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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.
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.
There's also other options now that are more likely to be around in the future. Now that they've proven there's a market, the theater chains are starting to offer the same thing. And they'll likely be able to make it work as most screenings have a bunch of empty seats after the opening week. Filling any of those seats is more or less pure profit.
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
Two words: class action.
Absent the right clauses in TOS, this is the kind of case class actions were made for—many people were wronged and large amount of financial damage has been inflicted, but individual suits do not make financial sense.
You high? They'll be shuttered in a week and you're behind a very long line of creditors.
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.
I don't understand how someone could ever think this could work.
They were depending on people like me. See, I subscribe to Netflix...but I watch approximately 20 hours a year, so Netflix makes a solid profit margin on me. There are probably enough Netflix subscribers like me where the binge watchers are subsidized, and it all evens out because both of us want to pay a flat rate.
The problem Moviepass had was that they lacked balance. People like me weren't going to sign up because the half-a-dozen times a year I go to the movies is about the same cost as an annual Moviepass subscription - I'd have to go to the movies more often to justify it. The people who were going to jump on the deal were the people who were already going to the movies very regularly, so selling them movie tickets for less than half of what they were already paying just wasn't going to go their way.
Moviepass could have fared better if they limited themselves from the beginning - "$10 for 10 movies a month, but while you pick the days, we pick the show times". They could have partnered with the movie theaters to better distribute crowds during off-peak showings and banked on making up the balance at the concession stands, or at least having the seats available during prime time for full-priced customers. It would help limit the exposure of the theaters, it would set an expectation, and could be beneficial for everyone involved.
I'm unsurprised that the service, as advertised, ended up here.
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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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
That's where my revolutionary new startup comes in - CourtPass! For a low monthly fee we'll pay up to three court dues a month!
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
How much did this cost you? If it's not several hundred dollars or impairs your life in some great way, any lawyer that offers to take your case is a sham. Walk away very fast. Actually, flag down a ride and ride away very fast.
Stuff like movie pass is what small clams court is for.
I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
Skip the lawyer, got straight to Boris. At least he is honest and takes pride in his work.
I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.