AMC A-List & other theater subscriptions (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

Forgive me if this as been answered: So how does AMC report box office receipts for their A-List users? Wouldn't this skew the final box office numbers, albeit just a little bit at this early launch of AMC's A-List program, but if it catches on, how much money do the studio lose out on?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

BTW, there's something inherently kooky about people being more willing to pay $26.49 for one movie ticket than to pay $20 for 12!

I think that speaks to the skepticism. I guess it's also possible the 3-month commitment turned off people - maybe all those "JW" attendees don't plan to see anything else between now and August!

I think it’s two things - people may not think they’ll use it that much, so “Pay $60 today to try it for three months” might be too big of an ask, especially as an impulse purchase.

And the other thing is, a lot of people just don’t like being upsold. I saw it every day when I worked at Blockbuster a hundred years ago. They just want a hassle free transaction and to buy the thing they came in for. They may think about the upsell and decide to buy it later on but absolutely nothing was going to persuade them at the register.

I suspect they’ll sell more memberships online than in person for a while.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

And for me, the fact AMC isn't gonna go under and cause me to lose any potential investment in the plan is a biggie. Say I pre-pay a plan - MP could evaporate at any time, so there goes that money.

Neither AMC or MP are offering any sort of prepaid plan at the moment. I agree that buying a $99 annual plan from MP would be foolish (if it ever comes back), but the most that a new subscriber would ever have at risk is $9.95 under the current plan being offered. If MP were to go out of business at a time in your billing cycle where you've already seen one film then you've really lost nothing anyway.

As for the new peak pricing at MP, you get one peak surcharge waived per month.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

Forgive me if this as been answered: So how does AMC report box office receipts for their A-List users? Wouldn't this skew the final box office numbers, albeit just a little bit at this early launch of AMC's A-List program, but if it catches on, how much money do the studio lose out on?

AMC's deal with the studios has them paying on each A*List admission as if it were an $8.99 ticket for a standard 2D film. They also made deals with Dolby, IMAX, Real 3D, etc, but I'm not sure if that number was ever divulged.

 

[TonyD]

Peak pricing is only for monthly and new annual subbers.

If you have an annual sub already MP says in the faq that you will not see peak pricing fees.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

A standard 2D digital presentation costs anywhere from $16.40 - $17.15 for me depending on which theater I attend and what time I see a movie. MoviePass costs $9.99 a month. So, even if I only see one movie per month on MoviePass, and even if they add a $3.50 surcharge to that to see that one movie, I've still paid less to MoviePass than it would have cost me to buy the ticket at the box office.

They waive the first peak-pricing surcharge every month, so seeing one movie per month would still be only $9.95.

I'm surprised that when MP lowered the price to $9.95 that they didn't charge a little more for the high-priced markets like NYC/LA/SFO. I think even at $12.95 in those areas, most people would have still paid it.

To me the biggest issues with MP are their customer service and an app which is still buggy as hell. I'm more annoyed by that than peak-pricing.

 

[Sam Posten]

I kinda feel like A List won't be that high a percentage.

I think A List exists to kill off MP and let AMC set their own terms for this kind of program, but I still think a high percentage of tickets will continue to be sold the old-fashioned way...

Anyone who believes this hasn't been to an AMC since it launched. They are going HARD for this as a long term thing. They have Dolby Vision and IMAX formatted trailers pushing the program. They have enormous fold up (expensive) glossy hand out cards. There is livery for the program all over the theater. They have special lines for A-list customers.

Last night the A-list line was longer than the one for regular customers.

This is a big deal for them and they are making bank on it.

 

[Chris Will]

Well, I switched. Canceled MP and signed up for A-List... and I can't get the AMC app to work! Seriously, either I'm doing something wrong or it is a bug. I keep getting errors when trying to reserve a movie and when it finally does go through, it wants me to select a payment method like it is going to charge my credit card. At this point I just cancel the order because I refuse to take a chance and then have to call and get a refund. Maybe I made a mistake by switching.

Little more detail. I'm trying to reserve a ticket for tonight in IMAX with reserved seating. I choose my seat, select 1 ticket on the next screen then get "An unknown error has occurred" message. So, I back out and try again, this time getting a "the seat you have chosen is not available" message even though it was not marked as sold on the little seating chart. I then try a 3rd time, choosing a different seat, it then asked for me to chose my credit card like it is going to charge me for the ticket so, I again cancel.

I have tried this process 5 different times, choosing different seats all over the auditorium, each time. Happens the same way every time. Chose seat, unknown error, then seat taken error, different seat works but wants to charge my CC. Start again with new seat, unknown error, seat taken error, different seat wants full price. I'm just going in circles at this point.

I even tried a screen without reserved seating (only our IMAX screen has it) and every time it acts like it is going to charge my CC. I dread calling AMC support but, something is right.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Anyone who believes this hasn't been to an AMC since it launched. They are going HARD for this as a long term thing. They have Dolby Vision and IMAX formatted trailers pushing the program. They have enormous fold up (expensive) glossy hand out cards. There is livery for the program all over the theater. They have special lines for A-list customers.

Last night the A-list line was longer than the one for regular customers.

This is a big deal for them and they are making bank on it.

Obviously I've been to AMC since the program started - I signed up for it! I was out of town last week and saw 4 movies in 5 days, all at AMC.

I know they're pushing it hard - that doesn't mean that it's actually going to sell that well. Just because they're advertising it actively doesn't mean people will sign up for it.

I have no idea how it'll do, but I still think many people will be skeptical. And as I noted, most people don't go to movies that often, so they may not want to sign up for some program they don't think they'll use...

