Movie News: MoviePass Now $7.95 w/ Free Fandor UPDATE: Almost GONE! It's BACK SEC LAWSUIT! Documentary!

[playahaitian]

MoviePass Subscriptions are Now $7.95 and Come With Free Fandor Subscriptions

Emily Price
Today 2:15pm
Filed to: MOVIES
4.4K
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Image: Pixabay

MoviePass is attempting to attract even more customers with a new lower price that comes with free access to streaming service Fandor. If you’ve been sitting on the fence on joining the service, now’s the time.

Now instead of $9.95 per month to see a movie a day, new MoviePass customers who sign up for the service will pay $7.95 per month. The Fandor subscription also comes along with the deal, which gives users access to a wide variety of independent films.



MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe described the promotional deal to The Hollywood Reporter as an experiment, so if it’s something you want to take advantage of you should do that soon. The company also hasn’t announced when the lower pricing will end, so it could potentially last just a few days.

Like any good deal, there are also plenty of catches for this one.

To start, there’s a $19.95 processing fee to sign up, which will bring your one-year total to $115.35. You have to sign up for a year at a time, so you both have to have that much disposable income available and be ready to commit to a year of MoviePass out of the gate.


Late last month MoviePass also announced some new terms and conditions that are worth taking a look at.



MoviePass also recently chose to stop allowing customers to use the service at some of AMC’s biggest theaters due to a dispute with the brand. It looks like neither AMC or MoviePass are backing down in that battle, so you might potentially find more theaters being removed from the service going forward.


And finally, several customers have recently come forward to complain that their subscriptions had been canceled by MoviePass for “seeing too many movies.”


MoviePass has claimed that those subscriptions were instead canceled because people were using the service to offset the cost of seeing Fathom Events or IMAX movies (MoviesPass can only be used for regular 2D films), or that they were buying tickets that they then exchanged for gift cards minutes later.

It’s definitely a case of he said, she said but something worth putting on your radar.

https://lifehacker.com/moviepass-subscriptions-are-now-7-95-and-come-with-fan-1822898410

 

[playahaitian]

@godofwine

Looks like they shutting your people down!

 

[tallblacknyc]

@godofwine

Looks like they shutting your people down!

Lol they peeped the switcheroo game

 

[largebillsonlyplease]

people always trying to do too much.
just go to a fucking movie and watch it.
you shouldn't be able to go to the movies everyday
and you shouldn't be exchanging the things for gift cards
it's really hard to mess this shit up but people find a way to do it lmao

go to the damn movie watch the movie go home
you can go every weekend or not or whatever but naaaaaaaaah

 

[bootypleaser]

That movie pass works great. I've been using since I bought the 99 dollar deal from costco. 7.95 a month for a 2d movie a day is worth it

 

[godofwine]

Lol they peeped the switcheroo game

What switch-a-roo game?

 

[godofwine]

Lol they peeped the switcheroo game

What switch-a-roo game?

Are you talking about exchanging 2D tickets for 3D tickets? I never did that shit anyway... But I am going to watch black panther a lot of times next week

 

[Mt. Yukon]

people always trying to do too much.
just go to a fucking movie and watch it.
you shouldn't be able to go to the movies everyday
and you shouldn't be exchanging the things for gift cards
it's really hard to mess this shit up but people find a way to do it lmao

go to the damn movie watch the movie go home
you can go every weekend or not or whatever but naaaaaaaaah

Maybe I'm incorrect here... But does it not say you can go everyday??? My lady was asking me if I wanted to do it, but I don't actually like the movie going experience.

 

[playahaitian]

Maybe I'm incorrect here... But does it not say you can go everyday??? My lady was asking me if I wanted to do it, but I don't actually like the movie going experience.

you CAN go every day just NOT to the same movie

 

[dtownsfinest]

Maybe I'm incorrect here... But does it not say you can go everyday??? My lady was asking me if I wanted to do it, but I don't actually like the movie going experience.

I have moviepass....I actually don't use it as much as I thought I would but I get my money worth if I go once a month. Its been a kinda sleeper for movies but its starting to pick up now.
But to my knowledge you can go every day. One movie a day.

 

[dtownsfinest]

you CAN go every day just NOT to the same movie

Hold on....you can see the same movie every day if you wanted to though right?

 

[playahaitian]

What You Need to Know About MoviePass' New Terms and Conditions

If you’re a MoviePass subscriber, then you probably got an email this weekend letting you know that the company is instituting some new Terms and Conditions. For most of us, that’s an email that likely went straight into the ol’ Archive folder, but there are a few things in the Terms and Conditions that are actually worth paying attention too.

