In late 2017, MoviePass lowered the price of one-movie-per-day subscriptions to just $10 a month. While many movie fanatics considered this to be an amazing value, we couldn’t help but wonder if this business model was truly sustainable. As a result of two recent changes, we are becoming even more skeptic that one day, MoviePass will no longer be worthwhile.
Movie Pass recently announces that new subscribers no longer have the ability to see one movie per day. Now, the $9.95 subscription only gives customers the opportunity to buy four movie tickets per month. CEO Mitch Lowe stated that it’s unknown whether the unlimited plan will ever make a return. In an effort to appease customers frustrated by the change, MoviePass is providing a three-month trial of iHeartRadio’s All Access subscription. In addition, MoviePass’s new plan requires customers to pay for their subscriptions three months at a time.
Another big change in the MoviePass business model is that customers are now prohibited from buying tickets to “select” movies more than once. When asked about it, MoviePass responded by saying “We hope this will encourage you to see new movies and enjoy something different!”
Many MoviePass users are now angry and upset about the drastic changes, which greatly impact the fan experience, especially when it comes to fans who enjoy seeing movies like Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Black Panther, or The Avengers: Infinity War more than once. In addition, MoviePass now requests customers to upload photos of ticket stubs to test for “fraudulent activity.”
“We recently made some updates to our Terms of Service, including the policy that MoviePass subscribers are only permitted to see any movie in the theaters once with their MoviePass. This falls within our continued effort to limit fraud on our app and has been effective in doing so in the past,” said a MoviePass spokesperson in a statement.
“We’re continually testing various promotions with different partners, and the current iHeartRadio deal is consistent with that approach. This does not mean that our unlimited subscription will not be offered in the future.”