MoviePass and Other Cinema Subscription Services

[DeprongMori]

Not sure what’s up, but all nearby Cinemark theaters are displaying “no showings available” today. I was able to go to a Landmark theater for a 4:30 showing of “Leave No Trace”. It was the first time I’ve had to use the e-ticketing function, which I don’t think Cinemark supports. Not sure if that is the issue.

[mfunk9786]

I literally think it comes down to the fact that they don't have as urgent an edict to pay e-ticketing theaters as they do their MasterCard bill

[Luke M]

MoviePass is back up this morning for me. Mission Impossible is still blocked out. But if this is the end it was a wonderful service.

[Timec]

After a day of radio silence and a mostly non-functioning app, MoviePass just issued a press release.

Biggest takeaways: The monthly plan will increase to $14.95, and major releases (1000+ theaters) won’t be available during the first two weeks.

I’m personally fine with those changes, but it still feels like they’re whistling past the graveyard.

[Drucker]

As one of the I only use this to see tons of rep screenings people, this works for me!

[Brian C]

These seem like reasonable measures that would have saved everyone a bunch of angst if they had done it months ago in a straightforward and transparent manner.

Instead they’re probably permanently hobbled from all the self-inflicted gunshot wounds in their feet.

[Drucker]

Capitalism! That efficient, rational economic system we all know and love.

[Brian C]

Capitalism! That efficient, rational economic system we all know and love.

An odd non-sequitur, but ok.

[Drucker]

Just kidding around.

[hearthesilence]

As one of the I only use this to see tons of rep screenings people, this works for me!

Even when they were fair game, I never bothered with major releases (most of which were superhero movies - the one major I did see was indeed a Marvel movie). My own free time's a precious commodity these days and I'm not going to blow four hours of my weekend going to something I'm pretty sure I'll hate.

[MongooseCmr]

But is there any guarantee the app will work? The two theaters near me that will actually play non-wide release movies are a drive away and one has a paid parking garage, I’m going to be forever reluctant to go out and pay for parking just to not be able to check in.

[hearthesilence]

Crappy solution but I'd pull up close to the theater, check-in then, and if it works, you have 30 minutes to park and buy the ticket. If you can't, well it's gonna feel like a long drive home...

[Ribs]

This is a good change, but they should have had this be what the price drop was in the first place a year ago. I’m convinced there will be another MoviePass that’s a bridge between the indie and specialty theaters that can’t support them in and of themselves, but there’s just no way MoviePass can possibly sustain itself as it, inevitably, continues to lose money with this ridiculous debt. Who on Earth would invest their money now?

[mfunk9786]

But is there any guarantee the app will work? The two theaters near me that will actually play non-wide release movies are a drive away and one has a paid parking garage, I’m going to be forever reluctant to go out and pay for parking just to not be able to check in.

Am I missing something? Is anything changing about the way check-ins work or is this just a question about the functionality of this in general?

[MongooseCmr]

Just functionality. I’m fine with price changes and limitations but I’m not confident they’ve actually fixed their ticketing problems for more than a few hours at a time.

[Timec]

Yeah, there’s a problem when your customers can’t even be sure the service will work when they get to the theater. I’m sure the app outages over the last few days have driven away quite a few members (which... maybe MoviePass doesn’t mind?)

If they can get the app back to working the way it was a few weeks ago—and find a reasonable balance in surge pricing (which doesn’t affect me yet, but will when my annual membership runs out)—then none of these changes bother me all that much. As long as I can keep using it at my local specialty theaters—particularly the AFI Silver, but also Angelika and Landmark—then I’ll remain a subscriber. At most, I might consider adding an AMC A-List membership for more mainstream fare.

[domino harvey]

I don't know how, but MoviePass paid back the loan in full

[hearthesilence]

I'm seeing reports that it was $6 million - it's not hard to see how they'd be able to pay that back now that it's August 1. That's basically the monthly subscription fee kicking in for roughly 600,000 of their 3 million plus subscribers. Maybe even less if it's $15 now instead of $10? (I expect a huge drop in subscribers due to all the nonsense that's happened, but I could see more than enough hanging around to cover their loan.)

[bad future]

I’m sure the app outages over the last few days have driven away quite a few members (which... maybe MoviePass doesn’t mind?)

The concept that they could actually benefit from losing subscribers (less people depleting their funds!) speaks to what I’ve been thinking is the central flaw of their business model: the people they need the most, those who keep their subscription active but maybe don’t use it every month, are the ones who need Moviepass the least. And the ones like me who go to the movies so much that a subscription is worth keeping almost no matter how many compromises are made, are the ones costing them the most. Probably the most sustainable model is as a high cost subscription for people who might see a little over or under the price point each month (I used to pay much more for it), but that would relegate them to a niche service and not the “Netflix of the cinema” data mongering heavyweight their investors came on board to be.

As I see people on Twitter proudly posting their unsubscription emails, or boasting about the AMC deal, I’m constantly discouraged to realize these must all be people who don’t usually see more than 3 movies in a month even with Moviepass, and that’s probably most people. They’re who I need to subsidize my movie habit! But I totally understand that the headaches really make the subscription not worth maintaining if they only use it for the month’s new blockbuster and now maybe they can’t even do that.

I would hope whatever months everyone had the service would have encouraged the habit of seeing more movies, or that the convenience of not having to think about ticket cost would be value enough in itself. I can imagine a future where “it’s on Moviepass” is like “it’s on Netflix”, among people who are so casual that they were never going to look beyond the most convenient options anyway. (I.e. why I don’t begrudge Netflix not having a lot of pre-00’s options. It’s Netflix!) I just don’t know if they can pull a rabbit out of their hat and last long enough to reach that kind of ubiquity. I hope so, though!

[Kirkinson]

I am theoretically one of the people for whom a subscription is worth keeping despite all the recent compromises — I looked back through my account history, and of the 45 movies I've seen with MoviePass, I think only 8 of them would have been initially restricted under the new terms, and only one of those is a movie I would've been sad to wait for (The Last Jedi).

But the one thing that really can't be compromised is basic functionality. Every morning I look at the app and everything appears to be in order, but by the time I get off work, all showtimes at all theaters have disappeared altogether. It's as if they've put a cap on the amount of money they're willing to spend in a day and it's all used up by the afternoon. I don't see how I can keep my subscription if they can't sort this out. If I can only see a movie on the one or two days a week the app is actually working, and I don't even know in advance which days they are so I can plan for them, it's really not worth the trouble.

[Timec]

Yeah… I can put up with a lot of limitations for the value MoviePass has offered me over the past year—but if these last few days are the new norm, then I’m done as soon as my annual subscription runs out.

It’s one thing to restrict access to blockbusters or even limit tickets to certain showtimes—it’s another thing when showtimes disappear without warning in the middle of the day and other films—even indies advertised by MoviePass—don’t show up in the app at all.

I’m reading about people who confirm their showtime before leaving the theater, but who find that it’s disappeared from the app by the time they actually arrive. That’s a pretty terrible customer experience.

[Brian C]

Right now it appears that all showtimes between about 6pm-8pm here in Chicago (except for the eticketers) are unlisted on the app.

This literally a day after their whole apology email. Just sad.

[hearthesilence]

Jesus, so basically you need to run out and buy tickets to an evening's show during your lunch hour.

[aox]

It's just getting worse and worse:

[Brian C]

Well, Cradle Will Rock and Saving Private Ryan are good, at least.