Become a fan of Slashdot on Facebook

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
Businesses Movies The Almighty Buck Entertainment

Netflix Co-Founder's Crazy Plan: Pay $10 a Month, Go to the Movies All You Want (bloomberg.com) 274

Mitch Lowe, a founder of Netflix, has a crazy idea. Through his new startup MoviePass, he wants to subsidize our film habit, letting us go to the theater once a day for about the price of a single ticket. From a report: Lowe, an early Netflix executive who now runs a startup called MoviePass, plans to drop the price of the company's movie ticket subscriptions on Tuesday to $9.95. The fee will let customers get in to one showing every day at any theater in the U.S. that accepts debit cards. MoviePass will pay theaters the full price of each ticket used by subscribers, excluding 3D or Imax screens. MoviePass could lose a lot of money subsidizing people's movie habits. So the company also raised cash on Tuesday by selling a majority stake to Helios and Matheson Analytics, a small, publicly traded data firm in New York. [...] Theater operators should certainly welcome any effort to increase sales. The top four cinema operators, led by AMC Entertainment, lost $1.3 billion in market value early this month after a disappointing summer.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Netflix Co-Founder's Crazy Plan: Pay $10 a Month, Go to the Movies All You Want

Comments Filter:
  • by xxxJonBoyxxx ( 565205 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2017 @11:06AM (#55017751)
    >> subsidize our film habit

    Not sure I have a "visit theatre" habit anymore. I thought about going to see a couple of movies this summer but the cost/hassle/commute wasn't worth it, so I'd have to say the last time I set foot in the theatre was for Star Wars commando movie, and even then it was the full 3D experience (because otherwise why bother).
  • by turkeydance ( 1266624 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2017 @11:07AM (#55017769)
    to beggers on the street
  • the basic full price of each ticket can be $13-$14 before added costs.

  • How much do I pay... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by mapkinase ( 958129 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2017 @11:11AM (#55017811) Homepage Journal

    ... to kick out all teenagers and people with small kids?

    • Near me, the premium for such movies is around $4/ticket.

    • by OzPeter ( 195038 )

      ... to kick out all teenagers and people with small kids?

      1. Go to theaters that serve alcohol.
      2 Pic odd times to see movies.
      3. Don't go on release weekends

      The last movie I saw in a theatre was Guardians 2 and there was maybe 6 other people in the theatre. That was a mid-week afternoon about 2 weeks after opening.

      Theatre's that serve alcohol also have better seating, but the temptation is to buy food and drink and they will get you there.

      • by green1 ( 322787 )

        1) there are a grand total of zero theatres in my city, or any surrounding city, that do this
        2) the odd times are the ones more likely to attract kids
        3) if you're willing to wait for a movie anyway, why go to the theatre? the viewing experience is far better at home.

        • by suutar ( 1860506 )

          This. I pretty much only go to the theater for movies where I feel the immersion and the huge screen will be worth it. I was watching TV the other day and a trailer came on and my first thought was "I can't wait for that to come out on DVD"...

      • >Go to theaters that serve alcohol.

        I do not want to go to such theaters.

        • >Go to theaters that serve alcohol.

          I do not want to go to such theaters

          Try not being so knee-jerky. The Cross Point cinema, Lowell, MA, for example, has a bar. They are very careful about carding people, and I have yet to see anyone get more than 2 drinks over the lenght of a movie. Given the prices, it's hardly the place you go to get drunk; and you have nowhere to sit other than in the theatre, which is a long walk from the bar.

    • There are plenty of Alamo Drafthouse-style theaters these days. I've been going to Cinebarre for so long, I've forgotten that this is even a problem.
    • ... to kick out all teenagers and people with small kids?

      Go during school hours.

  • by known_coward_69 ( 4151743 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2017 @11:14AM (#55017841)

    I bet the business model is to make money on the people who will rarely use this and hope the devil customers don't sign up in droves. Figure by next year they will start implementing limits like a lot of these crazy unlimited services do

    • Well housewives do as they go to get their depression era china sets (the butter dish is being offered this week!).
      Frankly I say I'm going for the newsreels to keep up on current events but I'm really there for the Looney Tunes shorts... I like Bugs Bunny.
    • No, places that have cheap passes usually end up being hang outs for teens and young adults. In my little town there is a skating rink, swimming pool, and the YMCA all you can buy passes to and all are teen hang outs with as many or more kids than our free community center that has indoor basketball courts, gym, and public computers with internet access. I dare to say even without a cheap passes our movie theater is one of the few evening hang outs for teens and is still always packed on Friday and Saturda

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      My local cinema offers a monthly pass for about $15. You can see as many movies as you like, the only stipulation being that you have to go outside peak times for popular films. Nothing in the first week of release for the biggest releases.

      They fill otherwise empty seats I suppose.

    • I suspect the way they renegotiate this will be with the theaters rather than with the patrons.

