Already at Movie Theaters Near You: Ticket Subscriptions (nytimes.com) 60
An anonymous reader shares a report: MoviePass, the subscription-based movie ticket service, is struggling to stay afloat. But the payment model it has popularized appears to be here to stay. AMC Theaters, the largest multiplex chain in the United States, rolled out its own MoviePass-style service on Tuesday. For $20 a month, subscribers to AMC Stubs A-List can see up to three movies a week. Also last week, the Alamo Drafthouse chain said it would begin testing a service called Season Pass that would offer unlimited movies for one monthly price.
[...] AMC also said that its service was "sustainable" -- a not-so-subtle shot at MoviePass, which has three million members, most of whom pay $10 a month for the ability to see a movie a day. Many people in Hollywood and on Wall Street think that MoviePass will fail because it loses money on heavy users; Helios and Matheson Analytics, which owns MoviePass, has seen its publicly traded shares fall from $38.86 last year to 31 cents on Friday.
Cinemark, a chain that has 4,566 movie screens in 41 states, began offering this subscription in December. It's very basic: for $9 a month members can see one movie a month (no 3-D) and receive a 20 percent discount on concessions, among other perks. Unused tickets roll over and never expire for paying members. There is no debit card involved, and members can reserve seats online. Sinemia: Started in 2015 in Turkey, this under-the-radar service bears the most similarity to MoviePass. Sinemia operates independently of theaters and involves a two-step process, with members selecting movies with an app and paying for them with a special debit card.
[...] AMC also said that its service was "sustainable" -- a not-so-subtle shot at MoviePass, which has three million members, most of whom pay $10 a month for the ability to see a movie a day. Many people in Hollywood and on Wall Street think that MoviePass will fail because it loses money on heavy users; Helios and Matheson Analytics, which owns MoviePass, has seen its publicly traded shares fall from $38.86 last year to 31 cents on Friday.
Cinemark, a chain that has 4,566 movie screens in 41 states, began offering this subscription in December. It's very basic: for $9 a month members can see one movie a month (no 3-D) and receive a 20 percent discount on concessions, among other perks. Unused tickets roll over and never expire for paying members. There is no debit card involved, and members can reserve seats online. Sinemia: Started in 2015 in Turkey, this under-the-radar service bears the most similarity to MoviePass. Sinemia operates independently of theaters and involves a two-step process, with members selecting movies with an app and paying for them with a special debit card.
Pay to see a movie? (Score:1)
Fucking lol!
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probably workable but not for third parties (Score:3)
I can easily see how a movie theatre can make a profit doing this. Most people probably don't see 12 movies a year so by locking in the $120-$240 per person their average profit per customer goes up. Also, someone who has free tickets is likely to buy more concessions which should help their profit even more. They also lock a customer in so that customer is not going with their friends to other theatres and giving their competition money.
A third party doesn't benefit from any of this. They don't get to sell overpriced popcorn or soda. They can't average their customers and still come out ahead on a season pass. It's like a third party trying to sell season passes to disney world or six flags. The reason six flags can sell season passes for 2x the ticket price is because they know that the heavy users are going to buy food, pay for parking, bring friends, etc... and even if they don't, the average customer only comes once a year without a season pass so getting 2 days upfront is still a pretty good deal. They also get a few people who buy it and don't use it which a third party can benefit from but just breakage probably is not enough to sustain a business model.
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Then again, considering how many empty seats I see in theaters in the rare case where I go, filling any of those seats at all should be an increase in profits for the theaters, even if they're only getting a fraction of what the ticket price is.
I'm not sure this is true. It would be if the theatre was charged per showing but unlike in an airline, a theatre doesn't have to pay for an empty seat. I believe the theatre usually pays either a fixed cost per viewer or a percentage per viewer not a fixed cost per showing. If it's a fixed cost per viewer then the theatre can't sell the vacant seats for cheap.
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Re: probably workable but not for third parties (Score:2)
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Honest question, how to theaters pay for the right to show a movie?
Do they pay a fix cost? Like AMC pays 20 million to the movie company to air a movie?
Do they give a share of ticket sales? Like AMC pays $5 of every ticket sale to the movie company.
Do they pay each time their air a movie? Like each showing, AMC has to pay the movie company $500.
Subscription? Unlimited crap for a sub? (Score:5, Insightful)
Seeing three movies a week sounds great, until you realize there's about 3 movies A YEAR worth seeing.
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It's also nine hours of time when it's all said and done (2.5*3+transport).
That's a lot of disposable time, one a week is likely the practical limit for typical people.
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9 hours huh? So less than 2 days worth of typical TV for the typical American?
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Other things can be done while watching TV.
Additionally, some TV is competing with the movies for time. The fact that a lot of TV is watched doesn't necessarily mean there's plenty of time for movies, it could actually mean there's less.
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Seeing three movies a week sounds great, until you realize there's about 3 movies A YEAR worth seeing.
Oh I take it you think the only movies out there are what is hanging up on large posters and being shown in 5 second shaky cam adverts on TV.
For example in the UK over 800 films are released in cinemas every year. If you can only find 3 you like, maybe the problem isn't the movie, but rather you.
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And how many of these art-house specials are playing at the very-most mass-marketest of mass market AMC theaters? AFAIK all they show is what is hanging up on large posters and being shown in 5 second shaky-cam adverts on TV.