The biggest news from the update is that Movie Pass has pulled support for 10 AMC’s most popular theaters. Originally it was reported that AMC was the one pulling the plug, but the move was actually done by MoviePass who is currently in a dispute with AMC (MoviePass wants a cut of AMC’s profits and AMC doesn’t want to pay).


Those theaters are:

AMC Century City 15, Los Angeles, CA

AMC Mercado 20, Santa Clara, CA

AMC Disney Springs 24, Lake Buena Vista, FL

AMC Loews Boston Common 19, Boston, MA

AMC River East 21, Chicago, IL

AMC Mission Valley 20, San Diego, CA

AMC Tysons Corner 16, McLean, VA

AMC Veterans 24, Tampa, FL

AMC Loews Alderwood Mall 16, Lynwood, WA

Buried in the Terms and Conditions (you can read them all right here) are also a few notes about how MoviePass can pull the plug on your account.


There’s stuff in there you expect

like if you let someone else use your MoviePass card,

try to sell your MoviePass tickets to other patrons,

or use your MoviePass debit card to buy something that isn’t a movie ticket (you’ll actually get charged $25 if they think you’ve done that).

However, there are a few things in there you might not expect as well. For instance, one way to lose your pass is to “On more than one occasion during any thirty (30) day period you do not view the movie for which you purchased a ticket with your MoviePass Card in its entirety.”

We’re not exactly sure how MoviePass will be able to tell you decided to walk out on a flick rater than sit through it until the credits, but apparently walking out is against the rules.


And if you’re the one deciding to cut ties with MoviePass, you better be really sure you’re done with the service. The Terms and Conditions state that if you decide to cancel, you have to stay without an account for 9 months before you’ll be able to subscribe again.

“Once you cancel your MoviePass subscription, you may not subscribe to the Service again for a period of nine (9) months.”

Cancellations also have to be made in writing at least one business day before the end of your billing cycle, and aren’t effective until MoviePass sends you a confirmation.


Neither are particular earth shattering, but are certainly something to keep in mind. It’s also a good reminder to read through all the fine print when you sign up for a service, you never know what’s going to be hidden in all those terms and conditions.

 

[playahaitian]

Hold on....you can see the same movie every day if you wanted to though right?

OK you gotta ask @godofwine but my understanding is you CANNOT see the same movie in a 30 day period,

 

[godofwine]

OK you gotta ask @godofwine but my understanding is you CANNOT see the same movie in a 30 day period,

Hold on....you can see the same movie every day if you wanted to though right?

I haven't seen that. I did That for two whole weeks with Proud Mary (supporting the movie because Sony didn't promote it). I went to go see that movie everyday, but I only sat down to watch it once

They haven't stopped me

 

[playahaitian]

I haven't seen that. I did That for two whole weeks with Proud Mary (supporting the movie because Sony didn't promote it). I went to go see that movie everyday, but I only sat down to watch it once

They haven't stopped me

So I stand corrected

OR this is something they will start to implement cause it seems for fellow users have done so much fuckery theaters are trying to drop out.

I swear if I had i and I COULD go to the theater everyday?

I would get it then just give to the next kid or Black person in line.

 

[dtownsfinest]

I haven't seen that. I did That for two whole weeks with Proud Mary (supporting the movie because Sony didn't promote it). I went to go see that movie everyday, but I only sat down to watch it once

They haven't stopped me

OK you gotta ask @godofwine but my understanding is you CANNOT see the same movie in a 30 day period,

Ok yeah I haven't tried to see the same movie twice yet so I didn't know....so far I haven't had any restriction with mine.

 

[largebillsonlyplease]

Maybe I'm incorrect here... But does it not say you can go everyday??? My lady was asking me if I wanted to do it, but I don't actually like the movie going experience.

1 time every day not the same movie but also if ive seen a movie i dont usually want to see it again the next day lol
go 2 times a month and it's paid for itself for 2 months

 

[ShortyCumStain]

See, this why I ain't fuckin' witit.

 

[HotNixon36]

Might get in on this, can't lose...

 

[playahaitian]

MoviePass has now gone back to offering its original monthly plan of unlimited movies per month, in the form of one 2D screening per day. MoviePass was decidedly a niche service for the first few years of its existence, thanks to its precipitously high price tag. That all changed in summer 2017, when MoviePass made the surprise move of dropping its monthly rate to a Netflix-esque $9.95. Considering the price of the average movie ticket, this naturally drew tons of interest, with the service adding subscribers by the thousands since.