      Theater seats make money for the theater but they spend the majority of the 24 hour day vacant. Packing people into those seats could be a lot of additional revenue even if done at low prices. Heck, even sitting someone in the seat for $0.00 can be profitable with snacks and advertising, provided you don't have to pay a huge amount for the film you're screening (enter Netflix, producer of cheap original content.

    • by Kjella ( 173770 )

      I bet the business model is to make money on the people who will rarely use this and hope the devil customers don't sign up in droves. Figure by next year they will start implementing limits like a lot of these crazy unlimited services do

      I can see it happening for something like a gym membership, even if you've hardly used it quitting is like officially recognizing you're not going to get in shape and building one more barrier between where you are and where you'd like to be. But a cinema card, are you going to just sign up for entertainment and let it collect dust without canceling it? I suppose they exist but I'd imagine most of those aren't looking to get bulk discounts on cinema screenings anyway. And best case you get $10/months for a

      • Going to a gym to lose weight does not work most of the time anyway.
        Rather do some martial arts, like BJJ, Aikido, Karate or chineese stuff.
        But I gather that Dojos are super expensive in the US, so a gym might be cheaper.

  • by Jeff DeMaagd ( 2015 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2017 @11:14AM (#55017847) Homepage Journal

    They're hoping to collect marketing data. I am skeptical that the marketing data is worth that but even so it strikes me as a bad deal for everyone.

    • I agree, although for somewhat different reasons.

      I mean, Netflix keeps shedding third-party content - which is being made available after its theater run - because they say it's too expensive to license. If they can't even manage that for ten bucks a month, how is this new plan supposed to be even marginally realistic?

      • by gfxguy ( 98788 )

        Well, Netflix doesn't have advertisements to make up shortfalls in cash; the MoviePass plan is to track your viewing habits and sell the information to advertisers. Of course, it still makes no sense - you're not a captive audience to MoviePass the way you are to Netflix which, if they showed advertising, would lose every customer immediately. How are those advertisers going to target you? If they answer is they require some app on your phone, or they require to be able to flood your email inbox, then no

    • by gfxguy ( 98788 )

      My sentiments exactly - I might only see one (break "even") or two (come out slightly ahead) movies a month, but I know people who would go virtually every day - I do not think they can recoup that money in advertising.

      1. Offer unlimited movies per month for $10 while still paying the theater full ticket price.
      2. ????
      3. Profit!

      Only this time the ???? is clear: make a pile of money off the IPO, then sell it off immediately and watch the company crash and burn.

  • what about places like Hollywood Blvd that have 1 food item minimum??

    and if this takes off then what happens when that 1 food item minimum?? starts at $5-$6 for say an small popcorn or $4.50 for a coke?

  • by Jfetjunky ( 4359471 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2017 @11:16AM (#55017871)
    Their website calls it a "Theater Network", which immediately conjures up the idea that it doesn't work everywhere. But there's no way to see in advance (that I could find) which theaters participate in their service. The FAQ has this specific question listed, but it just tells you to go back to the main website, where there is no apparent way to find this info without signing up for the service.

    Yeah, you get a 1-month trial just like Netflix did/does, but I'd still like to see in advance if it's even worth pursuing.
    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      install their app and put in your zip code and it'll tell you what theaters near you participate, if you don't want to install then ask on the chat on their website. Their website alleges 91% of theaters nationwide

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Kierthos ( 225954 )

        As a wild guess, I'm betting that the app requires all kinds of access to your phone/personal data that it probably doesn't need in order to tell you which theaters nearby are "in network".

    • So sick of services and apps that put up 4 pictures and some text on their webpage and expect you to sign up and install their app before telling you anything about how the service works. Almost as bad as apps that will let you install them on your PC but you cant alter its settings at all (like disabling 'launch on windows startup') until you are signed in with a valid account. IM looking at you Discord..
  • by MikeDataLink ( 536925 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2017 @11:18AM (#55017901) Homepage Journal

    Recurring revenue is all companies can think about and it is destroying things

    • This isn't taking away the option to pay yourself, and honestly recurring revenue isn't always bad for the consumer because it's a very predictable item in a budget. For metered items sometimes you have to adjust how much you're spending on this (ie, I live in the south. During the summer I can pretty much just assume that my power bill is going to be $70-100 more per month than during the winter due to the air conditioner). If something is flat rate, I know exactly how much something is going to be and

      • by MikeDataLink ( 536925 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2017 @12:24PM (#55018651) Homepage Journal

        recurring revenue isn't always bad for the consumer because it's a very predictable item in a budget. For metered items sometimes you have to adjust how much you're spending on this

        That's true until you have to have 15 subscriptions for competing services to see the content you want to see. HBO for Game of Thrones, Neflix for Victoria, Disney for Star Wars, etc. This isn't what consumers are asking for.

    • Recurring revenue is all companies can think about and it is destroying things

      What really bothers me about it isn't the recurring revenue, but the fixed pie. Looking at streaming media services, as an example, we now pretty much have a fixed pie in the music world. It's a zero-sum game now. If I make a dollar with my music, someone else doesn't. If 5 extremely good albums come out this year, people will spend no more on music.

