What was old is new again. MoviePass, the movie subscription service that flamed out spectacularly in 2019, has been reformulated as a new company, led by Stacy Spikes, one of its founders. The new MoviePass is on track to relaunch its movie subscription service in the summer of 2022.
At its peak, the old MoviePass had 3M monthly subscribers, with the right to see unlimited movies at a $9.99/month rate. While popular with consumers, the financial model was unsustainable, the “synergies” that were relied on to make it work did not materialize, and the company collapsed. But the appeal of movie subscriptions was adopted by many exhibitors directly and is now a feature of many theatre loyalty programs.
This time, the company is taking a more “inclusive” approach to expanding moviegoing overall, to the mutual benefit of consumers, exhibitors, and distributors. Spikes explained that MoviePass will operate as a co-op for moviegoers, “that actually buys tickets in the marketplace and works from that point of view.” Customers will be able to redeem credits to buy movie tickets, with a certain number of credits added to the customer’s account each month to which they subscribe.
Different movies and showtimes will cost a different number of credits, based on demand for that movie and showtime. The hoped-for outcome is that MoviePass winds up driving more ticket sales overall, especially for off-peak showtimes and for independent titles.