Of course, this surge in popularity for MoviePass hasn’t been without its controversies. For one, theater chains haven’t exactly been supportive of what they see as a flawed business model, especially AMC, which tried its best to ban MoviePass from their theaters. New subscribers have also had issues receiving the service’s debit card that allows the purchase of tickets, with many complaining of weeks-long waits, while the monthly subscription charges had already been withdrawn from their accounts.

RELATED: MOVIEPASS HITS 2 MILLION SUBSCRIBERS, ADDS $26 MILLION TO OSCAR FILMS

At the end of the day though, MoviePass’ biggest draw – one that could potentially make wait times and other hassles worth it – is the sheer coolness of being able to see one movie every day of the year if one so chooses, for less than the price of one delivery pizza per month. That’s why MoviePass raised many eyebrows recently when they removed their standard plan for new subscribers, instead offering a bundled plan with iHeartRadio streaming access that cost $29.95 for three months, and only allowed users to see four movies per month. While statements by MoviePass’ CEO suggested this might be the beginning of the end for the old plan, Variety now reports that the status quo of one 2D movie per day for $9.95 a month has quietly returned.

MoviePass’ aforementioned head honcho Mitch Lowe now says that “we never planned to abandon the flagship product that everybody loves,” but that’s sure not what he was saying last week, when he clearly implied that not going back to the unlimited plan after the iHeartRadio combo promotion ended was a real possibility. While it now seems that Lowe was simply trying to spur signups to the promotional plan by being intentionally cagey, recent reports that the company continues to hemorrhage money due to its low price point are unlikely to give users much reason to believe that the $9.95 unlimited plan won’t one day disappear again.

While it’s nice to once again have the option to signup for MoviePass’ traditional monthly plan, the service still isn’t without other current controversies. Following the release of Avengers: Infinity War, MoviePass abruptly changed its policies to not allow subscribers to use their pass to see the same movie more than once. This provision was actually in the company’s terms of service since the beginning, but hadn’t been actively enforced until now. Naturally, this hasn’t sat well with Marvel fans who feel like they’re being screwed by not being able to go see Infinity War as much as they want, for no additional cost. Only time will tell if the widespread backlash eventually leads MoviePass to change its mind on enforcing that rule going forward.

 

[playahaitian]

https://www.bgol.us/forum/threads/m...ass-rival-is-in-it-for-the-long-haul.1001560/

 

[Winslow Wong]

https://www.bgol.us/forum/threads/m...ass-rival-is-in-it-for-the-long-haul.1001560/

I think I will just get both - still cheaper than a single ticket in NYC

 

[playahaitian]

I think I will just get both - still cheaper than a single ticket in NYC

well damn..

you aint WRONG!

 

[playahaitian]

MoviePass has been operating for nearly a full year on its too-good-to-be-true premise of offering essentially unlimited movie passes to subscribers for just $9.99 per month. It’s the monorail and, according to a report from the Miami Herald, company CEO Ted Farnsworth sure seems like a dead ringer for Lyle Lanley.

Farnsworth, the head of MoviePass parent company Helios and Matheson Analytics, has an impressively checkered past that is full of bizarre businesses and get-rich-quick schemes, and lawsuits. Per the Miami Herald, just four of the 50 companies Farnsworth has registered in the state of Florida over the last few decades are still active.



Farnsworth’s still-operating companies include digital crime mapping platform Zone Technologies, video sharing service Stitch Videos, boating company Day Dreamer Charter, and nonprofit group Farwest Haiti Mission. And while those companies all surely have their own, interesting and questionable stories, Farnsworth’s failed ventures and the paper trail they left behind is far more intriguing.

Last year, Bloomberg highlighted one of Farnsworth’s most out-there attempts, the Psychic Discovery Network. The company offered a 900 number hotline that people could call into and receive psychic readings. The company, which pitched its services through TV ads, was surprisingly successful for a minute, and Farnsworth even managed to rope in singer and actor La Toya Jackson for a commercial at one point.


The hotline went cold eventually (you would think at least one of the psychics would have seen that coming, right?), but not before racking up a whole heap of consumer complaints—at least 50, per Bloomberg. Things got so bad that the Federal Trade Commission named Farnsworth’s company on a list of abusive pay-per-call services.

