MoviePass is no more. The subscription-based movie ticketing service has collapsed, with no funding forthcoming, and parent company, Helios and Matheson, looking to sell the company’s assets. Still, MoviePass has at least changed things for the better.
A Brief History of MoviePass
MoviePass launched in 2011, offering cinemagoers the chance to watch a certain number of films per month for a set fee. Its popularity waxed and waned until 2017, when MoviePass started offering unlimited movies for just $10/month. Which made headlines.
Seeing one or two movies a month covered the cost of the subscription. However, most users saw more than that, and with MoviePass covering the cost, the company burned through its seed money at a rate of knots. And now, the inevitable has happened.
MoviePass Has Run Out of Money
In a press release, MoviePass’ parent company, Helios and Matheson, announced that its board of directors has formed a strategic review committee to “identify, review and explore all strategic and financial alternatives” for MoviePass.
In the meantime, MoviePass has ceased to function. Or, as the press release puts it, it’s “interrupting the MoviePass service for all its subscribers effective September 14, 2019, because its efforts to recapitalize MoviePass have not been successful to date.
RIP Moviepass: The guy who wanders into the bar at 7 pm and offers to buy everyone drinks for half price, but then the bartender says yo someone still gotta pay full price.
— Tim Baysinger (@tim_bays) September 13, 2019
Helios and Matheson are saying it’s “unable to predict if or when the MoviePass service will continue” and that it’s “continuing its efforts to seek financing to fund its operations.” So while there’s a glimmer of hope this seems like the end of the road for MoviePass.
MoviePass Alternatives to Try Instead
MoviePass was never going to be sustainable in the longterm. Hell, it was bleeding money in the short-term, only propped up by venture capitalists who clearly enjoy frittering their money away on lost causes. However, it HAS forced theater chains to wake up.
Driven by the popularity of MoviePass, theater chains have launched their own MoviePass alternatives. So while MoviePass is no more, cinemagoers can now use AMC Stubs A-List, Regal Unlimited, or Cinemark Movie Club instead. All of which seem sustainable.
And a subscription to one of these should be on any list of gifts for movie lovers.
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