MoviePass made a big splash in 2018, only to almost instantly collapse. Now the subscription cinematic service is hoping to make a comeback. And it’s targeting Labor Day as the start.
The company, which is being run by its cofounder who was previously ousted as CEO, plans a relaunch that will see three tiers of subscription. The unlimited views option, which MoviePass was known for in its previous incarnation, will not be offered this time around.
Instead, potential subscribers can join a waitlist starting on Aug. 25 at 9:00 a.m. ET. Monthly prices will run $10, $20 and $30, depending on the tier. For that, members will receive a certain number of credits they can use each month to see movies. Previous customers will receive bonus credits for joining.
The company did not detail how many credits will be required to see a film, nor how many each tier would receive.
MoviePass first emerged in 2017, charging movie fans $50 a month to see an unlimited number of films. It quickly began slashing prices, however, to gain market share, eventually dropping as low as $6.95 per month. That was less than the average cost of a single admission ticket to theaters at the time.
While the model was unsustainable, the real trouble came with the release of Mission: Impossible—Fallout as the service suffered an outage that prevented subscribers from using the pass to see the then hot film. By the fall of 2018, it had largely burned out. It attempted to change its plan terms from one free movie per day to three per month, but subscribers lost interest. It closed down for good (or so it seemed at the time) in September 2019, following many retooling efforts.
Helios & Matheson Analytics Inc., the then owner of the company, collapsed in bankruptcy the following year.