Through his many ventures, three companies associated with Farnsworth managed to go public—though none of them fared particularly well once they got there. Per Bloomberg, all of the companies saw their value drop by 99 percent, below $1 per share in each case, during Farnsworth’s tenures with firms.

One of those companies was XStream Beverage Network, which Farnsworth launched in 2001. He talked up the company, promising to purchase a European energy drink called Dark Dog and take on Red Bull. The promised deal never went through, and Farnsworth stepped down as chairman in 2007 with XStream Beverage Network’s stock completely sank.

Within a month, Farnsworth was back at it again, this time as the CEO of Purple Beverage Company. According to Bloomberg, the tiny company managed to make it stock price jump when Farnsworth signed up a slew of celebrity spokespeople to sell the beverage, including Chaka Khan. As it turns out, not a lot of people take beverage advice from the lead vocalist of Rufus, and the company bottomed out.

His third public venture came in 2012, as chairman of LTS Nutraceuticals, a multilevel-marketing vitamin company that operated in a similar vein as companies like Amway and Herbalife. At this point, you know where this story ends: LTS Nutraceuticals failed to make required regulatory filings and now trades for a fraction of a penny per share.

During those spectacular tank jobs, Farnsworth was also taking on legal battles. The Miami Herald found eight civil suits filed against the MoviePass head and entities associated with him, most of which stemmed from unpaid bills and settlements.

Per the Herald, Farnsworth was found to have skipped out on paying a $90,000 bill to a packaging company would running Purple Beverages, failed to transfer a promised $1.5 million worth of shares of LTS Nutraceuticals to a man who lent him $500,000, and missed payments on a $26,000 bill to FedEx. He’s also accused of violating a settlement agreement in an unspecified dispute, failing to pay a consulting agreement related to LTS Nutraceuticals, and was accused of owning Wells Fargo $76,000.

All of that seems extremely shady! As Business Insider pointed out last week, a board member and major shareholder in MoviePass, Muralikrishna Gadiyaram, also has his fair share of questionable dealings in the past. He’s reportedly managed to get his company kicked off of two stock exchanges and is accused of defrauding investors.

Anyway, seems like we’re all in good hands. Just to be sure though, you might want to go see as many movies as you can while you have the chance.

 

[playahaitian]

MoviePass Is Looking to Launch Family Plan Within a Month

MoviePass is a runaway train that relentlessly burns through cash to keep itself going. But the head of its parent company is doing a lot of press to insist that everything’s fine. In fact, he claims the theater subscription company is 2 million subscribers away from breaking even. An upcoming family plan could help push it over the top, and MoviePass confirmed to Gizmodo its hoping to have it out within a month.


On Wednesday, MoviePass announced that it surpassed three million paying subscribers for its movie-a-day service. In a statement sent to Gizmodo, the company claimed: “MoviePass’ rapid growth is within its projections that estimate the service will exceed 5 million paying subscribers by the end of 2018.” It also said that it currently accounts for five percent of the U.S. box office on average, and during peak weeks it gets closer to seven percent.



For theaters and Hollywood, that’s a sweet deal. MoviePass is paying full ticket price every time a customer uses it and only collects a monthly fee of $9.99-per-month. Currently, the average price of a movie ticket is $9.16, so MoviePass is obviously bleeding cash—and it freely admits that fact. Last month, shares in its parent company, Helios and Matheson, plummeted when it revealed it only had enough cash on hand to keep going for a few more weeks. Then it reassured everyone that it had a $300 million line of credit that would sustain it for 17 more months at its current rate of spending. But MoviePass has to keep growing if it ever wants to gain the leverage it needs to convince Hollywood it’s worth making a deal to work together. Its stock price is down 99 percent from its high last October.

Helios and Matheson’s CEO, Ted Farnsworth, has been doing a lot of interviews in the last few days to assure everyone that things are fine... FINE! He told Vice that from the beginning the company calculated it “pretty much” needed 5 million subscribers in order to be “cash flow–positive.” But growth has slowed significantly since it first announced its new deal and people crashed its website trying to signup. Farnsworth told CinemaBlend that it has some new features that coming that could help its expansion:

So that’s a family plan, and it’s also the ‘bring-a-friend’ plan. ... It would be the same [cost] that it is right now. We might do something down the road to get more of a discount for the family plan. ... But it’s all the convenience of going with your family. You’ve got it all in one app, one card, one everything.

