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Struggling MoviePass Kills Off Its Annual Plan -- Even If You Already Paid For It (nypost.com)
Slashdot reader nolaguy quotes the New York Post:
Movie subscription service MoviePass has pulled the plug on annual subscriptions, telling those subscribers that they will have to adhere to the same terms as monthly subscribers. The service made the announcement Friday in an email to those members and offered them prorated refunds if they want to cancel their annual memberships.... Until Friday's announcement, subscribers to the $89 annual plans had been able to see a movie a day.
CNET reports that MoviePass "is now forcing you onto its monthly three-movie-a-month plan -- effective immediately...and you'll receive up to a $5.00 discount on any additional movie tickets purchased." They're plannning to apply the $89 annual fees toward the $9.95 monthly fees, but.... To add insult to injury, MoviePass says you'll only have until Aug. 31 -- a week from today -- if you want to get some of your money back in the form of a prorated refund, which you can only get by canceling your plan. And just to make things more ridiculous, MoviePass is preying on your FOMO by saying that if you do take the refund, you won't be able to sign up for MoviePass again for nine months.
CNET's article ends with a link to their list of "the 11 times that MoviePass altered the deal," adding "This is getting sad. And a little shady."
CNET reports that MoviePass "is now forcing you onto its monthly three-movie-a-month plan -- effective immediately...and you'll receive up to a $5.00 discount on any additional movie tickets purchased." They're plannning to apply the $89 annual fees toward the $9.95 monthly fees, but.... To add insult to injury, MoviePass says you'll only have until Aug. 31 -- a week from today -- if you want to get some of your money back in the form of a prorated refund, which you can only get by canceling your plan. And just to make things more ridiculous, MoviePass is preying on your FOMO by saying that if you do take the refund, you won't be able to sign up for MoviePass again for nine months.
CNET's article ends with a link to their list of "the 11 times that MoviePass altered the deal," adding "This is getting sad. And a little shady."
it probably is. I'm having a difficult time feeling too sorry for members.
Do you smell that? It smells like a lawsuit cooking up to me!
If you purchased through Costco, your plan is still valid through the original end date.
Still, a lot of people are getting full (not prorated) refunds from Costco because of this mess.
Who knew that saying still applies with modern platforms?
If I buy something, you deliver or my lawyer has a field day. Either's fine with me.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
The stock is trading at 2 cents from a high of just under $10,000 after accounting for all the reverse splits. Might as well take the money and leave they won't be around in 9 months.
At this point they should just throw in the towel. Instead they just keep making themselves look worse. If anybody involved in this tries to start another company people are going to steer clear.
They obviously do not want to file for bankruptcy. However at this point it looks like the best action to stop the suffering.
Their business plan relied on people not using their service. However it being "too good to be true", people actually wanted to use the subscription to the fullest. If you let people to watch one movie every day of the year, there would be people who would want to watch one movie per day. Not everyone is a family with kids with very little time, and can only go to theaters a few times a year. Many people, do have the time to go to the movies.
Sorry but your plan would have never worked, it failed miserably in the real life. Just accept it.
So Movie Pass has gone all Darth Vader - "I am altering the deal, pray I don't alter it any further"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsW9MlYu31g
Going by the number of times they've done that, I'd say Movie Pass has gone Robot Chicken.
#DeleteFacebook
Cancel and get your money back while you can. Movie Pass most likely wonâ(TM)t make it another 9 weeks
When you can do a demand view for far less. Support your local cable company, and sit in your own fart seat.
Are you having a stroke?
Is illegal
You really want to sit through unwanted ads and pay every time you want a movie on demand?
Support Netflix and skip your local cable company.
#DeleteFacebook
The problem is, if you see one movie a month, they barely break even. Any more than that and they lose money. Movie Pass's business model literally *DEPENDS* on people paying for it but not using it. It is the only way for them to be profitable.
Movie Pass is not a serious business. It was never started with the intention of long term operation. It's the old dot-com-bubble-1.0 business model from the late 90s, early 2000s:
(1) Start a bullshit company whose business doesn't really make any sense
(2) Get bought out by someone
(3) PROFIT!!
I signed up when it first came out, took 5 weeks for the card to show up. And even before that came I saw they were already stopping my movie theater from pre ordering . So I actually cancelled my subscription before the card showed up
Except Netflix shows ads now.
Err, I mean lawyers ...
I don't understand how someone could ever think this could work. Of course they can't keep this up where someone could go see 30 movies a month for $10. It almost makes me think there is some kind of shadiness going on. Someone create a big company that people love... knowing that it is not sustainable... get financial backing because of how popular it certainly would be... cash out before it tanks... go to Disney World.
You forgot 1.a Borrow lots of money from dumb venture capitalists, collect seven figure salary for the few years their still stupid enough to lend you money.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
People keep saying that while ignoring the fact that the local cable company is the only practical source for internet connectivity. The more people dump cable, the more they jack up the price to access the internet.
While I'm sure they would prefer that customers keep cable so they can continue to gouge for unwanted channels, the cable companies will have their pound of flesh.
