Just how many lives does MoviePass have? After its three-tiered pricing revamp in January, the troubled company that can’t seem to determine exactly what it wants to be has been rewarded with another $6 million in a new round of financing. While that may seem like a lot of money, MoviePass famously lost $40 million in just one month last year, so they should be able to lose this in just a few days.
MoviePass and MoviePass Films’ parent company Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc. say they “plan to use the net proceeds of the financing to accelerate MoviePass’ product development, fine-tune its subscription technology, and increase MoviePass Films’ investment in new films.” That’s a lot to accomplish with just $6 million.
Last summer’s MoviePass Films production Gotti opened to just $1.7 million against a $10 million budget. Most recently, the film division announced production on 10 Minutes Gone with Bruce Willis in the leading role.
In just shy of one year, MoviePass has changed its pricing structure; limited the number of movies that can be seen in a month; introduced surge pricing, a bring-a-friend option, and blackout dates on major films; and then reverted several of the changes in an effort to stave off customer abandonment. They also shut down for one day last July, working through the night to close a $5 million loan to reopen. The erratic corporate behavior has been so infuriating for some that the company is now facing a class action lawsuit alleging a “bait-and-switch” scheme.
“We are building the infrastructure, data, and tools that we believe will power the next generation of MoviePass,” says Ted Farnsworth, chairman and CEO of Helios. “We believe this new funding will allow us to double down on our development of transformative technology while fueling our continued expansion. Our long-term vision is for MoviePass to be the nation’s most popular movie-theater ticketing platform.”
It certainly sounds like Farnsworth’s vision is for MoviePass to be something that already exists — it’s called “Fandango.*”
Earlier this month, the company closed its Los Angeles office and fired its business development team.
“I don’t believe that today people trust the MoviePass brand,” says Khalid Itum, a MoviePass executive vice president, to the New York Times last December. Itum quit this month.
Of course, if the latest attempt to keep MoviePass afloat should fail, they can always go back on Twitter to point the finger at someone else.
*Fandango competitor Moviefone is a corporate sibling to MoviePass. Helios and Matheson acquired Moviefone from Verizon in April 2018.
Photo: MoviePass
