MoviePass Has Shut Down For 'Several Weeks' To Update Its App (theverge.com) 47
MoviePass, the long-embattled film subscription service, has shut down for "several weeks" in order to complete work on an updated version of its app and to recapitalize for when the service relaunches. From a report: "There's never a good time to have to do this," MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe said in a statement, "but to complete the improved version of our app, one that we believe will provide a much better experience for our subscribers, it has to be done." Lowe's statement promised "an enhanced technology platform, which is in the final stages of completion," in the upcoming app. The service shut down on July 4th at 5AM ET, and MoviePass has not announced when it will come back online. During this period, MoviePass will not accept new sign-ups, and existing subscribers will not be charged while the service is offline. Subscribers will also be automatically credited for the downtime once the service is back online.
Uh-huh (Score:1)
key word is recapitalize (Score:2)
absurd app claim is a smokescreen to avoid stories focusing on the more mundane capitalization problem.
Re: (Score:2)
is that a long word for "not making money"?
Death Throws (Score:2)
Summer blockbuster season (Score:4, Insightful)
Kids are out of school, lots of movies are out which have mainstream audience appeal... Yup, totally buying that they're going "offline" to fix their app.
What a friggin dumpster fire of a company.
Re: (Score:2)
Is it time for my "I told you so!" parade, already?
It it was only a couple of days ago that Regal cinemas launched their own ship of fail, unlimited monthly movie subscriptions.
If you own a national chain of movies theaters, there's a chance that you can actually make this work. Movie theaters make a lot of money from food sales, so if you can get more people into theaters because they paid for a subscription and want to get the most out of it, you can possibly make out pretty well.
MoviePass, on the other hand, is just a stupid scam. The only way they make money is if people pay for a subscription and don't use it.
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Smart (Score:5, Funny)
This is smart. You can't keep an application running while you are developing a new version.
Re: (Score:2)
Well... it is kinda hard to pay those cloud hosting charges for production infrastructure when you're out of money.
Don't worry, I'm sure that they're re-release their app once their new VC approved "revenue generation model" is fleshed out.
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This company is like a train wreak. No matter how hard you try you just can't look away. A while back is was kind of amusing to see them try to make this work. Today, it's just sad.
Re: (Score:2)
Hasn't anyone told them about not using the live system for development? They should be able to scrape together enough money for a few development servers which would mirror the live system. And if they have to migrate data from the live version to a newer version, they could have automated that so it could be done in a few hours, not manually for a few weeks.
Apu hasn't gotten to that chapter in Web Development For Dummies yet.
AMC Theatres "AMC Stubs A-List"... (Score:1)
AMC Theatres has a membership deal that's pretty nice if you go to the movies fairly often and your local AMC theater or theaters has a selection of movies that you like. They have "AMC Stubs A-List". It is $20 plus tax per month ($21.75 for me) and you can see 3 movies a week or around 12 movies per month. You can see standard 2D, RealD 3D, IMAX 2D, IMAX 3D, etc., no new releases are excluded. Special event shows are mostly excluded (like Doctor Who or the recent Forrest Gump anniversary showing). If
Re: (Score:1)
Oops, I forgot to include a link to the AMC Theatres website. You can sign up for A-List there and get tickets for movies. They also have an app (available from your app store) that you can use to get tickets, and they can scan a QR code from the app at the theater to use as your ticket.
https://www.amctheatres.com/ [amctheatres.com]
Re: (Score:2)
I've looked at it. It is a reasonably good deal. I am not going to the movie theater often enough to justify the expense. But maybe I'll end up getting it anyway and use the movie theater as upscale cable.
Re: Since when this is 'news for nerds'? (Score:2)
So...with that in mind, our friends and family are wondering whether
Another excuse for impaired tech implementation. (Score:2)
" ... the improved version of our app, one that we believe will provide a much better experience for our subscribers ... "
This foolish statement reflects a lot of what goes on and what is wrong with modern technologies and apps. Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with the technology, but when the tech becomes an end unto itself rather than a tool to deliver a valuable and viable service, it risks irrelevance. The business model for this company has failed, and the service delivery model has fai
Re: (Score:2)
There are broken user interfaces out there, but mostly those come from non-broken interfaces that someone insisted on fixing.
Fixing something that isn't broken is, for the most part, a reliable sign that someone has no clue what they are doing.
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" ... the improved version of our app, one that we believe will provide a much better experience for our subscribers ... "
An app that is enabled will probably provide a much better experience for their subscribers than one that is disabled, so technically the CEO is not lying.
Of course the CEO is talking BS. It's their job, The reasonably reliable information content of his statement could have been reduced to: "The service has shut down.".
The only way this announcement gets funnier..... (Score:2)
"The company is financially healthy and growing every day. We do not have liquidity problems, all is proceeding normally. This shutdown is only while we work on the app."
Too good to be true (Score:2)
MoviePass is on its deathbed. I don't know how it took this long!