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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."
If the theaters like AMC don't support it, how am I supposed to go to the movies?
I would totally be in if this becomes as easy as Netflix though.
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I am sure lots of theaters will sign up for this plan.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
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?"
but at say -$5-15 per person with this at the gate maybe not. At least with cash sales they give out 95%-99% of the gate at least they get to keep a bit to cover CC costs.
You're selling a gift card. With a lot of publicity. It's a good deal (if you believe the company can honor its plans). That's why. With Netflix or Hulu, you had to sell a new experience/good. That meant convincing people why they want it.
I bet I could get over 1M customers real quickly with a $10/mo gets you all the fast food you can eat. It would literally be people who spend $10+ a month opting for a cheaper option.
Your ad here. Ask me how!
... with noisy, distracted fuckwits who didn't really value the experience. It'd also become 2 hour daycare.
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.
The problem is that going to the movie theater is a terrible experience (excepting for those small indie theaters -- they've mostly figured out how to make the experience a good one).
Making a bad experience cheap doesn't actually make it better. If we're talking about the likes of Cinemark, AMC, etc., $10/mo is still overpriced.
Saw Star Wars 8 in widescreen 3d opening weekend in a theatre with 20 people. If that can't put butts in the seats...
On the other hand I dropped $100 for four people with tickets and popcorn, so maybe they only want us to visit once a year - just that empty seat showing could have netted them $2k.
We have something similar in France. It's about 20 euros per month to get a card that let's you go to the cinema as many times as you want. There's also a 30 euros one for the card holder and a friend (works great for couples).
Since they started doing that, they fill all the screenings, sell so much more popcorn that they never really considered removing them. It is worth it for them!
I'm surprised by the low price though, how do they manage with less than $10 per month? From experience, going to the theater once always costed more!
They should try Installing seats that resemble flush toilets. This is a no brainer, don't know how this idea won't save movie theters from dying out.
sudo rm -r -f --no-preserve-root /
How much does the theater get per admission? You can't just flash a card like Dr Who that says let me in. And for AMC you supposedly use it like a credit card which means AMC is charging these people full rate. So go once at ~$15 a ticket and they are under water.
I can make up lots of good deal plans and likely get 1M customers, but that doesn't mean its business viable.
Xbox One
Xbox One S
Xbox One X
2017 LG OLED TVs (need an sound system with ARC HDMI to have it work) and the TV is back feeding the sound system
so I need to have an Xbox with live (added fee) or a very limited list of tv's to get it on nexflix.
The statistical fact is that if you stopped persecuting Blacks, they'd stop committing crimes
Not really true. Crime rates are primarily tied to poverty levels more than anything. We just don't hear as much about all the white trash crime out there because its easier to be racist than to deal with problems.
since we stopped poisoning Blacks with lead.
Yeah, that certainly helps too. Though that was a fairly limited sample set and can hardly be applied to the rest of the country.
The subtle difference, is that in France (and somewhat in other countries such as Switzerland) a substantial part of the movie theater are own by corporations such as Pathe / Guamont. which are also movie studios and movie distributor (i.e.: the whole thing is a lot more vertically integrated).
Meaning it's much more easy for them to negociate the price of the movie ticket, because they are also the distributor of the movie.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Not really, I seldom see people spending $12-15 per person on food. Ticket prices bring in the most cash. And people who go to matinees are cheap bastards.
That's not to say the food is super over priced, but it's not the lions share of revenue.
2-5 movies a month is $10-50+ dollars out of investors pockets each month. 4+ times revenue! How is that sustainable?
theaters make a lot of money on the side by selling other overpriced stuff.
go to theatre (maybe pay for parking), next to the ticket also buy something to eat/drink.
i didn't look into moviepass, but i'm guessing those extra's are not included in the subscription.
you might see something like this in the future:
drink is $5, or buy a ticket from us for $7 including a drink!
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
Not really, I seldom see people spending $12-15 per person on food. Ticket prices bring in the most cash. And people who go to matinees are cheap bastards.
That's not to say the food is super over priced, but it's not the lions share of revenue.
I know I'm an outlier....but....
We saw The Last Jedi over the weekend. We (2 of us) saw it at Alamo Drafthouse. Besides the $20 we spent on tickets, plus the $3 (or whatever) Fandango fee, We spend $60 on dinner at the theater, plus another $15 or so on beer after the movie started. Plus tip. Overall, that is about $100.
Ya, most people don't go to dinner theaters and it is hardly considered a concession. When you start adding that in the movies are no longer just the movies. And you likely don't do that for every movie you go see, or 2-4 times a month like many movie pass people do going to the traditional movie theater.
Or if you do you have enough money to really not care too much about the ticket price either way.