One of MoviePass’s biggest issues is that it’s confusing to use and it’s bad at customer service. Yes, subsidizing people’s movie tickets is pretty spectacular customer service in itself, but not if people don’t get how to use it. When a family of four can easily spend $60-$70 bucks going to a movie and getting some popcorn, MoviePass is an attractive option. But you have to get four cards, use the app four times for four different purchases, locate the right theater, maybe choose assigned seating individually, pick up four different tickets at the theater, and hope everything works out while your kids are going crazy.

Farnsworth said that there’s no plan for a discounted a plan at the moment, but it will be much easier to handle multiple tickets at a time. A representative from MoviePass confirmed the accuracy of CinemaBlend’s report to Gizmodo in an email.

MoviePass wants studios to pay it to promote its films through its app, emails, website, and other platforms like its recent acquisition of MovieFone. It claims that movies it promotes can see box office benefits of up to 30 percent a week and they tend to have more staying power. Farnsworth told Vice that it even envisions a future when tickets to some movies are only available through its app.

Farnsworth optimism this week seems almost entirely disconnected from reality. Speaking with Screen Rant, he said that the financial side of the business is the “least challenging” part of his job right now. He said the biggest challenge is improving MoviePass’s customer service and tech alongside its rapid growth. He appears ready to offer any and everything to grab up market share. When Vice jokingly asked if they’ll ever get free popcorn with their ticket Farnsworth said, “you want free popcorn? We’re gonna give you free popcorn, free beer, free coffee, and a free movie.” Surely he was joking, right? But he doubled down in a followup saying, “You know what? Absolutely. We will.” He thinks that’s totally a realistic possibility, especially if a user is going to see one of the films MoviePass owns.

Oh yeah, MoviePass acquires movies now. It also kind of bought a movie studio last month. “Everybody thought we were out of money and then we turn around and buy one of the biggest production houses in Hollywood,” Farnsworth told Screen Rant. The comment almost carries an implied, “Isn’t that crazy?!” It is. It’s absolutely crazy.

There’s something exciting about a startup with a new business model just saying fuck it and doing whatever it takes while the clock ticks down. At the moment, it doesn’t seem to be putting anyone out of a job and customers get this great deal. But as The New York Times pointed out last month, it’s also a bit disturbing. “76 percent of the companies that went public last year were unprofitable on a per-share basis in the year leading up to their initial offerings, according to data compiled by Jay Ritter, a professor at the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business,” was a particularly sobering piece of data from the Timespiece. An economy propped up by businesses that are just trying to spend their way to profitability is totally unsustainable.

Will MoviePass be the Pets.com of the disruption era? Will it change the game and make going to the movies great again? Will we get free popcorn and beer? We’ll probably know in less than 17 months. If you want to use the family plan to take your kids to some free movies, Farnsworth says it’ll probably happen in mid-July.

 

[playahaitian]

​

 

[playahaitian]

Yeah, I'm getting the AMC deal if Movie Pass gets too crazy

MoviePass Launches ‘Peak Pricing’ Surcharge
By Dave McNary
@Variety_DMcNary

Dave McNary
Film Reporter@Variety_DMcNaryFOLLOW
Dave's Most Recent Stories


MoviePass has launched a “peak pricing” surcharge for the most popular titles at the most popular showtimes.

The service, which had warned subscribers in late June that peak pricing was coming, began including the surcharge on some of its showtimes on Thursday. It said such showings would be marked with a red lightning bolt icon and would cost between $2 and $6.

“Peak Pricing goes into effect when there’s high demand for a movie or showtime,” MoviePass told subscribers. “You may be asked to pay a small additional fee depending on the level of demand. You can avoid the surcharge by selecting a different showtime or movie. Over the coming weeks we’ll also be introducing Peak Pass, which will allow you to waive one peak fee per month.”

The service also said, “Note: the actual Peak Pricing surcharge will vary based on showtime and movie title.”


Ad additional statement issued later Thursday said, “Today, we began rolling out Peak Pricing in select markets with the intention of keeping our subscription service attractive while offsetting the high costs associated with heavy demand of certain films or showtimes. We are still in a testing period with this feature, and to start, members can expect a surcharge fee of anywhere between $2 and $6 dollars, depending on demand of the showtime in question.”

https://variety.com/2018/film/news/moviepass-peak-pricing-surcharge-1202865767/


“Peak Pricing will roll out to all subscribers over the next few weeks; however, members on an annual or quarterly plan won’t experience the Peak Pricing feature until their membership renewal date,” it added. “In the coming weeks, we’ll also be introducing Peak Pass, which allows members to waive one peak fee per month.”