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Well, I switched. Canceled MP and signed up for A-List... and I can't get the AMC app to work! Seriously, either I'm doing something wrong or it is a bug. I keep getting errors when trying to reserve a movie and when it finally does go through, it wants me to select a payment method like it is going to charge my credit card. At this point I just cancel the order because I refuse to take a chance and then have to call and get a refund. Maybe I made a mistake by switching.

Little more detail. I'm trying to reserve a ticket for tonight in IMAX with reserved seating. I choose my seat, select 1 ticket on the next screen then get "An unknown error has occurred" message. So, I back out and try again, this time getting a "the seat you have chosen is not available" message even though it was not marked as sold on the little seating chart. I then try a 3rd time, choosing a different seat, it then asked for me to chose my credit card like it is going to charge me for the ticket so, I again cancel.

I have tried this process 5 different times, choosing different seats all over the auditorium, each time. Happens the same way every time. Chose seat, unknown error, then seat taken error, different seat works but wants to charge my CC. Start again with new seat, unknown error, seat taken error, different seat wants full price. I'm just going in circles at this point.

I even tried a screen without reserved seating (only our IMAX screen has it) and every time it acts like it is going to charge my CC. I dread calling AMC support but, something is right.

Did you already have the AMC app before you joined A List?

I did - and I've had no issues with A List. I reserved tickets on the app and it went smoothly...

 

[Chris Will]

Yes I did, I've been a stubs premiere member for years. Even upgraded to A-list using the app.

I've tried signing out and back in, tried different AMC locations, including ones in different states. Tried using the AMC website on my laptop, even installed the app on a different devices. All of theme did exactly what I described earlier.

Got to be something with my account and I'll have to call support. Tried to call once but hung up after about 10 minutes on hold. I'll try again later.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

Yes I did, I've been a stubs premiere member for years. Even upgraded to A-list using the app.

I've tried signing out and back in, tried different AMC locations, including ones in different states. Tried using the AMC website on my laptop, even installed the app on a different devices. All of theme did exactly what I described earlier.

Got to be something with my account and I'll have to call support. Tried to call once but hung up after about 10 minutes on hold. I'll try again later.

Supposedly this problem has just been fixed this afternoon. Is it working for you now?

 

[Chris Will]

Yep, it worked! Got my seat for Ant-man and the Wasp in IMAX 3D.

If I may ask, where did you read about the problem and it being fixed? I searched Reddit and did a few Google searches but did't find anything.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

Yep, it worked! Got my seat for Ant-man and the Wasp in IMAX 3D.

If I may ask, where did you read about the problem and it being fixed? I searched Reddit and did a few Google searches but did't find anything.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AMCsAList/...o_pay_full_price_for/?st=jjagagan&sh=52433a87

It's kind of buried in there, but there was a post from a user named "sontran23" where he says things are back to normal now.

Also, AMC responded to a tweet saying "you should be good to go now".

https://twitter.com/AMCTheatres/status/1015318362925092865

AMC has been really good about responding to the few bugs that have appeared with A*List since the launch.

 

[Johnny Angell]

It didn’t take long to find a disadvantage to locking myself into one theater. I just looked at Sunday and Monday’s schedules for Ant Man and JW2. Ant Man has the imax as expected, but NO 3D! 3D is on a smaller screen. JW2 has no 3D available at all.

Who the hell is making these scheduling choices?

 

[Johnny Angell]

Well, I switched. Canceled MP and signed up for A-List... and I can't get the AMC app to work! Seriously, either I'm doing something wrong or it is a bug. I keep getting errors when trying to reserve a movie and when it finally does go through, it wants me to select a payment method like it is going to charge my credit card. At this point I just cancel the order because I refuse to take a chance and then have to call and get a refund. Maybe I made a mistake by switching.

Little more detail. I'm trying to reserve a ticket for tonight in IMAX with reserved seating. I choose my seat, select 1 ticket on the next screen then get "An unknown error has occurred" message. So, I back out and try again, this time getting a "the seat you have chosen is not available" message even though it was not marked as sold on the little seating chart. I then try a 3rd time, choosing a different seat, it then asked for me to chose my credit card like it is going to charge me for the ticket so, I again cancel.

I have tried this process 5 different times, choosing different seats all over the auditorium, each time. Happens the same way every time. Chose seat, unknown error, then seat taken error, different seat works but wants to charge my CC. Start again with new seat, unknown error, seat taken error, different seat wants full price. I'm just going in circles at this point.

I even tried a screen without reserved seating (only our IMAX screen has it) and every time it acts like it is going to charge my CC. I dread calling AMC support but, something is right.

I know the question has been solved, but I wrote about this problem earlier in the thread. I was getting the error and also being charged. AMC CSR was very helpful. Had me try an experiment by choosing another theater and I didn’t get charged. It worked properly though I didn’t finalize the transaction. The theater wasn’t “ready” whatever that meant. It was later in the day and all’s well except for my previous post.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

MoviePass Says "Some Users" Experiencing App Outage

 

[Patrick Sun]

MoviePass Says "Some Users" Experiencing App Outage

Some of my friends were impacted by the outage tonight. I used MP in the late afternoon today and didn't have an issue.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

Well, they did release a new version of the app today. This is about the 4th or 5th time that they've done this. Whenever there's a new version of the app causing massive outages, it always seems to be released on a Friday.

Luckily, I used Moviepass this afternoon with no issues but I'm not sure if my app had updated yet.

 

[Patrick Sun]

My app updated, and then I used it after the update. But I gather that it could have been a timing issue as to when the bulk of the outage issues occurred.