(Full disclosure: I dropped cable about twenty years ago. Too many ads, the same shows on multiple channels, too many ads, too many channels of crap I didn't want but had to pay for for the few shows I found interesting, too many ads, cropped programs when full widescreen versions could be had on DVD with no ads, and did I mention too many --ing ads? I haven't missed it.)
you'll have a hard time convincing a judge. I suppose if you got a really good lawyer and class action, but they're teetering on the verge of collapse. Go ahead and sue, you won't get a dime or your movies. Heck, I don't think you could find a lawyer to take a case unless you paid them up front since they've got to know Movie Pass doesn't have money to pay out settlements. And you'd just be out the $50k. Plus you'd have to find a shady lawyer since better ones would tell you you're not gonna get paid.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Why does this company get so much media attention? The second I heard about what it was offering and at what prices I immediately began thinking "90's tech boom bullshit". Remember the company that wanted to make a business out of home delivery of pet food and even aired super bowl commercials? Movie Pass just seemed like more of that to me.
I mean, unlimited movies a month for the price of one movie of month? Guess who's going to sign up for that! People who see more than one movie a month or want to. Guess who isn't going to sign up for this? Everyone who doesn't or doesn't want to. The only way this was a money making enterprise is if they got a lot of people to sign up who didn't watch movies very often and most people just aren't that stupid.
Anybody who put money in any long term manner into such a ridiculously conceived business is too stupid to deserve the money they lost. They might as well have given it to a Nigerian prince.
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It was doomed from the start. Only smart investors made money on this with a "first out" option. All others including the retards doing the work who will learn that you should work for free for a startup, will get nothing in the end. Dumbasses.!
My $5,000 buyin is gonna pay off any day.
Why havent they got sued yet. They've literally screwed over their paying customers; they promised them something that they paid for, then took it away. Really, why is this against the law?
Pray they don’t alter it any further.
Chewbacon
The Bible is like Wikipedia: written by a bunch of people and verifiable by questionable sources.
AMC Stubs A-List. If you aren't familiar, it is AMC's own version of a subscription plan, and at more survivable pricing. $20 a month for 3 movies a week, for yourself only, with no blackouts or limits on the type of movie (3D, Imax, etc). If you watch even 2 movies a month it should break even, and anything more nets you a savings... while it isn't so dirt cheap that it will kill AMC. I would love it if they'd add an upgrade for another, say, $10 a month that would allow you to use the 3-per-week to cover others (as long as you were with them)... but that may be more niche than they want to go, or it might not be justified price-wise. If I take my family to the movies, AMC still gets a lot of month (wife + 3 kids) even if my ticket is already covered under the A-List plan. Plus any food we buy. I don't think AMC would have come up with this idea if it weren't for the competition from MoviePass.
William George
If there were actually people that watched what Hollywood is putting out every day, they obviously at this point are in dire need of medical attention. Where will the funding for that come from if MoviePass declares bankruptcy?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Agreed - but it is possible to believe there is a MoviePass model that works by selling the data about what movies you watch, or selling highly targeted ads (esp. to movies) based on what you watch and generating revenue from that.
One problem with the highly targeted movie ads revenue stream is if the ads are successful you will go see a movie you wouldn't have otherwise. Now if this replaced another movie you would have seen, one studio/producer gets one more movie view that another studio/producer lost and your decision is revenue neutral to MP (unless you would have originally gone to a cheap movie theater to see a second run movie and instead went to a full price theater to see the advertised "blockbuster") but they get to keep the ad revenue and that studio/producer (or others) will continue to buy ads due to their success. However if you see the movie in addition to other movies, MP pays for the movie and there's no possibility in a sustainable model that MP would routinely get more for the ads than what they pay for movie.
Another source of anticipated revenue could be the 'gym membership' phenomena -- you sign up and (maybe) use it for a short time and then stop going but just let auto debit continue. However, gym memberships have a sticky attribute in this case -- cancelling makes the person admit that they really are NOT going to start working out which is something they obviously thought they should do. People tend to be somewhat resistant to openly admitting (even to themselves) that they are unlikely to do what they know they should be doing and cancelling makes the person take that step. I don't think MoviePass has this level of stickiness -- the most you have to do is acknowledge that you thought you would see more movies if they were "free", but it turns out you just don't have the time to do so or discovered there aren't enough movies you want to see to make MP attractive -- that's an analytical decision that doesn't cast "moral" aspersions back on yourself.
Why is there an "insightful" mod and why isn't it "-1"? If I wanted insight, I wouldn't be reading
I swear every time I hear something about this company it keeps getting worse and worse.
I fully expect that in another month or two they'll be charging you $50 per month and you can only watch a single movie a month that you still have to pay full price for. Any additional viewings you have to pay full price and a $15 fee back to Moviepass . . .
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
I bought an annual plan last March. I see a LOT of movies. Made my money back in about 6 weeks. Have dramatically exceeded my investment in subsequent savings. If I still get 3 movies a month, I'll STILL make $$$ compared to not having it, since I will for-sure see those 3 movies - I see 3 - 5 movies a week depending on new availability and whether I want to see a particularly good movie a 2nd or more times. OK, I'm retired and have the time, and I'm ancient and get the senior price. But even under the new terms, I'm better off with it that without it.
