M+E Connections

MoviePass has ended the discounted movie theater subscription service promotions the company had been running since late 2017 and has returned to its regular $9.95-a-month plan. But the company declined to say what impact those discounted promotions had on signups or provide an updated subscriber count. A company spokesman said only that it still had “over 2 million subscribers” and the “goal of reaching 5 million by the end of the year.”

MoviePass first introduced a $6.95-a-month promotion around the 2017 holiday season, a company spokesman noted. Under the plan, new subscribers could save $3 a month for the service, which — as usual with the service — allowed consumers to see up to one 2D, non-IMAX (or other premium theatrical format) movie each day at participating theaters for a full year.

The company shifted to a $7.95-a-month plan early this year, the spokesman said. But MoviePass announced March 23 that it was reintroducing the $6.95-a-month offer for a limited time. Its “consumer centric strategy” led MoviePass to drop the price again, it said at the time in a news release. “With the current growth and support that we’ve seen within the last several months, our studio and exhibitor revenues and other marketing partnerships have motivated us to lower the price once again, offering movie lovers greater access to MoviePass,” CEO Mitch Lowe said in the announcement.

But, without any fanfare, MoviePass switched back to its normal $9.95 pricing by early April.

The company was mum on whether it intends to offer its service at a discounted rate again any time soon. “We aren’t sharing any more specifics around the impact of the promotion or our future plans,” the spokesman told the Media & Entertainment Services Alliance (MESA).

MoviePass majority owner Helios & Matheson Analytics, meanwhile, expects to report a “significantly larger” loss for its fiscal year ended Dec. 31 than the loss it reported for the prior fiscal year, it disclosed in an SEC filing April 3 that provided notification of a late 10-K annual report filing. The larger loss for 2017 was “due primarily to the costs associated with the Company’s financing activities during 2017, the full year results of the Company’s November 2016 acquisition of Zone Technologies, Inc. and the Company’s December 2017 acquisition of a majority of MoviePass,” it said in the filing.

Helios & Matheson Analytics, which had about an 81% stake in MoviePass as of March 23, saw increases in revenue and increases in costs of sales during 2017, along with a “significant increase in the cost of financing activities,” it said, adding the 2017 loss was expected to be about $153 million, of which about $101 million was “attributable primarily to derivative expenses and other non-cash financing costs and the balance is attributable to loss from operations.”

MoviePass works at more than 91% of theaters in the U.S., according to the company. Its service “contributed during recent opening weekends 17% of box office to Paramount Picture’s ‘Annihilation,’ 10% of box office to Orion Picture’s ‘Every Day,’ and 9% of box office to Fox Studio’s ‘Love, Simon,’” according to MoviePass.

New subscribers to MoviePass get a Mastercard debit card in the mail within a few days of registering either at MoviePass.com or via its mobile app.

The card is only valid at participating MoviePass theaters, and it must be used in conjunction with the subscriber’s mobile phone. Subscribers select the movie they want to see at a participating theater. As we learned after subscribing for the first time recently, the user — at least for now at most theaters — must be in close proximity to the theater selected to check in to see the movie.

Using the MoviePass debit card was simple at the AMC theater we selected. But it was clear that using the card when attending a movie alone offers a somewhat better experience than when attending the same movie with other people. That’s because subscribers can only reserve a single ticket for each movie and must use the MoviePass debit card to get the ticket at the theater. If purchasing tickets to the same movie for additional people, those tickets must be ordered and paid for separately.

That’s no big deal when a movie’s been out a while or few people want to see it, but a potential pain in the neck when a movie has just opened or — like Disney’s “Black Panther” — is still popular weeks after opening and a screening is close to being sold out.