscars, and have continued to seek them out as they're the only way to fill my need for musicals, which Hollywood has a hard time getting made these days.
So where do you find out who accepts these and how do you purchase one? I can't seem to get to www.moviepass.com
I can't get the Movie Pass site to respond and the link above just leads to an error message, "The service is unavailable".
I'd wager a guess that this announcement has caused their site to be overloaded. Speaking just for myself, I've yet to come across a theater that MoviePass doesn't work at. It does not work for 3-D, Fathom Events, and other special screenings.
An article about the price drop: Netflix Co-Founder’s Crazy Plan: Pay $10 a Month, Go to the Movies All You Want Still doesn't make sense to me. They want to have a public offering for a company bound to lose money, and the larger they get the more they will lose. Huh?
Sure enough, the MoviePass web site crashed. Their app also is not working at this time - tough break for existing customers who wanted to see a movie tonight. MoviePass Ticket Site Crashes After Slashing Prices
Luckily Vickie's movie tonight is at the Siskel, and she usually pays cash for those as she is a member and gets a discount.
Generally speaking, any of the big chains - AMC, Cinemark and the like. All they have to do is accept debit cards.
Looked at this, but it seems it requires a cell phone. I'm one of those holdouts who doesn't have one. Oh well.
It uses the location information of a cell to "check in" when you get to the theater, tickets can only be bought within half an hour of showtime and you have to photograph the ticket stub with the app to prove you purchased the movie ticket with the card. It really does save you so much money that you could easily afford to buy a cell (like a Moto E4 for $129) and an inexpensive plan like one from MintSim (a year's service for $180) with the money you're saving on movie tickets.
My wife is a bit freaked out by AMC announcing that they are considering suing MoviePass AMC Slams MoviePass, Threatening Legal Action She has seen 289 films in the theater so far this year, 136 of them at AMC theaters. MoviePass is the only reason she joined the AMC Stubs program. She had avoided it previously, annoyed that they dropped their much superior Moviewatcher program that didn't cost $12 a year.
Sad when the cinema is a essentially a eaterie.Popcorn smell is most unpleasant especially those oversized family versions boxes. If it helps the industry make movies fair enough.
Imagine someone standing in front of Starbucks offering a deal where they pay for your coffee every day for $5 a month. Then imagine Starbucks somehow being so unhappy with making money from this sucker every day that they want to sue him. And imagine a consumer saying "No thanks, I'd rather pay every day myself". What a world, what a world.
I just signed up. Do you guys know if you can sign up a spouse too? Or is it one per household? They mention a family plan may be coming. Im fine paying $19.90 for two.
You'll have to get two memberships and do separate "check in"s via smart phone, but yes, you can both have one.