CEO Doesn't Know if MoviePass Will Offer a Movie Per Day Plan Again (engadget.com) 39
The subscription service famous for supplying a movie ticket per day for just $9.95 a month hasn't been offering that wildly popular package since April 13. From a report: The company's too-good-to-be-true offer of one movie per day for $10 subscription model brought it 500,000 subscribers in one month, but MoviePass' finances show that the startup is struggling while still being dogged by its CEO's comments around tracking his customers. Recently, the company downgraded its available new subscriber plans to a three-month, $30 "limited time" offer that includes four movies per month and a three-month trial of iHeartRadio premium. It seems as if this offer now has no limit; CEO Mitch Lowe told The Hollywood Reporter that he was unsure if the movie-per-day plan would even return as an option. "Do you think you will go back to a movie a day?" a THR reporter asked Lowe at CinemaCon in Las Vegas. "I don't know," he responded.
I’m shocked! (Score:2)
So what you’re saying is that something too good to be true on paper as a business model was actually too good to be true? Shocking!
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More shockingly, this company with no real business plan isn't based in California!
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Hmmm... lotsa good flix, tho. And a few sci-fi to make it worthwhile. There was Maze Runner, Annihilation, Rampage (yeah, its an action flick too...), Pacific Rim (stupid, just use shore batteries), Ready Player One, Geostorm, Planet of the Apes series, Valarian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Colossal (maybe more fantasy than sci-fi), Arrival, The Space Between Us, Rogue One, Independence Day, Looper, and The 5th Wave, all within the last couple years.
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I'll bet that was an assumption of the plan. Most people don't have time or interest in movies to go "every day" -- so you end up going every other month. And this allows them to make money.
But of course, as with any new toy, we use it like crazy for the first few weeks. And that costs them money and apparently on a losing scale.
No appeal (Score:2)
The deal was great if you wanted to go see what was playing. But since there's almost nothing I want to see I decided to pass on it.
Re:No appeal (Score:4, Insightful)
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The business model was really a bit more complicated than that. You could start pressuring some theater to give you a better price, or you won't send your traffic there.
But it sounds almost impossible to pressure big chains, which is where the expenses are going to be.
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The theaters have little ability to reprice their tickets, due to deals with the studios for ticket sales.
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Which means they not only didn't have a business plan, they didn't even do their due diligence and do basic research.
First, most of a ticket's price - anywhere from 50-100% (100% on opening weekend, 50% after a month or so) does not go to the
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... their business model is just plain stupid... take $10 a month from users... pay a $10 movie ticket for them up to 30 times a month ...
Sure, but are there really 30 movies you -- hell, anyone -- would want to see every month? Perhaps, in a really good month, there are maybe 4 I would consider seeing and that certainly doesn't happen every month - or even most months. Also most people are at work 5 days a week.
The business model relies on the practical matters that (1) there aren't that many movies to watch and (2) most people won't be available to watch them anyway, but it *sounds* like too good deal to pass up so, like a gym membershi
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Sure, but are there really 30 movies you -- hell, anyone -- would want to see every month? [...] Also most people are at work 5 days a week.
Enter teenager.
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Or the retired. Me. I'm a big movie fan anyway, and generally see almost everything. I got the 1-year subscription because I figured this would happen. I've had the card about a month, it cost me $105.35, and I've already got my fee back in the equivalent saved movie ticket prices, even tho I get the $8.50 senior price.
We're entering a time when its less lucrative, the summer, when the big movie providers only provide 1 movie per week. OK, will buy them too. Am going to enjoy the next 11 months, a
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I think that's a great point, they relied on not many people using it then making more off subscriptions and user data sales. The old adage of "if you are not paying for a service, you are the product" really kept me well clear of MoviePass.
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Well, if the theater is playing Korean, Spanish, French, Italian, Chinese and Japanese movies, there may be close to 15 a month I would want to see.
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But repayment time was 1 movie. I bet there always 1 movie per month you'd be willing to see some evening when bored. If you live in some areas (Silicon Valley, NYC) a ticket is closer to 20 and one movie a month was a 100% gain. If they had been say $50 a month for up to 1 a day it would have possibly made money. At $10 it was too cheap.
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It used to be $50-60/month for the service about 6 years ago when it was new. I know, I had it. It was also quirky, didn't have the app, and didn't work all the time. But even then it was a deal if you lived somewhere expensive like I do (NYC). However, back then I wound up ditching it because the movie cost vs sub cost wasn't a big difference so there was little benefit unless I committed to 5+ movies every month.
I'm pretty sure this round of pricing was basically to make their name, get their subs, an
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Guess what? Your use case isn't exactly the same as everyone else's!
What if those movies didn't cost you any money? What if checking out that odd titled movie your friend randomly mentioned was a matter of just stopping in and seeing it...and leaving if it sucks with no hard or cost? BC that's what moviepass also is.
Some people (particularly younger ones and diehard fans) will see movies multiple times. There certainly ARE movies to watch. They might not all be great, but when the ticket price is zero
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Some people (particularly younger ones and diehard fans) will see movies multiple times.
So much for that ... MoviePass Changes TOS To Prevent You From Seeing the Same Movie More Than Once [slashdot.org]
Re: No appeal (Score:1)
Considering how few people are in the theater when I'm watching a film, if the theater gets even a quarter the ticket price that would be a significant win.
Movies are grossly overpriced for what you get. In terms of movie pass, there just aren't enough movies to make it worthwhile.
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That wasn't the business model. No, the model is the same for most startups these days - come up with a clever idea, get greedy VC people to give yoi millions of dollars, sign up lots of customers no matter how much cash you burn through, get more VC have a billion dollar IPO, cash out, and finally leave some other poor suckers holding the bag.
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Where are you going to get your SJW indoctrination done now, though???
This sounds a lot less crazy (Score:2)
One movie a day was a crazy for $10/month was a crazy deal on a model where movie pass pays full price for your ticket. Because then some people will use the theater as their tv and you'll end up with people who will cost you hundreds of ticket per year. And recouping your cost becomes a lot harder.
4 movies a month for $120 a year seems a lot more reasonable. You'd have to be really disciplined about going to the movies to get more than 30 in a year.
Not worth it for me, I spend about $200 in movie theaters
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The original plan wasn't quite so crazy as it seemed, although clearly there were problems. The idea on profitability comes down to three things:
1. Get discounted ticket prices from theater chains on the sales pitch that people who paid so little for a ticket will be more willing to pay for concessions.
2. Bank on a certain percentage of people not using the service very much.
3. Monetize customer data somehow, perhaps by making it available to industry marketers.
Movie Pass screwed up the execution, plain
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Your suggested 'fix' would likely decimate their sub base and is short-sighted to say the least...oh, and it's what they already did in the past and got no traction with.
#2 already happens. Most of their subs are about break-even and see ~1 movie a month. Discount tickets they can't force unless they're in a position of power which was likely the whole point of making their service practically free for a while.
Monetizing customer data isn't a big part of their plan in the traditional way, instead they hav
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I bought the year pass for something like $90. I have used it twice in the last month, so I feel like I'm ahead so far. There's no way I will average 4 movies a month, let alone go over that, though I guess I might hit that some months. And I can walk to 2 theaters from my house, if I had to get in my car there would be even less likelihood of using it a lot.
Since you can't book in advance most places, you are essentially only able to get seats which would otherwise be empty, and since the ticket is "free"