MoviePass is Risen From the Grave and in Beta
Remember that movie theater subscription service MoviePass? The one that officially died about 4 years ago? It was a service that let you spend about $10 a month in order to go see unlimited movies at the theater. It quickly ran into problems and had to change the rules which made people mad. Well, apparently it’s back. Last week, MoviePass Inc. launched once again with a few changes.
There are four plans available (Southern California and New York metro area residents have a separate set of plans) that let you spend $10-40 per month to see between 1-30 movies at over 4,000 locations across the country. I do want to note that right now you can only see standard 2D movies so 3D and large format screens like IMAX are not available yet. Also, the way it works is that you sign up and get sent a MoviePass card loaded with credits. These credits are what you use to buy your tickets with the cost of seeing a movie depending on factors like showtime, day of the week, and theater location. This means that seeing a movie at the busy times will most likely cost more than going to say a 9:00PM showing on a Tuesday. The nice thing is that you can save up to 2 months of credits at a time. It should be noted that MoviePass is currently in Beta meaning that pricing and other options are subject to change as they figure things out.
Honestly, I don’t think a plan like MoviePass is bad. Even if you only go see 1-2 movies a month, you’re saving money with the lowest plan. The company says that in a poll of over 10,000 current members, 73% of respondents shared that MoviePass was a big influencer for returning to movie theaters. 72% of respondents also said that MoviePass has helped them see a greater variety of films in theaters. Take it with a grain of salt in my opinion, but Stacy Spikes, Co-Founder and CEO of MoviePass, said:
By opening up MoviePass to film lovers nationwide, we are expanding our support of the movie theater industry by helping drive traffic to all theaters during the critical summer season. Our newly designed service offers our members greater choice and flexibility for how they use their monthly credits, while continuing to encourage them to watch movies in theaters.
What do you think of MoviePass’ return? Will it be a phoenix rising from the ashes in glory, or will it be a decrepit zombie exorcized before too long?