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Ask HN: How much would MoviePass have to charge per month to be viable?
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- scarface74 8y agoThey can't charge enough to be viable. They have to pay full retail price for tickets and they don't get any cut of the theaters most profitable item -- concessions. AMC only has pay 45-60% of the price of the ticket to studios and they negotiated the price of the ticket to the studios for someone using AMC Stubs A+ as $8.99. They make a 40-65% profit margin on the ticket. Just for them to break even on the amount I used the A+ subscription this past month, they would have to charge more than $111 a month - 6 regular admissions and two IMAX. I predict on a regular month, we will probably see at least $59 worth of movies per month a piece with the subscription - 2 regular movies and one IMAX.
- ironjunkie 8y agoTheir goal was never to be profitable on paper, but acquire a ton of users and use them as bargaining powers for big theaters. It never worked though, as AMC and the others understood pretty well that the best way to deal with them is to ignore them and let them die which would eventually happen. It is a shame, because there is a real issue in the US with movie theaters that are mostly empty due to Netflix and other "At Home" offerings. The marginal cost of someone going to a movie is zero, so there is definitely some business there.
- scarface74 8y agoYes and AMC brought out their own subscription service. They are well aware of the appeal.
- Cypher 8y agoI pay $0 for movies.
- scarface74 8y agoAnd they won’t spend time trying to acquire you as a customer.