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MoviePass Adds a Million Subscribers, Even if Theaters Aren't Sold on It (nytimes.com)
From a report: As streaming services like Netflix and Hulu surge in popularity, movie theaters have been trying to compete by rethinking the concession counter and installing seats that resemble beds. Yet attendance was flat at North American cinemas in 2016, and analysts are predicting a 4 percent decline in 2017, bringing ticket sales to a 22-year low. Perhaps something more radical is necessary. Mitch Lowe, a Netflix co-founder, certainly thought so when he took over a ticketing firm called MoviePass in June 2016. By August of this year, when MoviePass introduced a cut-rate, subscription-based plan -- go to the movies 365 times a year for $9.95 a month -- Mr. Lowe had been declared an enemy of the state. "Not welcome here," AMC Entertainment, the largest multiplex operator in North America, said in an indignant August news release that threatened legal action. It may be time to get on board: MoviePass said this month that it had signed up more than one million subscribers in just four months (Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source). It took Netflix more than three years to reach that level when it started selling low-priced subscriptions for DVD rentals in 1999. Spotify was relatively quick, at five months in 2011. It took Hulu 10 months to reach one million later that year. "We're actually shocked," Mr. Lowe said. "We seem to have hit a nerve in America."
From the theaters perspective, it's just a debt card. They get the full ticket price. What people should be asking is how MovePass plans on even breaking even, much less making any money. It seems like they're doing the "I'll sell you this crummy quarter for that shiny dime" thing...
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
What's really insane is the theaters not realizing small income from tickets will likely translate to people spending more at concessions. So they're turning their noses up at more customers spending more money they actually get to keep versus the current shrinking ticket sales and concessions.
Yet attendance was flat at North American cinemas in 2016, and analysts are predicting a 4 percent decline in 2017, bringing ticket sales to a 22-year low. Perhaps something more radical is necessary.
How about good movies - that aren't reboot #13 of some long worn out franchise that you are squeezing for every last penny, licensing fee and take-down notice you can wring out of it?
Silence is a state of mime.