      Ultimately, this is the problem with a system like this. If a couple of really good movies come out, that means that everybody else will simply make less (

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Fixed that for ya. Omg I DONT LIKE SEEING MOVIES IN A MOVIE THEATER SO THIS IS A terrible idea omg THIS MUST BE A CONSPERACY BECAUSE I SEE NO VALUE FOR ME AND AM ENTIERLY UNABLE TO REOCGNIZE THE FACT THAT OTHER PEOPLE HAVE OTHER INTERESTS. Also I never go to movies or do any social activity because I am way too concerned about my prvicay so I cant ever exit my faraday cage.
  • $$ POPCORN $$ (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 15, 2017 @11:25AM (#55017999)

    Remember folks, theaters make very little if nothing on ticket sales. Most of that goes directly to distributors & media companies, (and middlemen).

    Where theaters really make their money is concessions. So hey, why not let in a bunch of people for basically free (nets the theater zero$), in the hopes you'll triple the amount of popcorn & sugar water sales!! To the average Joe they have just 'saved' thirty bucks on tickets & may drop the same into local establishment's fun-food instead. Really.

  • Movies have largely become "event" things in our culture. Date night, family nights. Not something we do on a daily or even monthly basis.
    $20 a month for a couple to have 4 "date nights" seems like a good deal but how is that any better than $10 for a month of Netflix and chill nights? Especially when your choices are far more limited and you have to deal with annoying crowds.
    (full disclosure - I pay extra for IMAX)
  • The gym membership model .... well, it works for gyms. We'll see.
  • My current understanding is that the theaters make the great majority of their revenue on concessions and almost nothing on the films. My recent experience is that for a family of three, tickets and refreshments are roughly the same cost. (Refreshments may be a little more depending on what we get.) A sharp reduction in ticket costs is very attractive.

    Couple this with other recent changes observed in local theaters (not upscale spendy places that happen to show films, but regular everyday theaters) -- as

  • "runs a startup called MoviePass"

    They should have called it 'Korben Dallas Multipass'

  • So the real question for me was different:

    I know of at least a couple of retirees who would love to get to the movies a couple of times a month.
    So let's see if the theater in their town is supported. No can do. If you want to know, you have to JOIN.

    WTF?

    • by gfxguy ( 98788 )

      It's right there in the summary: "owe, an early Netflix Inc. executive who now runs a startup called MoviePass, plans to drop the price of the company’s movie ticket subscriptions on Tuesday to $9.95. The fee will let customers get in to one showing every day at any theater in the U.S. that accepts debit cards."

      This has nothing to do with theaters - MoviePass is an independent third party that pays the movie theater full price for the ticket.

      Of course, this is more the reason why it's almost certain t

  • Initially he will pay the theaters the "full" price. Once he has enough clout he will negotiate for discounts, play one chain against another. At some point he will dictate the prices. But most theaters depend on pop and pop corn sales and lose money on the screens. So might not turn out to be bad, if the volume of theater goers increase.
  • Netflix has tons of DVD movies that should be copied to a SAN and made available to us viewers. I'd gladly pay $20 a month to access nearly every movie and TV show ever made. I'm not really interested in going to a physical theater to watch a movie. My home set up is quite nice and features a pause button for bio-breaks.

  • Hmm.. I would perhaps have been interested, except that all movies are shown in so called "3D". It is not possible to find a 2D show for most films where I live.

    • 3D is a sucky gimmick that is pretty much always unnecessary and pretty much always not done well - in fact, stereo imaging done well requires abandoning a century a movie making techniques that aren't compatible with it.

      And then there's the price hike, and the stupid glasses. No thanks! If you're lucky, theatres near me will have one screen with a 2D showing per movie per day. I simply don't go to the movies as much anymore.

    • by gfxguy ( 98788 )
      Where do you live? Because every 3D movie that comes out (and it's certainly only a tiny fraction of movies) has at least as many showings in 2D as it does in 3D in every theater around me.
  • Most of the cinema chains already have a moviepass which is about 1.5 the price of a ticket, and it has no restrictions on how many times a day and it even comes with a discount on food and beverages..
  • The only theater in town closed down a couple years ago so unless I want to drive to the next town over.

    So $4 in gas a trip loss of over an hour in drive time each trip so 3X a month i'll i've spent more in gas than the subscription then most likely many months there won't even be a movie showing I want to watch.

  • by crow ( 16139 ) on Tuesday August 15, 2017 @03:05PM (#55020023) Homepage Journal

    I'm guessing that while it obviously won't work with the business model as publicised, they have plans to make it work. I can see two ways that this would work for them:

    Partner with theater chains for a lower ticket price. The only part of this that is difficult is that there's no motivation to partner if they get full price if they don't, and members don't want to only have access to certain chains. Perhaps if they gain a significant share of the market, they could force it.

    Partner with the studios to get them to subsidize it. They're getting most of the money back from the theaters, so they'll still make more money if they get more people in the seats.

Programmers do it bit by bit.

Working...