Anyone remember that site CyberRebate.com from the '90s? MP's business plan seems vaguely similar.

Of course data was behind it. But they were effectively paying the full price of s movie ticket each time they were collecting data. Obviously, the buyers aren't going to pay anywhere near that much for data because then even if they had a 100% conversion rate by using the data (which they would obviously never get close to), they still wouldn't make any profit.

Bottom line, you are both kinda saying the same thing. Data was behind it, and it was never going to work.

It wasn't just data they wanted.

They brought to theater owners data that said that customers that used moviepass on average spent $4/person/movie more on concessions. So MoviePass asked for 1. as discount on tickets 2. a cut of concessions.


Theaters told MoviePass to GFY and that was the end of that. The theory works, but the major chains already had their own apps going so there was no need to cut in Moviepass when they could create their own system and not cut in anyone else for any reason. Sure, they don't have the advantage of being used at any theater, but the big studios have a large network and most people don't see many movies per year away from their home.

Even if the theaters were dumb enough to give them a $4 discount per movie, there is still now way it would work at a $10 per month price point. Both their plan to sell data and their plan to negotiate a discount were doomed to fail at $10. If their plan was to charge $25 per month after attracting customers for a few months and after negotiating a discount, then there would at least be a conversation to be had. But I still think they would fail at that price point as well.

When a theater discounts a ticket, they still pay the full amount.


So say I get a free pass issued by the theater to see Solo. The rate theaters pay for Star Wars films is like 65%. If that ticket is $15, the theater pays $9.75 for Solo and keeps $5.25. If I get a free ticket and use it for Solo, the theater still pays $9.75.

The theater gets paid for the previews, commercials before the previews and obviously concessions. Previews pay them somewhere between $.12-$.25 per ticket in the movie. That's why the concessions have to be so high.

So even if they cut their prices on the tickets for MP, they still have to pay that big percentage to the movie on each of those tickets.

Dididnt realize the theaters kept that small of a percentage. Doesn't that just go to show that their stupid discount plan never had a chance of catching on with the theaters? And that even if the theaters were dumb and gave them a $2-3 discount, they'd still quickly go out of business bc they'd be paying $12 per ticket?

Different movies get different percentages. Star Wars get the highest. I think around 55% is the norm.

But remember when an employee gets his free ticket, that theater is still paying a few bucks to the studio/distributor/etc.

Other parts of MP long-term strategy:
-Push their members to certain theatres that were willing to give MP more favorable rates.
-Sell ads through the app to businesses who would market their business to someone like you (eg, dinner at a restaurant near a theatre you frequent)

And also investing in movies.

Hey look, every movie has a surcharge except Gotti. Maybe I will go see Gotti instead of Mission Impossible, it can't be that bad can it?



It can be that bad.

I'd be interested in knowing how 2018 movie attendance compared to the last 5-10 years.

Likewise, i think it'd be interested in seeing how concessions consumption this past year (so far) compared to the last 5-10 years.


For me, both are significantly higher this year, and I've probably purchased as much movie popcorn or concessions at the theatre this year as I had the previous 5 years combined, but I'm probably an anomaly.

Box office is up pretty nicely over previous years. 17 was a down year with bad 'blockbusters', especially compared to 16 and 18. We've also had a lot of big blockbusters this year (Avengers, Ant-Man, MI6, Black Panther, Jurassic Park, Incredibles 2, Deadpool, Jumanji, Solo, Ready Plyaer 1, Oceans 8, and some surprise ones like A Quite Place, Greatest Showman, Wrinkle in Time and I Can Only Imagine.) Many of 2017's big movies were late in the year (Last Jedi, Coco, Justice League, etc)

Guitarsoup said:

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Box office is up pretty nicely over previous years. 17 was a down year with bad 'blockbusters', especially compared to 16 and 18. We've also had a lot of big blockbusters this year (Avengers, Ant-Man, MI6, Black Panther, Jurassic Park, Incredibles 2, Deadpool, Jumanji, Solo, Ready Plyaer 1, Oceans 8, and some surprise ones like A Quite Place, Greatest Showman, Wrinkle in Time and I Can Only Imagine.) Many of 2017's big movies were late in the year (Last Jedi, Coco, Justice League, etc)

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How much of the late 17 surge and 18 blockbusters were aided by MP?

