I'd be happy with a permanent Costco model. I pay an annual subscription and theater chains allocate their cost and overhead plus 2-5% paid at each movie. I'd assume that would result in only a $3-4 cost per movie.

https://www.thewrap.com/moviepass-parent-raise-1-2-billion-save-theater-subscription-service/amp/

Guitarsoup said:

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The surge pricing doesn't really make sense to me unless MP has finalized deals to get discounts on tickets with exclusions.

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I think there's three things at play:

1) A new revenue stream with the surge fees. Won't be much but still something.
2) Limits the amount of movies people will see in a month. Gets them closer to actually breaking even.
3) It's a leverage strategy with the theaters by proving MP's ability to shift demand. Assuming that surge pricing will apply to all new release movies on Fridays and Saturday - you got to think the Monday-Thursday crowds at movies will increase. Movie Pass can show that they shifted that demand. "You're welcome for filling up your theaters on off nights that are usually empty - now pay us."

I'm still a believer in movie pass. I don't think the 2x price tag of the AMC club will compete. There seems to be many consumers that are upset about the recent changes, but this is still an insanely good deal.

The changes that are being made are understandable but frustrating because they are happening too frequently. I would imagine that the next step will be only Monday thru Thursday and Friday-Sunday only after the movie has been in theaters X number of days

This whole concept doesn't work at $9.95. It's a terrible business model and any chain can launch their own version.

Shouldn't be a surprise that it will morph to stay afloat. Even Netflix's model isn't sustainable with how much new content they are buying/funding. They will continue to grow and show negative profits until they decide to slow the new content or advertise more and up their pricing.

evan_aggie said:

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This whole concept doesn't work at $9.95. It's a terrible business model and any chain can launch their own version.

Shouldn't be a surprise that it will morph to stay afloat. Even Netflix's model isn't sustainable with how much new content they are buying/funding. They will continue to grow and show negative profits until they decide to slow the new content or advertise more and up their pricing.

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While I agree in part the cinemark deal is horrid for BCS. AMC deal doesn't work in this town. So it is the best deal in town until it goes away. Five movies so far this month. June was way down and we only saw five total. Normally 10-12 each month because of the way my job works

I may consider dropping my subscription after the summer. There's 1 good movie to see each month, not worth it when I'm seeing matinees all the time. Sucks when I want to see a movie again or my theater doesn't show the movie I want to see.

Only worth it if you live in a city with jacked up prices, you can't see matinees and there's more than 1 good movie each month. August looks like a dud.

Netflix had $500 million in profit last year, and $290 million in profit the last quarter.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.businessinsider.com/netflix-cash-burn-will-continue-2017-4

"On Monday, Netflix reiterated that it expects to have a negative free cash flow of $2 billion in 2017, versus $1.7 billion in 2016."

So they will have to slow down how much they spend on content or increase their subscriber base to cover it...or increase prices. If they added 200 million users the can cover the $2b.

evan_aggie said:

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https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.businessinsider.com/netflix-cash-burn-will-continue-2017-4

"On Monday, Netflix reiterated that it expects to have a negative free cash flow of $2 billion in 2017, versus $1.7 billion in 2016."

So they will have to slow down how much they spend on content or increase their subscriber base to cover it...or increase prices. If they added 200 million users the can cover the $2b.

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They are profitable and have been for at least the last four years.

https://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/nflx/financials?query=income-statement

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.polygon.com/platform/amp/2017/8/15/16151944/netflix-disney-debt

You can show a profit and still have an unsustainable model/price point (assuming the negative cash flow with content obligations). They will bump the price in a year or two by $1-$2 (or more)...maybe crack down on people sharing accounts, etc.

Also, Netflix content is theirs until the end of time

They can slow down on original productions and give people time to catch up

It's downfall will be paying out 2-3x vs what they take in a month. They are screwed even if they lose 50,000 subscribers a month.

