Photo: Business Wire
MoviePass announced last week that the movie theater subscription service would not be raising its process, but instead will limit the number of times subscribers can visit cinemas.
For $9.95 per month, subscribers used to be able to see a movie in theaters every day if they desired, however, beginning August 15, the service will limit subscribers to see three movies each month, as well as a discount up to $5 for any tickets beyond your included three and will “include many major studio first-run films.”
This new change replaces a previously announced plan to raise prices to $14.95 a month. The struggling movie subscription service is also cutting two other recent changes: a Peak Pricing surcharge for popular films and a Ticket Verification process. Annual subscribers will not be affected by the new changes until their plan is up for renewal.
“We have heard—and we have listened to—our MoviePass Community and we will not be raising prices to $14.95 a month,” the company said in a news release on Monday. “The new plan is focused on usage by the bulk of our subscribers who have historically used MoviePass to attend three movies or fewer a month. Additionally, the new plan addresses past misuses which imposed undue costs on the system, including ticket scalping, unauthorized card usage and other activities, which in the past necessitated the use of certain remedial measures that have sometimes been inconvenient for our subscribers.”
While it seems like limiting subscribers’ movie visits to three per month is a drastic turn from the company’s original goal and premise, MoviePass has said most subscribers wouldn’t be affected since most only see about four movies each month under the existing plan.
“Because only 15 percent of MoviePass members see four or more movies a month, we expect that the new subscription model will have no impact whatsoever on over 85 percent of our subscribers,” the news release continues.
MoviePass and its owner Helios and Matheson Analytics believe these changes will only exclude a small portion of its most expensive companies and should benefit the struggling movie subscription service in terms of long-term sustainability.