Again, speaking only for me, but with the exception of M16 and I Can only Imagine, I saw all those this year, some multiple times because of MP. For most, repeat visits, I went with a different person as we (the family) worked around the MP system when needed. I'm estimating, that with our family's 2 MPs, the 18 or so movies you listed that I saw we probably used an estimated 90-105 movie tickets (I feel like half alone were to Greatest Showman and TLJ alone), probably 4-5Xs more than we would have seen as I had transitioned more to a Netflix/streaming person over the previous 5 years.


I just wonder when MP dissolves, if people will somewhat maintain that increase from the past pace, revert back to what they had been doing, or now will MP people's price point changed enough that they actually go less?

I think it will be an interesting case study in consumer behavior.

The new moviepass strategy to help the money bleed seems to be prevent members from using the service all together. I wanted to see a movie early on Friday afternoon, check my theater on the app in the morning and there is a 1:30 pm. Go back and check the app around 11 am and all showings for all movies are missing except for the 7 and 9 pm showings. Go check back at around 4 pm and it says no more showings for the day. I kept an eye on the moviepass app all weekend and it was like this, all the showings except evening and late night were gone by around 10 am and those would disappear by 4 pm.

MoviePass lowers terms to 3 movies/month

MoviePass plans to limit customers to three movies a month in a reset of prior terms, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The company notes that about 85% of its customers already watch no more than three movies a month.

CEO Mitch Lowe tells the WSJ the move will help reduce cash burn by 60% and help make the attempted run at profitability more manageable.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/moviepass-slashes-offering-to-three-films-a-month-1533560401?tesla=y

Only place I've seen this info so far. I don't think seeing the whole article is necessary to get the gist of what they are doing.

Looks like until August 15th I will see a bunch of movies and then cancel it after my three movies in late August. The movie pass deal isn't that great here in BCS with that limit

I can live with 3 movies for $10. (IF they remove peak pricing and do not block new releases.)

Edit: Looks like both are going, along with having to submit pictures.

"The price increase and restriction on new releases are being revoked, there will be no surcharges, and users will no longer have to upload photos of tickets they buy to prove they are not committing fraud."

Overall, I'm happy with this move. I'd much rather be able to see 3 movies without any hassles, than putting up with all the other crap they had been trying.

Even as someone who regularly went over 3 movies, this is still a hell of a deal, and is a business model which might actually be sustainable.

Yeah, rather my 3 movies including IMAX/3D for $12.99/mo with Sinemia even if their check in is a little more janky. Especially nice to order from home at any time.

Does anyone know if this affects people who have an annual subscription or just monthly users?

Update: It says "Users will be transitioned to the new plan upon their next service renewal." which would imply that annual subscription holders would continue to get unlimited movies until their annual subscription renews, but at this point who knows.

Jasomania said:

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Does anyone know if this affects people who have an annual subscription or just monthly users?

Update: It says "Users will be transitioned to the new plan upon their next service renewal." which would imply that annual subscription holders would continue to get unlimited movies until their annual subscription renews, but at this point who knows.

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that assumes:
1. the movies/times/locations offered are those you want
2. you can actually use the service and it does not "time out" again.

Even with cash infusions at this point, I think it is a safe bet they do not survive this year. This is not a money-making service.

From the official e-mail:

Quote:

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Here are the details:

• Under our new plan, MoviePass members will be able to see up to three standard movies a month for $9.95, and be given up to a $5.00 discount to any additional movie tickets purchased. Today, 85 percent of MoviePass members go to three movies or less per month, so these changes cater to the majority of our movie-going community.
  
• The new plan will include many major studio first-run films, however there will be some exceptions (note that theaters with e-ticketing will include all movies and showtimes with no restrictions).
  
• We will be suspending Peak Pricing and Ticket Verification requirements for all members in the new plan described above.
  
