Netflix cofounder's MoviePass will now let you see one movie per day in theatres for just $10 a month
Netflix cofounder Mitch Lowe has a radical new business model for his startup MoviePass.
For just $US10 a month, Lowe's company will allow its subscribers to see up to one movie a day in any U.S. movie theatre that accepts debit card payments.
As MoviePass will pay the full price of every ticket sold to theatres, the company faces potentially huge losses, and has secured new funding to accommodate the new subscription plan.
The startup announced Tuesday that it had sold a majority stake to big data firm Helios and Matheson Analytics in order to promote a nationwide rollout of its new low, flat-rate service.
"MoviePass was founded to make it easier for passionate moviegoers and casual fans to see films the way they're meant to be seen -- in the theatre," Lowe said in a statement. "Our vision has always been to make the moviegoing experience more affordable and enjoyable for our subscribers. We are changing the way consumers think about going to the movies by making it possible to experience a broader array of films -- from the latest summer blockbuster to a critically-acclaimed documentary -- through a subscription model."
For Helio and Matheson's CEO Ted Farnsworth, the goal of its financing MoviePass is to eventually collect data on viewing behaviours from a large base of moviegoers. Farnsworth told Bloomberg that the startup will be able to target ads and market to its subscribers in a manner "no different than Facebook or Google."
MoviePass was founded in 2011 as a $US30 per month membership. Mitch Lowe took over the company in 2016, and its service is currently available in 91% of movie theatres across the country.
GroundhogNight on August 16th, 2017 at 02:49 UTC »
I had used MoviePass for like 4 years. It was awesome.
I used to go 2-3 times a week. But now it's down to 1-3 a month. But I signed up back in like...October of 2012. Actually met the original founder at Sundance 2013. We were talking for about 20 min before I found out what he did. He was really happy to meet a user. Doubly happy because at that moment two producers for some Jane Austen movie were walking by. They stopped to say hi to the MP guy and He goes to them, "Hey, this guy uses MoviePass," and the one producer was pretty thrilled and the other wasn't it. After they left he said that he had asked them to be investors and the one had and the other hadn't.
That's the the closest I've ever come to play a role in high level corporate politics.
Edit: Yeesh, typing that on my phone resulted in a lot of typos.
Edit 2: if it helps with the visual, we were on Park City's Main Street. One restaurant has a fire pit on a porch right outside the front door. It was freezing. So my friend and I had sat down to warm our hands. There was a drunk Canadian couple to our left. And the guy across the fire. The drunk Canadian couple were so absurd that after they left it was what broke the ice with the MoviePass CEO. The place isn't far from the Egyptian Theater, where I'm pretty sure the Jane Austen movie had just played. Anyone walking up or down the sidewalk was walking right past us.
The MoviePass guy and I had both recently read Mastery by Robert Greene because we had both read and liked 33 Strategies for War. He talked a bit about concepts he had used from 33 when getting MoviePass to the point it was at. He was insanely happy when those dudes stopped by. He made them shake my hand, and the one non-investor seemed like it was the worst thing he had ever had to do. It was pretty amusing and illuminating for me.
CinderWasp on August 15th, 2017 at 17:30 UTC »
For anyone wondering about coverage their theatre mapSaid Map got Reddit hugged pretty quick. Their chat and site are heavily trafficked right now as well. It says it's $9.95 when I downloaded the app for what it's worth though so I think the offer is real
slickreader on August 15th, 2017 at 16:56 UTC »
Anyone have a list of participating theaters? I don't care if they say 90% of theaters accept, I'm not giving the app my credit card info unless I can verify theaters around me work with this.