MoviePass Is Actually Coming Back, Here’s When
MoviePass, the famously failed movie ticket subscription service, is coming back and has made an unusual promise.
MoviePass, the controversial movie ticket subscription service, is coming back to active use. Against all odds, the service (which originally allowed users to receive a number of movie tickets via them for a monthly subscription fee) is returning on Labor Day in beta form. Specifically, that means that starting September 5, a certain number of users who are theoretically lucky enough to get on a waitlist will be able to take advantage of a new set of MoviePAss tiered payment options to try to cut down on cinema costs.
According to Deadline, the new MoviePass tiers will cost $10, $20, or $30 a month and issue credits that can be redeemed for movie tickets. It has not yet been confirmed which theaters or theaters chained that MoviePass credits can be redeemed at. While multiple major chains previously partnered with MoviePass, there was increased tension between the service and cinemas as time went on. Notably, the service will not be offering its infamous “unlimited” tier option, which allowed users to receive a bottomless number of tickets for one monthly price. While the price for that tier changed over the course of the original company’s life (and in different markets), it generally cost about $50.
Infamously, MoviePass almost immediately ran into problems after being founded by entrepreneurs Stacy Spikes and Hamet Watt. From the beginning of initial trials, major cinema chains apparently were not thrilled about working with a service whose explicit and only purpose was to divert their revenue stream to themselves for profit that would manifest itself in an unclear way. MoviePass went on hiatus to deal with these issues early on, and eventually returned with a system that required customers to physically print out paper vouchers to be exchanged for tickets at theaters. Understandably, MoviePass customers were not thrilled by this.
Eventually, MoviePass hit on the “unlimited tier” concept, which did inspire many regular moviegoers to subscribe, but then hit the predictable issue of costing the company far more money than it was bringing in. By June 2018, MoviePass was $45 million in deficit. The company attempted numerous ways to increase revenue, including peak pricing (with peak pricing reductions for certain movies and times), “select” movie restrictions, blackout on specific, highly anticipated movies, and eventually selling merchandise and bonds. In 2019, MoviePass shut down.
However, in an interesting turn of events, a bankruptcy judge allowed original co-founder Stacy Spikes to purchase MoviePass in 2021. The original website was reactivated along with the announced Labor Day re-launch date; apparently, users who sign-up for the waitlist will be notified at the beginning of September if they made the cut. In perhaps not the reassuring statement ever made by the new owner of a company that flamed out so spectacularly that Mark Wahlberg is currently producing a documentary about it, Stacy Spikes has said of MoviePass: “We’re going to make mistakes… We’re not going to get it right out of the box.” At least this time around, MoviePass is being straightforward about how things are going to go. It seems to be working out for all the infamous disruptors these days.
