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

[Jeff Adkins]

It may be moot soon...

https://www.thewrap.com/moviepass-owner-isnt-worried-about-losing-150-million-last-year/

This sounded bad to me until I read that only $10 million of that was an operating loss. The rest had to do with acquisitions,etc. If they only lost $10 million last year, then I think they're doing much better than anyone thought.

 

[Sam Posten]

Which is why the stock is up this week, allegedly. It's still way down from it's high, but up from the death valley it was in. I am not a lawyer or stock broker. don't buy stocks based on my stupid musings.

 

[Wayne_j]

You can currently only sign up for a package for $9.95 a month which only allows you to see 4 movies a month and includes a subscription to iHeartRadio.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

You can currently only sign up for a package for $9.95 a month which only allows you to see 4 movies a month and includes a subscription to iHeartRadio.

The fine print, though, is that you must pay for three months at a time - when you sign up, you're billed $29.85 for three months. When those three months are up, you're then billed for another three months at a time.

So the option for $9.99 per month for unlimited movies, billed monthly, is currently unavailable.

 

[TravisR]

This is off topic but since Movie Passers see a lot of movies, has anyone seen that kids animated movie Sgt. Stubby? It's based on the true story about a dog who was the mascot for a regiment in World War I. I know it didn't well this weekend but it got great reviews and I like to root for the underdog (no pun intended) so I'm interested in checking it out. There must be some dog lovers out there who have seen it because just the poster with the cartoon dog on it is melting my heart and I'm a hard hearted bastard.

Forgive the reply to my own post but I saw Sgt. Stubby today and it was such a sweet little movie. This movie needs a boost at the box office so any one with a Movie Pass that loves dogs or has elementary school age kids should get out there and see it this weekend.

 

[Sam Posten]

Crooooshed.
http://variety.com/2018/digital/new...heson-stock-crushed-share-pricing-1202758441/

 

[Patrick Sun]

Since Super Troopers 2 wasn't playing last night at my nearby theater, I opted for "I Feel Pretty" with MoviePass, and it was the first big stinker of my MP-going experiment so far. #Avoid LOL!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Crooooshed.
http://variety.com/2018/digital/new...heson-stock-crushed-share-pricing-1202758441/

They've been hemorrhaging money for months, it was inevitable.

I know they're waiting on some magic day when Regal and AMC walk up to them and say, "Please, work with us, we'll gladly pay you lots of money," but that day is never, ever, ever going to come. And their entire business plan depends on that happening.

They've burned through their cash allotment and have been trying to raise more by converting subscriptions from month-to-month payments to larger chunks, first by offering yearly subscriptions, and now by insisting that all new signups are billed in three month installments and limited to just four movies - a far cry from their pledge of one movie a day, everyday. Their customer service is non-existent. Their business practices aren't customer friendly, and they've publicly inconvenienced their subscribers multiple times in an attempt to use them as leverage against the theater chains. The CEO, in what sounded like a cross between an evil genius mission statement and a drunken rant, gleefully boasted about how it was collecting and misusing people's data. It's possible that the only reason they still have customers is that their service is still cheap enough that the month-to-month subscribers pay little enough to be willing to put up with some hassle, and the people who paid for a year in advance are stuck.

Meanwhile, the truth is that in many markets, movie tickets are overpriced and killing audience demand for anything other than an established property best seen on a large screen, like a Marvel or Star Wars tentpole. There was definitely an opening for a service that was customer friendly and offered a break on pricing, but I don't think Moviepass will be that service in the end. They've pissed off the theater chains and annoyed their own customers. That is not a recipe for success.

 

[Sam Posten]

Super troopers 2

 

[Malcolm R]

Meow that sounds like a good use of MP.

 

[TonyD]

Rampage today.

I was entertained

 

[benbess]

Recently I've watched with MP....

Beirut, which was a decent and at times intense political thriller that I'd say was about a "B"
Rampage, which was an ok monster movie that I rate a "B-"
and A Quiet Place, which I'd say was another "B" movie.

I don't think I would have seen any of these movies without MP.

As many have said, I don't see how they can survive in the long run. In fact, we might even be getting down to the last few months....?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Apologies if this has already been posted:

http://variety.com/2018/film/features/moviepass-movie-business-studios-amc-1202754312/

I thought this portion was interesting:

It’s also not clear that Wall Street would be receptive to a MoviePass IPO. Helios’ stock has been on a wild ride since it bought MoviePass and began signing up subscribers at a record pace. At one point shares approached $39, but they’ve fallen back down to Earth as fears have mounted about the high costs associated with each customer. The stock now trades at less than $3.