Probably re-up for a year when the current subscription runs out, if they indeed have an annual plan by that time, which I guess was implied by some of the postings here that they won't, although I didn't get that out of the email I read. Maybe I didn't read it carefully enough. But anyway, I'd like to see them get their act together on this seemingly impossible task and actually deliver something close to what they said they were shooting for. I'm betting I'll save some $$$.
"Unlimited movies - any movie, any time."
...but now only 3 movies a month, not 30. And only certain movies are available, our choice. And when everybody really wants to go, we'll tell you to pick another time. And if you already paid and want what you paid for and what we promised when we took your money, fuck off, because our business model was a lie and we'll be dead soon anyway. It's your fault for actually trying to use the service you paid for, you freeloaders.
It did indeed sound too good to be true, and the naysayers were right - it was.
This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
Do your parents know you're insane?
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Why does this company get so much media attention?
Because few companies make a business plan of actively trying to get stabbed in the heart with a wooden steak and then having people throw salt on the corpse while chanting and holding a bible.
I mean I've seen self destructive practices now, but at this point the question is do they file for chapter 11 by themselves, do they file because the cinemas come collecting, or do they file because of a class action.
Moviepass is imploding financially to the tune of 186M$ of debt. You'd be stupid to say this isn't in the best interest of the customers, because they won't exist in their current condition or they won't exist at all. At this point, as a customer, I'd rather be able to see some movies for the subscription, vs no movies if I paid the annual charge. I'm willing to be that most are in monthly anyway
This Deal's Getting Worse All The Time!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpE_xMRiCLE
I shop for pet food sometimes from a company that does home delivery, and it works very well.
Apparently when we say so.
The fact that these guys can so change the deal and not be gone is just wrong.
It highlights the bigger problem of Terms of Service contracts these days.
As in take it or leave it, and if you take it we reserve the right to completely change the rules tomorrow.
Remember the company that wanted to make a business out of home delivery of pet food and even aired super bowl commercials?
No. Was it this one? https://www.petplanet.co.uk/se...
This one? https://fetch.co.uk/
Maybe this one? https://www.zooplus.co.uk/
Perhaps one of these?
https://www.bitiba.co.uk/
https://www.pet-supermarket.co...
https://www.monsterpetsupplies...
Or maybe there is a market there, and well run companies with appropriate business understanding can sustainably meet customer needs and make a profit by servicing it.
Much like the film market. People want to watch films, someone offered a deal that let them see a lot of films very cheaply, they got excited about it and the media noticed lots of excited people.
If anything the unsustainable business model merely increased the media interest. People like a bit of drama, like a popular service predictably breaking.
Listen here, Donald... I don't give a fuck that you're an embarrassment to your country. I find your insane rantings on twitter mildly amusing. But do you have to fuck up Slashdot too? For reals, can't you get a couple of your secret service nazis to find you something to do other than blather on here? Just a little advice from your more-mentally-stable neighbors to the north: Step away from the keyboard and seek the help of a qualified mental health expert. Asshole.
The only prayer for them to survive was to have such a vast membership that they could mine them for data to sell and/or control the flow of people to movie theaters in such a way that they became the middle-men that theaters would have to partner with and give discounts towards.
They knew they were going to burn through a LOT of cash before that scenario could happen, but they didn't have deep enough pockets to actually make it happen. They came close at one point.
Not only was the business model so shady that everyone took notice, the CEO kept giving rosy best-case scenarios for profitability that made no sense because they didn't take into account some very basic business principles like adverse selection.
"The only prayer for them to survive was to have such a vast membership that they could mine them for data to sell and/or control the flow of people to movie theaters in such a way that they became the middle-men that theaters would have to partner with and give discounts towards."
That's only possible if theaters figure out a way to monetize whatever data they might get from them which is not a guarantee at all. Really they'd have to be able to make a shit ton of money off user data to make up for the necessarily large MoviePass user base that would be needed in this scenario and off the top of my head I don't see how that would work.
I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
My guess: "Yes".
Are you retarded?
stfu esad & s my d = Shut The Fuck Up Eat Shit And Die & Suck my Dick.
You only need about a room temperature IQ to get that.
You post.....that.....completely offtopic, mind you, about MightyMartian's butthurt and blatherings.....yet you don't see the irony.
Even if you were a computing genius-god, which you're most definitely not, your social and logical skills are so far into the negatives it more than negates your own perception of your computing intelligence.
This has been the issue with annual subscriptions as a whole for services for such as MoviePass for some time now. Amazon has even moved to a month-to-month basis on subscription services as a more viable solution for subscription services.
I don't know how the people who started movie pass thought this was going to work in an industry that thinks charging $10 for popcorn is going to keep customers coming back.
when trying to get to the place to cancel in the app per this
How could MoviePass receive a profit from every customer? Selling articles and events (at a profit) to each one of their own customers.