It’s been a rough July for MoviePass. The subscription service, which covers your full-price ticket in exchange for a small subscription fee ($10 per month on the movie-per-day plan), has been intermittently shutting down and scrambling for cash even as it begins blocking movies. This has left many wondering how long the service could last, and the answer appears to be, uh, maybe until the end of this sentence.
Many subscribers are reporting that MoviePass is almost completely shut down, apparently except for Landmark Theaters, where the company has an exclusive deal. The screencapped evidence is pouring in.
has the plug been pulled? #MoviePass pic.twitter.com/Z5RlLBnw8q
— Baztastic ran 48.6.. is now Dopey! (@BazTastic77) July 30, 2018
https://twitter.com/andyherndon/status/1024020463683395584
I just drove 35+ miles to go to a movie on my birthday and this is what I'm seeing on every theater on my @MoviePass app. I've been a loyal customer for nearly 3yrs. That's coming to end real soon. #Moviepass @MoviePass_CS pic.twitter.com/fWVf9KS36n
— Chris Skalicky (@Schlick51) July 30, 2018
That reflects reports of behind the scenes struggles reported by Deadline, which seems to think the bell has tolled:
“I think they’re done,” guessed one distribution insider gloomily. After a 250-1 stock split last week, MoviePass’ parent company Helios & Matheson fell from a new share price of $22 to a closing price today of $0.80 per Deadline’s Dade Hayes with the corporation facing NASDAQ delisting. If by some wing and a prayer MoviePass miraculously survives this, God knows all of this is taking a toll on its reported 3 million subscribers. We’ll keep you updated.
Of course, before we load the app onto a funeral pyre and light it, it’s worth remembering that either the company might be bought out, possibly by one of the theater chains it’s been squabbling with, or by somebody else who thinks the future of filmgoing is in subscriptions. After all, there are plenty of sets of deep pockets in the tech industry wanting to grab hold of data on how we watch movies, and MoviePass’ three million users are an attention-getting number. That said, for now, you’ll either have to wait to see what happens or, ugh, pay full price for a ticket.
(via Deadline)
