by Alberto Diaz: Staff Writer
MoviePass is a subscription-based movie service in danger of going out of business. Once seen as a neat tool, the company is quickly nosediving into a self-inflicted collapse. The service may have first been tested in June 2011, but their troubles began in August 2017, when analytics firm Helios and Matheson bought a majority stake in the company. MoviePass’s selling purpose was meant for members who purchased the pass could see up to one movie per day for only $9.95/month. The company itself would buy their customers’ movie tickets, taking on the full cost. Potentially, the service could’ve found itself paying up to $600 in tickets per customer, per month, depending on the market. Helios and Matheson planned on overcoming this by compiling the information of its users—their movie-going habits and a vague caricature of who they were—then convincing theatres, nearby restaurants and stores into buying that information so that they could market more specifically to individuals. In the ensuing year, the company found itself losing hundreds of millions of dollars. Carson High School senior Carlos Cowo stated, “If I had a MoviePass, I probably would go to the movies more often.” After it’s first year in the spotlight, a series of radical changes left MoviePass in a different form entirely than the one from which it was first conceived. Many users couldn’t wait to cancel their subscriptions once affected by unexpected amendments such as a short term price change to $14.95 per month, and being on limited to only seeing: 2 movies per month, certain in-demand movies once, and movies at unpopular showtimes. Academy of Medical Arts senior Eudin de la Torre in regards to MoviePass said, “I do believe alternatives are important because not everyone wants to do the traditional method and find it cheaper to do it this way.” Alternative subscription-based movie theatre services such as AMC Stubs A-List, Cinemark Movie Club, and Sinemia offer similar services to MoviePass and at competitive prices. Experts in entrepreneurship note the company had a clever idea, but also recognize that other companies will learn from their failures, allowing them to be profitable. With MoviePass’s Chief Product Officer Mike Berkley resigning from the company after just six months in the position, and Helios and Matheson’s stock trading for mere pennies as of mid-September, the business’s struggles are likely to continue. “I believe it is a bad thing if a service like this went out of business,” de la Torre shared, “many people watch their movies using this and would no longer be able to.”