Think for a second before you post "submit" on that snide, patronizing crap?
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And how many of these art-house specials are playing at the very-most mass-marketest of mass market AMC theaters?
Probably quite a lot. Most mass market cinemas will even dedicate weeks to playing them if there's a movie festival on somewhere. My own mass market cinema has 22 different films playing right now. Let me guess, your next problem is that not every movie is playing all the time and that you can be less picky to find the three movies that will spark an otherwise dead soul?
Think for a second before you post "submit" on that snide, patronizing crap?
Thought about it, snided, patronised (something you should try and do at the cinema sometime), and submitted anyway.
Worth it!
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It's all the time sitting in the theater waiting for that *#$-damned "Screen-Vision" tripe and previews to end that actually puts me off this idea. That's what really kept me away from seeing Solo and Incredibles2 more than once.
Nothing on offer is really "unlimited". (Score:2)
I too can't imagine wanting to spend my time seeing Hollywood movies where such a deal would be at all attractive. But I think these deals have a shelf-life—nothing on offer stays on offer in an unlimited fashion. This site has many stories of so-called "unlimited" plans that change later on ("Microsoft previously offered Office 365 subscribers unlimited space [slashdot.org] o
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Seeing three movies a week sounds great, until you realize there's about 3 movies A YEAR worth seeing.
Three full movies a year are worth seeing... You're optimistic.
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How is this new? (Score:2)
I don't see why this is news. For example, Belgian cinema chain UGC offers an unlimited subscription for 19 Euros a month, which you can use to see as many films as you want. I think this offer existed 15 years ago already. In contrast, Moviepass is new in that it is a service that covers more than a single chain.
Hardly a subscription ... (Score:2)
Cinemark, ... began offering this subscription in December. It's very basic: for $9 a month members can see one movie a month (no 3-D) and receive a 20 percent discount on concessions, among other perks.
So, you're basically pre-paying one movie a month (Regal and AMC charge about $9/movie in my area for a matinee) and getting a discount off the retail price of their vastly over-priced food (which, many people don't buy anyway). Wow.
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Double-down and use a laser pointer, pointed on their phone screen.
So anyone else... (Score:2)
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It's an interesting point...
There are movies that I will see in a theater because of the big screen, surround-sound, maybe 3D that is available in the theater that I don't have at home. Yes, yes, I could go buy all that. But I really don't care that much.
On the other hand, I'll rent the fun little comedy or interesting drama. I'll watch it at home or, more recently, on an airplane. I don't really gain anything from seeing it in a theater.
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Hey. Shut up. You're too noisy online too. :) Yeah, I watch mostly at home as well due to my old body that likes to pee, poop, move around, etc. I also can rewind, skip, fast forward, etc. on my demand. I can't do that in theaters. :(
Huh? (Score:2)
The payment model "it" has popularised? What kind of self important drivel is this, I have been getting subscription movie passes since back when the internet consisted of AOL keywords.
movie alternatives (Score:2)
Just today, my 4th of July gift to myself, I got a pass to all the museums, galleries and gardens in my city. That's 3 major art museums, 2 history, natural history, aerospace, science, model railroad, antique vehicles, botanical, photography museum and several formal gardens all in a year 'round park setting with great weather. Cost? $99/year.
Perhaps not as sexy as a movie pass where there might be exotic comic book characters with super powers or state-of-the-art cuddly animated animals or seat-of-the-pan
If.... (Score:2)
If theaters would show interesting movies then I would do this. Years ago I was a member at Cinefamily. Google it, place in Los Angeles; they have couches in the first few rows!
Weird, awesome movies with commentary, q&a, things which any theater really could do.
If theaters want more money, a better experience starts with engaging movie-goers instead of treating them like mindless cattle. Many might be, but many of us want to see interesting movies instead another marvel film.
AMC sucks (Score:3)
I don't see a lot of movies any more, and we mainly go to a few local-ish Cinemarks. Last winter I hit up an AMC that had been remodeled a few years back, and it still seemed like a throwback to 1995. The chairs were nicer now but the seating position was simply bizarre, with the screen seemingly way too high up. The headrests of the cushy seats push your head forward while you really need to put it back because they half-assed the remodel and didn't go with stadium-style tiers. The concession area was also weakly stocked and poorly attended. Price? Same as a nearby Cinemark, where the seats are more comfortable, the screen is in the right place, the concession options are better, and they have enough staff to serve everyone efficiently.
I may just sign up for Moviepass, but I see zero reason to try AMC's in-house version.
Movies and electric shocks (Score:2)
There's a classic experiment where a rat pushes a button for food and it is paired with an electric shock. After a while it will still keep pushing the button for an electric shock.
I feel like movies have become this way. They are just churning out crap and people keep paying for it.
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Then stop watching.
I have seen four movies in the last ten years in the cinema, all "new releases" at the time.
One was free (deal via my mobile provider).
One was literally 50p (half a GBP) (again, deal via my mobile provider)
One was the movie I'd absolutely wanted to see forever and was taken to (The Imitation Game). I paid full price for that.
One was with my daughter in a rural cinema (it cost 5GBP, and I upgraded to a private box with food brought to us for another 5GBP. It would normally cost three tim