There’s reason for skepticism. MoviePass acknowledges that for its business model to work, it needs to attract customers in Midwestern and Southern states where ticket prices are cheaper. The bulk of its users are in major cities such as New York and Los Angeles where the cost of a single movie is greater than a monthly membership. At the same time, the company wants to drive down usage. To be profitable, it wants the bulk of its subscribers to see an average of just over a movie a month. Lowe estimates that the company can produce $6 of additional monthly revenue per customer on top of the subscription fee by selling ads and getting a cut of ticket sales and concessions from partners.

(emphasis added)

So this is a company that advertises that you can see as many movies as you want, but doesn't want you to actually do that? I mean, this isn't a giant shock or anything, but I am again amazed that anyone actually thought this is a good idea. I'm benefiting as a customer - I've seen 16 movies with MP so far in 2018, at a cost of $16.50 each. So I've paid MoviePass a total of $40 in that time, and gotten a benefit worth $264. There's no way to reconcile that kind of disparity.

At the same time, the value in MP for me comes in that it makes it virtually free for me to take chances on both movie titles and movie theaters that I otherwise wouldn't go to. So if MP starts reducing the benefits, I'd probably lose interest. It's not that I have to see four movies per month, though that seems to be the average - it's that I like having the option to go on a whim. If they start limiting it to four for existing subscribers (as they are for new subscribers), or even fewer, then I'd have to think about whether it was worth seeing that movie in the same way I had to think about it when I paid cash. The beauty of Movie Pass is that it frees you from having to make those calculations, and if they put limits on, then those calculations are back.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

So this is a company that advertises that you can see as many movies as you want, but doesn't want you to actually do that? I mean, this isn't a giant shock or anything, but I am again amazed that anyone actually thought this is a good idea. I'm benefiting as a customer - I've seen 16 movies with MP so far in 2017, at a cost of $16.50 each. So I've paid MoviePass a total of $40 in that time, and gotten a benefit worth $264. There's no way to reconcile that kind of disparity.

Apparently you've milked MP so hard you don't know what year it is!

Of course they don't want you to watch boohoogles of movies. The more movies you watch = the more money they lose.

Their perfect customer signs up and then forgets he has the pass and never uses it!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Apparently you've milked MP so hard you don't know what year it is!

Haha! Fixed!

I agree, their perfect customer does sign up and forget they have it. But the entire business model can't be based on people signing up and not using it.

I don't think the model can work when the subscription price is so low that even a single movie ticket is almost double the monthly fee, which is the story here in NYC, and in other major markets. I don't even need to see four movies a month for MP to lose money - I just need to see one a month and they're losing money.

I had never seen data on this previously, but it made sense to me that (according to the article) the majority of MP subscribers live in big cities where the average movie price is much higher than the monthly MP fee. Of course those of us who are routinely asked to pay $17 for a single 2D admission are going to be more interested in this than people who live in areas where a movie ticket is less than $10. I'm not sure that they can get enough users in lower priced areas to subsidize those of us in more expensive neighborhoods. If the average moviegoer sees 4-6 movies in a theater per year (I think that's what they cited in one of their earlier articles), and lives in an area where the cost of a ticket is less than $10, it doesn't make sense to join MoviePass. It only makes sense for people who either see more movies than that, or who see that number of movies but do so in areas where it costs a fortune.

It sounds like MP is chasing unicorns in trying to find the customer that doesn't really go a lot, and lives in an inexpensive area for movie theaters when they do go.

 

[Doug Wallen]

Today's #MoviePass was Traffik. Rather predictable but very well executed.

 

[Wayne_j]

Tonight was You Were Never Really Here, a well made strange cross between Taxi Driver and Mother!. Unfortunately I found the film too disturbing to be enjoyable.

 

[Jason_V]

At the same time, the value in MP for me comes in that it makes it virtually free for me to take chances on both movie titles and movie theaters that I otherwise wouldn't go to. So if MP starts reducing the benefits, I'd probably lose interest. It's not that I have to see four movies per month, though that seems to be the average - it's that I like having the option to go on a whim. If they start limiting it to four for existing subscribers (as they are for new subscribers), or even fewer, then I'd have to think about whether it was worth seeing that movie in the same way I had to think about it when I paid cash. The beauty of Movie Pass is that it frees you from having to make those calculations, and if they put limits on, then those calculations are back.

I agree complete, Josh. I've done 18 movies with MP this year. At least half of them would have been on the Netflix list if it weren't for that card in my pocket. I can go on a random night after work, on a whim anytime on a weekend and my biggest concern is what reserved seat I'm going to get.

The sidenote is I am actually paying for concessions now; I never did before.

This next 2 weeks is going to be a dry spell for me since we have company and then I leave on vacation. But even when I get to Orlando I'm gonna try to see something. (When the end of May rolls around, I'm gonna use MP almost every night for 3 weeks...)

 

[Sam Posten]

https://nypost.com/2018/04/22/moviepass-owners-weighing-merger-despite-burning-through-cash/

 

[Malcolm R]

(When the end of May rolls around, I'm gonna use MP almost every night for 3 weeks...)

Hopefully they're around that long.