MoviePass: movie theater subscription to make a comeback?

Those who were loyal customers of the once-failed service, MoviePass, can rejoice as the company seeks to make a grand return this Labor Day. Co-founder and former CEO Stacey Spikes had announced a new beta plan for the reboot of the bankrupted service at Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theatre earlier this year. He outlined a new tier-based plan for the relaunch.

According to Deadline, there will be a waitlist established for those interested in signing up for the movie theater subscription service. Those who wish to join (or rejoin) can do so on their official website when they reopen on Thursday, August 25 at 9am ET. It will be open for five days and will be operated on a first-come, first-served basis. Anyone can sign up for free, and those who successfully apply will receive notifications on Labor Day when they will be offered the three subscription price tiers.

The tier prices are said to range from $10, $20, or $30. Each option will give the subscriber credits, which they can use to purchase tickets each month. However, it is reported that during the beta phase, there will not be an unlimited ticket option available.

During the panel in which Stacey Spike outlined the future business plan, he explained that it’s not lost on him how the errors of the past can repeat as it is an evolving process for the business. Spikes emphasized, “We’re going to make mistakes. We’re not going to get it right out of the box. It’s going to be trial and error.” MoviePass started to falter in 2018 when Mission: Impossible – Fallout had demands so high that it fried the company’s circuit board, and there were not enough tickets to meet the customer orders. 

MoviePass was made in part as a reaction to the burgeoning plain of streaming services that saw Disney+, HBO Max, and Paramount+ over the horizon, in addition to the already success of Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon producing their own original movies. Movie theaters had been resistant to the service when it started, but chains like AMC would try their own hand at a subscription service added to their loyalty program, A-list. 

MoviePass filed for Chapter 7 in 2020 and ceased its operations. 

 Were you a former subscriber? Are you interested in trying it out now?