Wicked Good Ag said:

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The peak pricing hit BCS. I wanted to see a movie tonight and it hit peak and less than half the theater is full. The next showing tonight is in the expected peak pricing soon but not yet. They have sold ZERO tickets so far. It is subjective on the whim of movie pass which will cause people to leave. If that is what they are wanting then fine but why not just shut down if you are wanting to lose subscribers. The conditions changing every hour will be its downfall

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I cancelled MP and put down this peak pricing as the reason

evan_aggie said:

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It's downfall will be paying out 2-3x vs what they take in a month. They are screwed even if they lose 50,000 subscribers a month.

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I agree. Either get out or build your client list with issues of escalation of commitment
This new change will effectively give them some money for a short period of time for those who decide to use is but the changing conditions will make people end their subscriptions
I am not paying extra for a movie without one ticket sale for the theater for a movie out for three weeks.

The app just changed four movies from possible peak to peak when I got within 100 yards of theater.

That was an extreme coincidence or preditory. Will test this theory tomorrow at lunch by running by and seeing if it changes

evan_aggie said:

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It's downfall will be paying out 2-3x vs what they take in a month. They are screwed even if they lose 50,000 subscribers a month.

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If they make it irritating for people to use as often or get them to pay the surcharge, but not so irritating that they unsubscribe, it might work out for them. They just need to get the average down closer to one movie a month. I think I saw somewhere that their average across the subscriber base is around 2 movies a month.

Once again no peak on movie pass when I left. As I get to theater four go to peak and five others to expected peak. None of the movies have even 20% sold

Yeah, that's what it sounds like. There's reports on reddit of peak pricing on a showing with 8 people in the theater.

This is scummy as ****. I'd rather they just raise the price to $20, but the bottom line is they just want their subscribers to not watch the movie at all.

Going to be cancelling my MP this month. Every movie but Three Strangers was at peak

Unfriended: Dark Web is at peak.

******* laughable.

UMichAg said:

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Going to be cancelling my MP this month. Every movie but Three Strangers was at peak

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Get in on these Sinemia plans while they are discounted. They are taking advantage of this current MP ****up.

https://www.sinemia.com/new-plans

Monthly plus a discounted movie ticket is probably the only sustainable program for MP. It has already curbed my pointless/needless watching because I don't want to shell out $3.50.

Guitarsoup said:

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UMichAg said:

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Going to be cancelling my MP this month. Every movie but Three Strangers was at peak

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Get in on these Sinemia plans while they are discounted. They are taking advantage of this current MP ****up.

https://www.sinemia.com/new-plans

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This looks way better than MP (at least for someone like me who only goes to 1-2 movies a month). Have you tried it? If so, any impressions?

Guitarsoup said:

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UMichAg said:

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Going to be cancelling my MP this month. Every movie but Three Strangers was at peak

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Get in on these Sinemia plans while they are discounted. They are taking advantage of this current MP ****up.

https://www.sinemia.com/new-plans

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Sadly not a great deal in BCS many other places yes but I will be testing to see if I go at say 10:00am to get tickets will that work here in College Station

Officially joined Sinemia.


Here is a referral link. Click it and you get a $5 credit (and I do, too.)

https://www.sinemia.com/R/XY2VKR

Pretty great deal right now for their summer sale. Hell of a lot better than Moviepass unless you go see more than 3 movies/month.

Starting to look like the only way to avoid peak pricing going forward is go to M-W, or to plan way ahead on weekends and grab a ticket early morning for a later show.

It looks like with Sinemia, you're limited to one premium movie format (eg, 3D) per month. It's still better than MP, but they do have some hidden terms

From what I'm reading, you have to pay $2 convenience fee when getting your tickets.
https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/05/06/moviepass-competitor-sinemia-now-starts-4-99-per-month-caveats/



Might be able to get it waived via Facebook.
https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/facebook-launches-movie-ticketing-discounts-through-fandango-atom-tickets-1202731932/

Saw skyscraper last night at 9:30

No peak pricing, 3 people in theater