MoviePass - will it die a premature death or is it here to stay

i'm not getting it lol

don't want no short short waitlist

Only about 10 hours left to get on the waitlist!

it's probably going to be the return of Columbia House-style sales.

You get to see 12 movies for the price of 1 (with an agreement to purchase tickets to 12 more movies in the next year).

Gotta say that Alamo's own version of this is way handier.

that's the thing, Regal's unlimited plan was $22 a month for unlimited movies AND I have a Regal in town that gets at least one art film a month mere miles from me, and it lets me reserve seats in advance.

most of our theatres are chains, and the one "art" movie theatre in the city basically watered down its selection years ago to indie films that you could ostensibly see at any theatre. so I have no neeeeeed for Moviepass.

unless they come with glasses that make the movie I'm watching better.

Orlando lost out on the Alamo Drafthouse we were supposed to get due to pandemic, still bitter about that

I signed up for the waitlist because I want to know what kind of clusterfuck they’re planning

I love Alamo's, but gotta admit the AMC version is mostly better because you get to reserve more than 7 days out in advance. Only point in favor of Alamo is that it's one per day, vs AMC's 3-per-week.

Still kind of hope for Moviepass working on the odd arthouse movie theater in my area and the other non-Alamo/AMC chains.

AMCs was decent too, I cut them out when I realized I was spending too much and forced myself to decide between Regal and AMC.

In my case I have a real advantage in that the Alamo is very much my local — as in five blocks away — theater. So honestly it’s my best value for money by default

nice basement too I hear

I'm still on it, just a little disappointed about the 7-day thing and also that they started charging me $1.89 "convenience fee" for each ticket, which is straight-up petty bullshit. And the various "movie party" screenings they programmed to avoid being eligible for Season Pass. etc. But my local Alamo is much closer than the AMCs, too. Since they reopened though, they've put on a lot less "trash" cinema and 35mm screenings that I used to love.

I remember the convenience fees from when I first jumped on Season Pass, they were really irritating then too!

CONGRATULATIONS, CHICAGO!
The Chicago area is one of the first markets in which we’ll be testing the new MoviePassBETA.
Here’s how the new MoviePassBETA will work:
In the coming weeks, we’ll send out exclusive access codes to create your account and sign up for your desired plan. To ensure we are able to meet demand, a limited number of access codes to the MoviePassBETA will be sent at a time. When you receive your code is based on your place in the waitlist.

Once you’ve received your access code, you’ll be able to sign up for one of these plans:

Basic - $10 (1 - 3 movies per month based on peak or off-peak times)

Standard - $20 (2 - 4 movies per month based on peak or off-peak times)

Pro - $30 (3 - 5 movies per month based on peak or off-peak times)

*Prices and credits per tier may vary per market. This is a beta launch so prices and levels are subject to change based on customer and market feedback.

Each tier provides you with credits that you’re able to use at any movie theater that accepts credit cards. The cost of each film varies based on demand and time of the week.

Start going to the movies the same day at supported e-ticketing theaters. Once you get your MoviePass card in the mail, activate it in the app, and go to any theater that accepts credit cards!

It’s our goal to use this beta period to work out the kinks and provide extraordinary service. That’s why we look forward to your feedback as you use the new MoviePass BETA

That… is underwhelming.

But my local Alamo is much closer than the AMCs, too. Since they reopened though, they've put on a lot less "trash" cinema and 35mm screenings that I used to love.

Cunning to have a system that provides worse value the more you spend.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-11-07/moviepass-was-not-a-good-business

The theory was that there were a lot of new marketplace businesses with strong network effects and winner-take-all dynamics, so it was crucial to get lots of customers quickly. If you could do that, you would lock in a leading position in the business, and your customers would come to rely on you. And then you could work out the unit economics — most obviously by raising prices, though you could think of other ways. Perhaps you would achieve some economies of scale when you got really big. Perhaps you could strike some sort of deal with your suppliers to lower your costs. In particular, there was a popular view that customer data was really valuable — “the new oil” — and that if you ended up with a lot of data about a lot of customers you could find some way to make money with it. Sell ads to other money-losing startups, maybe.

This theory sometimes went by the name “blitzscaling,” and it was part of the bull case for big-name startups like Uber Technologies Inc. and WeWork Inc. It was particularly associated with the venture investments of SoftBank Group Corp. and its Vision Fund. But the name that I often used for it around here — which I borrowed from Kevin Roose at the New York Times — was “the MoviePass economy.” Not because MoviePass was the first or biggest company to use this model, but because it was the funniest and most obvious example. When you take an Uber, you don’t really know whether Uber is making or losing money on the transaction. When you saw a movie with MoviePass, you knew.

I totally forget MoviePass even re-launched. Was that article a (second) obituary?

The article mentions (with this NPR link) that it’s coming back “but in a much less funny form.”

it's being rolled out in single cities as test markets and you get "credits" to spend on movies where the price varies depending on popularity, so i'm so it seems like they're actually trying to turn a profit this time

Yeah, I knew it was coming back; Chicago is one of the test markets, and I had an invite, though I had no interest in getting a membership. I just wasn't sure if all that had happened already and the service quickly died a second death.