It’s been about a month and a half since my MoviePass arrived in the mail, and I’ve seen more movies in the last 6 weeks than I have in the last 15 years. And I love it! Despite there being a meaningful group of people who have their complaints about customer support or things not working, I have had zero issues.
For those of you that aren’t familiar with the concept of MoviePass, you pay a monthly (7.99) or annual ($90 through Costco) fee for the service. Then with the service, you can watch one 2D movie every single day. If you go to between 8 or 9 evening showings, you’re breaking even. Anything beyond that, and you’re well ahead because the shows I’ve gone to range between $11-13. Craziness.
Here’s how it works in case you aren’t familiar with the process. When you subscribe to the service, they mail you a physical MoviePass credit card. When you’re ready to buy your tickets, you check in to the particular movie and time through their app. You do need to be within 100 yards of the theater, but I haven’t had any issues with that piece. After you check in, you have 30 minutes to purchase your ticket using the physical card. The purchase process works just the way that it normally would, you just swipe your MoviePass credit card and they handle the charge.
So far, I’ve had a chance to see the Jumanji movie (really good), Game Night (good, not the best), Every Day (really liked it), The Greatest Showman (loved it!), Red Sparrow (solid, but a bit long), Black Panther (great!), A Wrinkle in Time (the only one I wouldn’t recommend), I Can Only Imagine (great!) Pacific Rim: Uprising (pretty good). I don’t know that I’ll keep that pace, but I have really enjoyed getting out and seeing them.
So what’s the downside? Well, the current business model just doesn’t make sense. Take, for example, just 4 of those movies. In order to see them, I have accumulated close to $50 worth of charges or nearly half of what I paid for a year. I understand that they have some investors and effectively are a Ponzi scheme that keeps attracting new customers that help pay for the old ones, but that’s just not sustainable.
Moviepass has to be bleeding cash!
Now the premise behind what they are doing may have some legs. Since you have to buy same day tickets, effectively they are allowing theaters to fill empty seats with people that presumably end up buying concessions, so it’s a huge net positive from the theater’s perspective.
However, unless MoviePass is able to strike up some deals with the theaters to either find a way to pay fall less per ticket or get some of that pull through revenue (like concessions), this company is doomed.
That all being said, I’m going to enjoy the ride while it lasts, because for the price I paid (and with Costco’s backing), this is really a no lose scenario. I just hope they hang on long enough for me to enjoy seeing some more movies before they go under.
Have thoughts? Let me know @TalkToErik.
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