
Why Did Anyone Think MoviePass Could Have Worked? - CPLX
https://slate.com/business/2018/07/why-moviepass-collapsed.html
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david-cako
Movie theaters are all scrambling to host event screenings and upgrade their
seating and projectors since they're discovering people are having a better
time at home for less money. The wait between theater and home availability is
getting smaller and smaller, and streaming services are building a significant
body of original content.

Moviepass could have a functional formula at 4 movies a month, IMO. Moviepass
is the first widespread means of collecting viewer analytics across multiple
theaters.

Unlimited viewing doesn't seem to fit the current landscape, even excluding
the people that go and see the same movie multiple times. The studios expect
to make too much money, and will only accept being boiled slowly.

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jrnichols
It might not work, but I like what it caused movie theatres to do - compete.
Cinemark now has some $8.99/mo thing that gives you a free movie ticket each
month, they don't expire, you can roll them over, and you get discounts on
concessions.

I don't have MoviePass but this has already been worth it.

In the end, it's gotten me (and friends) back into movie theatres again. Then
we still end up buying/renting the movies from iTunes later.

I thought it would work too, though. The gym membership model. People
subscribe, forget they're paying for it, get too busy, and don't go. Then
MoviePass rakes in a bunch of money. Clearly that didn't happen.

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bm1362
Moviepass should’ve gotten wholesale prices a tenth of the ticket to make it
sustainable. At the end of the day, that’s 10x more traffic to concessions etc
that theatres can absorb. They also could’ve worked out a profit sharing deal
with the movie manufacturers similar to how streaming services pay rights
holders.

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Semiapies
Did customers really think it _was_ going to work as a lasting enterprise, or
did they just jump on to get some cheap movies before it went under?

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olliej
Cheap before it went under seems to be the consensus I’m aware of.

There is no real disincentive to sign up, and if you saw any movies you saved
money - I think it would have probably made financial sense to sign up before
buying tickets and just use it as a discount.

The important thing though is that it does not cost those customers when it
fails (unless they haven’t seen a movie since their last payment) as the break
even for customers was afaict a single movie.

