5 ms·

I see a lot of people saying that $10 for 3 movies/month still sounds like a pretty good deal. It might be, but there are loads of other issues that make it mor

I see a lot of people saying that $10 for 3 movies/month still sounds like a pretty good deal. It might be, but there are loads of other issues that make it more expensive and less useable: - They recently added surcharges for what they call "peak pricing". When I looked at showtimes a couple Sundays ago, every showing after 10:00am had a $6-$8 surcharge. - Some showtimes just aren't available. After seeing all those surcharges, I tried again the next day. There were no extra fees, but the showings between 6pm and 8pm were not shown in the app. And this was for non-blockbusters that have been out for 2-4 weeks. - Their CEO has said (in a way that hasn't really been communicated to users) that they're no longer going to offer tickets for new mainstream movies. It's not at all clear which movies will be included. - The service has gone down a couple times in the last couple of weeks because they ran out of money to pay for tickets. There's no way to know ahead of time if the app will actually work when you get to the theater (and you can't buy tickets before then unless you go to the theater earlier on the same day). So, it's not $10/month for 3 movies. It's $10/month for 3 movies, excluding new films, with likely surcharges on weekends and many convenient showtimes blacked out. Also, sometimes it doesn't work.

nodja 8y ago
Read the article. > The company says the newly updated plans will include “many” major first run films from studios, wording that appears to confirm MoviePass’ plans to limit access to certain blockbusters, a trend that began with the latest Mission: Impossible film. For the time being, however, it’s agreed to suspend Peak Pricing and Ticket Verification to help appease existing users who are migrated over to the new plan. To me it sounds they're removing peak pricing and being more conscious about restricting movies.
- cwyers 8y ago
  > To me it sounds they're removing peak pricing and being more conscious about restricting movies. Until they aren't. MoviePass changes the deal way too often to have any certainty except about one thing: the deal gets worse all the time. As a customer, you have to try and guess what the value prop is going to be later on after the next round of changes.
  - nodja 8y ago
    Agreed, it's a bit too involved for a solution that's meant to be all about not worrying with paying for tickets. I just wanted to point out that some of his complaints were addressed in the article. It felt like a comment complaining about moviepass without actually reading the article. I personally don't have any interest in movie theaters, I'll wait for the home formats, thanks.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
tareqak 8y ago
The AMC Stubs A-list plan seems better to me in that there is a price cap (no peak pricing), and it works for IMAX and 3D movies: > See up to 3 movies every week in IMAX®, Dolby Cinema, RealD® 3D, digital and more for just $19.95/month (+tax). https://www.amctheatres.com/amcstubs/alist https://www.amctheatres.com/amcstubs/alist
- compsciphd 8y ago
  it is, except its only AMCs. If one lives in the bay area (especially the peninsula / south bay, for example), the AMCs show a very limited set of movies. If all one is interested is movies in wide release, that's fine.
- syspec 8y ago
  Do remember that AMC Stubs, exist because of moviepass. Not because they want to save us money. So we need movie pass to continue to exist so that its too late to put the cat out of the bag.
  - austinshea 8y ago
    The cat IS out of the bag. If this is a profitable model for AMC, they'll maintain it without considering Moviepass.
    - WorldMaker 8y ago
      Also, AMC is in a better position to continue to profit from the service model than Moviepass ever was. While Moviepass experimented with getting a slice of concession sales, they had no way to enforce that, whereas AMC already has control of the concession sales.
  - dingaling 8y ago
    Plenty of equivalent moviehouse subscription services exist in Europe without Moviepass 'pressure'
mikestew 8y ago
It's almost as if someone wanted turn burn a few billion to verify the economic model that dictates current movie ticket prices. IOW, with the new restrictions, it sounds a lot like the "dollar cinema" we had growing up: for a dollar, you can watch 2nd-run movies. Lot's of restrictions around that, too. Usually only one movie showing at a particular cinema, showings are usually only in the evening, etc. But, because first-run movies are priced as they are for some good reasons, to make it cheaper there were some corners cut. But I didn't need billions in VC money to come up with that one my own when I was 16 and watching the first Friday the 13th for $1.

nodja 8y ago

Read the article. > The company says the newly updated plans will include “many” major first run films from studios, wording that appears to confirm MoviePass’ plans to limit access to certain blockbusters, a trend that began with the latest Mission: Impossible film. For the time being, however, it’s agreed to suspend Peak Pricing and Ticket Verification to help appease existing users who are migrated over to the new plan. To me it sounds they're removing peak pricing and being more conscious about restricting movies.

cwyers 8y ago
> To me it sounds they're removing peak pricing and being more conscious about restricting movies. Until they aren't. MoviePass changes the deal way too often to have any certainty except about one thing: the deal gets worse all the time. As a customer, you have to try and guess what the value prop is going to be later on after the next round of changes.
- nodja 8y ago
  Agreed, it's a bit too involved for a solution that's meant to be all about not worrying with paying for tickets. I just wanted to point out that some of his complaints were addressed in the article. It felt like a comment complaining about moviepass without actually reading the article. I personally don't have any interest in movie theaters, I'll wait for the home formats, thanks.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

tareqak 8y ago

The AMC Stubs A-list plan seems better to me in that there is a price cap (no peak pricing), and it works for IMAX and 3D movies: > See up to 3 movies every week in IMAX®, Dolby Cinema, RealD® 3D, digital and more for just $19.95/month (+tax). https://www.amctheatres.com/amcstubs/alist https://www.amctheatres.com/amcstubs/alist

compsciphd 8y ago
it is, except its only AMCs. If one lives in the bay area (especially the peninsula / south bay, for example), the AMCs show a very limited set of movies. If all one is interested is movies in wide release, that's fine.
syspec 8y ago
Do remember that AMC Stubs, exist because of moviepass. Not because they want to save us money. So we need movie pass to continue to exist so that its too late to put the cat out of the bag.
- austinshea 8y ago
  The cat IS out of the bag. If this is a profitable model for AMC, they'll maintain it without considering Moviepass.
  - WorldMaker 8y ago
    Also, AMC is in a better position to continue to profit from the service model than Moviepass ever was. While Moviepass experimented with getting a slice of concession sales, they had no way to enforce that, whereas AMC already has control of the concession sales.
- dingaling 8y ago
  Plenty of equivalent moviehouse subscription services exist in Europe without Moviepass 'pressure'

mikestew 8y ago

It's almost as if someone wanted turn burn a few billion to verify the economic model that dictates current movie ticket prices. IOW, with the new restrictions, it sounds a lot like the "dollar cinema" we had growing up: for a dollar, you can watch 2nd-run movies. Lot's of restrictions around that, too. Usually only one movie showing at a particular cinema, showings are usually only in the evening, etc. But, because first-run movies are priced as they are for some good reasons, to make it cheaper there were some corners cut. But I didn't need billions in VC money to come up with that one my own when I was 16 and watching the first Friday the 13th for $1.