MoviePass has more than 3 million subscribers and allows customers the chance to see a movie a day for a monthly fee of $9.99. But Wall Street has been losing faith in whether MoviePass can survive by selling data about its customers and striking marketing partnerships. The issue took a major hit after a May 8 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that revealed it had $15.5 million in available cash at the end of April, plus $27.9 million on deposit with merchants while monthly expenses totaled $21.7 million.

The company, owned by Helios and Matheson Analytics, recently launched a $164 million bond sale, announcing that it had reached an agreement with institutional investors to issue convertible notes for that amount, as well as 20,500 shares of preferred stock.

Stock of Helios and Matheson was off 2 cents to 19 cents a share on Thursday to close at another all-time low. The issue has continued to decline in recent days in the wake of AMC’s launch last week of a discount pricing program allowing customers to see three movies a week for a $19.95 monthly fee.

In a SEC filing Thursday, Helios and Matheson said a special meeting of shareholders will be held July 23 at the Empire State Building in New York City to increase the number of the company’s authorized common stock from 500 million to 5 billion and approve a one-time reverse stock split.

 

[playahaitian]

​

 

[playahaitian]

https://www.bgol.us/forum/threads/movie-pass-ran-out-of-money.1011533/​

 

[playahaitian]

https://deadline.com/tag/moviepass/

MoviePass Bears Licking Their Chops; Selloff Of Parent Stock Continues After Latest Resuscitation Effort
by Dade Hayes
July 31, 2018 1:20pm



0


BUSINESS
BREAKING NEWS
CORPORATE AFFAIRS
DIGITAL
EXHIBITION
NEWS
TECHNOLOGY
UPDATED with closing price. After MoviePass this morning announced drastic changes to its service, including a hike in its monthly subscription price from $10 to $15 and the exclusion of some major movies from the service, investors have pounced.

RelatedIs MoviePass Dead? Ticket Service Won't Cover Big Pics Like 'Meg', 'Christopher Robin' In Near Future -...
The already-bloodied and battered shares in its parent company, Helios & Matheson Analytics, briefly spiked $1 to $1.81 on the resuscitation effort but soon retreated into red figures. They finished down 38% to a shade under 50 cents, the sixth consecutive session of double-digit declines.


The reverse split that took effect a week ago briefly accomplished its goal of propping up shares above $1 and put the stock, adjusted for the 1-to-250 split, in its best shape since November. The good times did not last, however, and the shares have since given up nearly 95% of their value. That brings a de-listing by the Nasdaq back into play — though, as Deadline’s Anthony D’Alessandro has reported, there are increasing signs that the company might not be around long enough to suffer that fate.


ADVERTISING

inRead invented by Teads

In a research note this morning about the strong early showing by AMC’s A-List, a rival subscription service, RBC Capital Markets analyst Leo Kulp said AMC has a far better chance to profit from fixed-price movie plans. “The MoviePass news supports the view that its business model is unsustainable,” he wrote. Given the fixed price of a subscription and the need for the company to shell out hefty bulk ticket prices, “it’s always been hard to see how the economics work. The exhibitor subscription plans are much more economically favorable as they only have to pay the film rent portion of the ticket price and can monetize the attendance through concessions.

 

[playahaitian]

MoviePass Officially Responds To Monday Meltdown & Future Tentpole Blackout Plan

by Anthony D'Alessandro

July 31, 2018 8:21am

• 31
  

• BOX OFFICE
• BREAKING NEWS
• MOVIEPASS

MoviePass

Following a Monday where MoviePass parent company Helios & Matheson saw their share price plummet to below $1 (it’s now trading at $0.82 as of 11AM EST) and its app go dark, the monthly movie ticket service put out a press release this morning entitled “MoviePass Accelerates Plan for Profitability” further underscoring their initiative to re-arrange deck chairs on their Titanic.



Related
Is MoviePass Dead? Ticket Service Won't Cover Big Pics Like 'Meg', 'Christopher Robin' In Near Future -...



Meanwhile Mastercard responded to the MoviePass melee this morning with the following statement, “We are aware that MoviePass was experiencing technology issues impacting the normal use of their program at theaters. We have reached out to them to understand the issue further.” Last Friday following a Thursday night outage, MoviePass’ parent HMNY had to secure a $6.2M loan to cover “merchant and fulfillment processors”.




