MoviePass has launched a ‘Peak Pricing’ surcharge for in-demand showtimes

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Welp, MoviePass holders, the time for your subscription service to introduce more fees has come. It was good while it lasted, right?

Last month, MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe revealed that surge pricing would soon go into effect, which charges customers an extra fee for movies and showtimes that fall into a "popular" time slot. The fee, which MoviePass has dubbed Peak Pricing, will go into effect immediately for patrons who've subscribed to the service's monthly plan as well as those who sign up for the program going forward.

What does "Peak Pricing" mean exactly? Well, when a film or a particular showtime is flagged as being in high-demand, MoviePass will attach a red lightning bolt icon to the listing. When you see the lightning bolt appear, you can expect MoviePass to charge an additional $3.43 extra for the screening. Additionally, that fee is not written in stone. In fact, the amount will change depending on the film you've selected. In essence, the more popular the time, the more money you can expect to pay for seeing it at that specific time. As per the system's checkout procedure, customers will be made aware of the applicable fees and will be given the opportunity to select another time, if desired.

As a part of the roll out for this new program, MoviePass has stated that they will allow subscribers to opt out of one Peak Pricing fee per month. Furthermore, customers with an existing annual pass will not be charged for peak pricing until after their contract is renewed.

"The new peak pricing feature is aimed at providing additional flexibility for us and our users around popular movies and times for which there is limited inventory," says the MoviePass website. "We are building peak pricing to be flexible and will be able to tweak it as needed based on the community's response."

Is this really where we're at with the movie ticket pre-order game? Back in my day, we used to plan our movie-going experiences in advance, and were sure to secure our tickets free of excessive fees. Granted, I'm not a MoviePass holder, so perhaps I'm speaking out of turn?

Are you a MoviePass subscriber? Do you like the program? Are you willing to pay these extra fees for "Peak" movie times and films? Let us know what you think of this aspect of the service in the comments section below.