• Over the coming days, MoviePass members with a monthly subscription renewing on or after August 15th will be given the option in the MoviePass app to transition to the new plan. Quarterly and annual subscribers will not be impacted until their renewal date.

---

The second point is worrisome. They're still leaving themselves a window to block any movie they want.

hope all ya'll move strictly to the monthly option when your subscription comes up.

Once again just after getting email we get to theater and then 80% of the movies disappear from the app

Including the one we wanted to see. Sick and tired of the constant changes to app system and product

That actually might be a glitch, have you tried re-downloading the app?

I'm out...that should help their "cash burn"

The only available showtimes in the theatres near me are after 10pm. What a joke

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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From the official e-mail:

Quote:

---

Here are the details:

• Under our new plan, MoviePass members will be able to see up to three standard movies a month for $9.95, and be given up to a $5.00 discount to any additional movie tickets purchased. Today, 85 percent of MoviePass members go to three movies or less per month, so these changes cater to the majority of our movie-going community.
  
• The new plan will include many major studio first-run films, however there will be some exceptions (note that theaters with e-ticketing will include all movies and showtimes with no restrictions).
  
• We will be suspending Peak Pricing and Ticket Verification requirements for all members in the new plan described above.
  
• Over the coming days, MoviePass members with a monthly subscription renewing on or after August 15th will be given the option in the MoviePass app to transition to the new plan. Quarterly and annual subscribers will not be impacted until their renewal date.

---

The second point is worrisome. They're still leaving themselves a window to block any movie they want.

---

Point 1 tells me they haven't really changed people's movie watching habits much. 3 movies or less per month isn't really a whole lot. I'm guessing people saw about that many to begin with, they just found s cheaper way to do it.

This is a more sustainable model. Still not sure it's there.

They should have went to something like this 6 months ago. We all assumed the $10/mo was temporary to get interest. Instead, they confuse the hell out of there customers and drive them away because of constant changes and lack of reliability. I moved on.

AustinAg2K said:

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Brian Earl Spilner said:

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From the official e-mail:

Quote:

---

Here are the details:

• Under our new plan, MoviePass members will be able to see up to three standard movies a month for $9.95, and be given up to a $5.00 discount to any additional movie tickets purchased. Today, 85 percent of MoviePass members go to three movies or less per month, so these changes cater to the majority of our movie-going community.
  
• The new plan will include many major studio first-run films, however there will be some exceptions (note that theaters with e-ticketing will include all movies and showtimes with no restrictions).
  
• We will be suspending Peak Pricing and Ticket Verification requirements for all members in the new plan described above.
  
• Over the coming days, MoviePass members with a monthly subscription renewing on or after August 15th will be given the option in the MoviePass app to transition to the new plan. Quarterly and annual subscribers will not be impacted until their renewal date.

---

The second point is worrisome. They're still leaving themselves a window to block any movie they want.

---

Point 1 tells me they haven't really changed people's movie watching habits much. 3 movies or less per month isn't really a whole lot. I'm guessing people saw about that many to begin with, they just found s cheaper way to do it.

---

But the 15% of the rest of the subscribers probably watch 10 a month

Has this been discussed?

Apparently MoviePass is limiting users to choosing between two films per day

What a cluster

SeattleAgJr said:

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Has this been discussed?

Apparently MoviePass is limiting users to choosing between two films per day

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Any movie you want!*

Guitarsoup said:

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What a cluster

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well, given the economics, expect similar results for AMC and Regal's policies in the future as more people switch to them.

these plans are not sustainable.

Yes, AMC and Regal can absorb costs better than MoviePass because the control the sale and pricing of concessions, but even they will only go so far in "giving up" their money.

SeattleAgJr said:

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Has this been discussed?

Apparently MoviePass is limiting users to choosing between two films per day

---

I was wondering why suddenly I only had two options at large theaters. At least Mission Impossible is one now...

If this is how it's going to be going forward how the hell was this not disclosed in the apology email or the change of services email?

at this point, they are just making it up as they go (down the drain).