ADVERTISING
inRead invented by Teads


In MoviePass’ release this morning, they report “Today, the company has implemented several elements of a long-term growth plan to protect the existing community and set it up for future sustainable growth.” As of this August, it will be a year since HMNY rebooted MoviePass with a $9.99-a-month-one-ticket-a-day program.

AMC Stubs A-List Subscription Program Hits 175K
Such cost-reduction and subscription revenue increase measures by MoviePass include:

–Actions that have been implemented to currently cut the monthly burn by 60%. We’ve seen with the MoviePass outages this weekend, that they continue to serve Landmark Theatres, which they have an exhibition partnership with.

–A future increase of the standard pricing plan to $14.95 per month within the next 30 days.

Paramount Pictures
–First Run Movies opening on 1,000+ Screens to be limited in their availability during the first two weeks, unless made available on a promotional basis. A conditional detail like this will truly make its subscribers head over to AMC Stubs A-List. Why even have MoviePass now that it can’t cover popular movies at the box office? The company’s press release this morning acknowledged that they shut down ticket buys for Mission Impossible – Fallout over the weekend, “the first film included in the measure. This is a strategic move by the company to both limit cash burn and stay loyal to its mission to empower the smaller artistic film communities. Major studios will continue to be able to partner with MoviePass to promote their first run films, seeding them with a valuable moviegoing audience.”

–Implementation of additional tactics to prevent abuse of the MoviePass service.

“Over the past year, we challenged an entrenched industry while maintaining the financially transparent records of a publicly traded company. We believe that the measures we began rolling out last week will immediately reduce cash burn by 60% and will continue to generate lower funding needs in the future,” said Ted Farnsworth, Chairman and CEO of Helios and Matheson Analytics.

“These changes are meant to protect the longevity of our company and prevent abuse of the service. While no one likes change, these are essential steps to continue providing the most attractive subscription service in the industry. Our community has shown an immense amount of enthusiasm over the past year, and we trust that they will continue to share our vision to reinvigorate the movie industry,” said Mitch Lowe, MoviePass CEO in a statement.

 

[playahaitian]

Is MoviePass Dead? Ticket Service Won’t Cover Big Pics Like ‘Meg’, ‘Christopher Robin’ In Near Future – Update

by Anthony D'Alessandro

July 30, 2018 10:05pm

• 81
  

• BOX OFFICE
• BREAKING NEWS
• MOVIEPASS

MoviePass

2ND UPDATE, MONDAY 10:05PM: MoviePass is apparently alive. It’s just that they won’t be selling tickets to big movies like Meg and Christopher Robin going forward.



Related
MoviePass Parent Company Stock Plunges 60% After 'Mission' Meltdown



Business Insider reported the latest update tonight for the $9.99/a month-all-you-can-see movie subscription program after MoviePass boss Mitch Lowe held an “all-hands meeting” following today’s outage in which he announced that upcoming major movies won’t be available to subscribers in the foreseeable future as the service desperately tries to regain its financial footing. Tracking has Disney’s Christopher Robin opening in the low $30M range this weekend (not so big by summer box office standards, but too big by MoviePass measurements) while Warner Bros. shark movie Meg is opening on Aug. 10 with a projected 3-day in the low $20Ms.




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Business Insider couldn’t get a comment from MoviePass today and was referred to Lowe’s letter to subscribers on Friday which just raises even more uncertainty. In the note, Lowe says that “peak pricing has rolled out nationally.” So does this now mean that certain indie films like Blindspotting or Three Identical Strangers will be impacted by surge pricing? Great, just what an indie movie needs: An obstacle that prevents moviegoers from seeing it.

Blindspotting producer Keith Calder tweeted:


Keith Calder

✔@keithcalder
https://twitter.com/keithcalder/status/1024049505119817728

TFW MoviePass shits the bed right when your independent movie is expanding nationwide.

5:50 PM - Jul 30, 2018

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Also, Lowe’s note reads, “Bring-a-Guest and Premium Features (ie., upgrades IMAX 2D & 3D, RealD, and more) will begin rolling out soon.” How can that be when most major studio event films are available in Imax, RealD or 3D?

As we mentioned previously, it will be interesting to see what happens to MoviePass’ 3M subscribers from this point on.

1ST UPDATE, MONDAY 1:43PM: Social media is exploding that the MoviePass app seems to be dead for most major theaters except for Landmark Theatres, one of the only prime national cinema circuits that the monthly movie ticket service has a deal with. When reached for comment, MoviePass did not return calls and their customer service Twitter handle @MoviePass_CS hasn’t updated a response in six hours.

On Thursday night MoviePass went out, and the following morning had to secure a $6.2M payday loan to stay alive and cover “merchant and fulfillment processors”. The situation was then fixed over the weekend by MoviePass returning online for most major circuits, except subscribers couldn’t purchase tickets for the weekend’s No. 1 movie Mission: Impossible – Fallout. Now MoviePass is dark again.

“I think they’re done,” guessed one distribution insider gloomily. After a 250-1 stock split last week, MoviePass’ parent company Helios & Matheson fell from a new share price of $22 to a closing price today of $0.80 per Deadline’s Dade Hayes with the corporation facing NASDAQ delisting.

If by some wing and a prayer MoviePass miraculously survives this, God knows all of this is taking a toll on its reported 3 million subscribers. We’re hearing loose talk that MoviePass might pull another rabbit out of its hat by tomorrow, that they’re not quite headed to the sunset just yet. We’ll keep you updated.


The Great Stewie@TheGreatStewie
https://twitter.com/TheGreatStewie/status/1024027581031559168

I think @MoviePass just officially folded. None of the 6 theaters in Knoxville are showing any listings available whatsoever.

It was good while it lasted MP.

4:22 PM - Jul 30, 2018

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MoviePass released a statement on Friday in response to its bumpy Thursday night ride: “We apologize for the inconvenience caused by a temporary outage in our app over the past day. We have handled the issues on the back-end, and our app is now up-and-running with stability at 100%. We thank our members and our community for their patience and ongoing support, and we appreciate their commitment to our vision as we revolutionize the movie industry. We’ve also posted a letter to subscribers on our social media channels and in our app communicating adjustments to the service and our plans for the future.”

Screenshots from the MoviePass app regarding its current major chain outage and avail at Landmark:

 

[playahaitian]

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[playahaitian]

MoviePass Parent Company Stock Plunges 60% After ‘Mission’ Meltdown
by Dade Hayes

July 30, 2018 1:23pm

• 13
  

• BUSINESS
• BREAKING NEWS
• CORPORATE AFFAIRS
• EXHIBITION
• NEWS
• HELIOS AND MATHESON
• MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE FALLOUT

After a disastrous prelude to the weekend that saw its subscription ticketing service sidelined because of a cash crunch and related app outages, the bleeding continued today for MoviePass.



Related
MoviePass Bears Licking Their Chops; Selloff Of Parent Stock Continues After Latest Resuscitation...



Stock in its parent company, Helios & Matheson, plummeted an eye-popping 60% on the day, closing at 80 cents a share. During the trading session, it dropped below the $1 mark for the first time since a 1-to-250 reverse stock split took effect a week ago. The split had been engineered with the express purpose of keeping the stock above $1. Briefly, it worked, and shares returned to the $20-plus level it enjoyed last fall amid optimism about its chances of being the movie-theater answer to Uber. In just five trading sessions, it has lost more than 95% of its value.




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The reason the $1 mark is significant is that if the stock trades for 30 straight days below that level, it could be de-listed by the Nasdaq within a few months’ time. That would be a devastating blow to MoviePass, restricting the company’s access to capital and its maneuverability even as it adds subscribers and looks to punch above its weight.

Stocks that are de-listed can trade over the counter or via the pink sheets, but no reputable companies — certainly with the ambitions of MoviePass — trade their stock there. Being on the Nasdaq has conferred a degree of tech sheen and enabled top executives to cite the early days of classic disruptors like Amazon and Netflix when skeptics questioned its viability.

The business model of MoviePass has come under harsh scrutiny of late. It charges subscribers $10 a month and, especially in high-volume seasons like the summer, must pay far more than that in order to acquire tickets and fulfill the order. The popularity of Mission: Impossible – Fallout prompted last week’s outage, which stemmed from the $5 million emergency, high-interest loan the company obtained. The Tom Cruise sequel, one of the most popular movies of the summer, appeared to be specifically blocked from the site at various times.

In June, the company said it faced a cash deficit of $45 million due to the brisk pace of summer moviegoing. But just last Tuesday, Helios & Matheson chairman Ted Farnsworth told a business conference audience that by the end of 2018 the company would control 50% of all movie tickets sold in the U.S. It currently has more than 3 million subscribers and projects having 5 million by year-end.

 

[Soul On Ice]

Seems like as soon that we learned that a Black person owned this, that they shut this down immediately