MoviePass returns, backed by cryptocurrency firm

AppleInsider

Previously a disastrously failed service offering cut-price movie theater tickets, MoviePass is attempting to return with new crypto backers, and a plan to help fund film production.

At least cryptocurrency sounded like a good idea. MoviePass launched in 2011 as a service where every movie ticket you bought cost the company more than it could make from you.

There was then the issue of how it made any money at all, with its then-CEO seemingly telling businesses that it tracked users before and after the movie theater. But then told MoviePass users that it did no such thing.

The company was aiming to take losses on the chin as it worked to become the dominant force in the marketplace. But the losses were great, customers' concern over privacy was greater, and advertisers were disincentivized.

It closed down in 2019, and in 2020, MoviePass's then parent company HMNY filed for bankruptcy. MoviePass co-founder Stacy Spikes was allowed to buy the firm by a bankruptcy judge, despite having been reportedly fired from the firm in 2018.

Then in August 2022, Spikes relaunched the service, intending to start a beta test in a few cities, including Chicago. Now according to the Financial Times, MoviePass is looking to expand with the backing of funders led by Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency firm, Animoca Brands.

The future of MoviePass

"MoviePass has a strong vision for technology in the field of entertainment," Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu told the publication, "and our investment demonstrates our commitment to maximizing the value that MoviePass can deliver across the film industry."

Animoca Brands began as a joint games and venture capital firm in 2014. It then developed a blockchain service, and carried out transactions around NFTs.

Most recently in early 2023, the firm was reported to be raising $1 billion fora metaverse investment fund.

Before its first iteration closed down, MoviePass had begun to create a more workable business model. This new version wants to expand, so it's ultimately going to help finance movie production.

"With its initiatives to increase traffic to theaters, engage audiences with enhanced cinematic experiences, connect studios and their franchise characters to movie fans," continued the company, "and make financing more accessible to aspiring filmmakers, we believe that MoviePass will help to define the future of cinema."

MoviePass has not announced a scheduled for rolling out nationwide. However, it says that broadly it will be offering subscription tiers from $10/month.

Read on AppleInsider

Pancake

Are the still considered a publicly traded company? If you were an investor could those penny shares be worth anything again?

DAalseth

At least cryptocurrency sounded like a good idea. 

How about “This makes cryptocurrency sound like a good idea.”
Take a failed and discredited idea, but this time back it with fake money.
Not gonna touch that with a ten MILE pole. 

charlesn

Omg, hilarious. MoviePass backed by cryptocurrency. What could go wrong?

iOS_Guy80

Who goes to the movies anymore, when you can sit in the comfort of your home and stream just about anything under the sun.

StrangeDays

iOS_Guy80 said:

Who goes to the movies anymore, when you can sit in the comfort of your home and stream just about anything under the sun.

We love going to the movies. Big screen, big sound, beer, friends. 

DAalseth

StrangeDays said:

iOS_Guy80 said:

Who goes to the movies anymore, when you can sit in the comfort of your home and stream just about anything under the sun.

We love going to the movies. Big screen, big sound, beer, friends. 

Chattering people, phones ringing, can’t pause if you need to go to the can. I like streaming. 

Japhey

I think this article assumes that everybody already knows about MoviePass. Other than their rather nebulous claims, what exactly will a $10 a month subscription get you?

mikethemartian

iOS_Guy80 said:

Who goes to the movies anymore, when you can sit in the comfort of your home and stream just about anything under the sun.

Except for noisy people in the audience I would much rather go to the theater than watch a film on a TV.

kiowawa

The idea may have seemed silly, but it got me going to movies again, once a month or more vs once a year.  They needed to fine tune it, but there was a viable market if done carefully.  Now I am back to no movies, or maybe one a year. Lots of folks like me. 

AppleZulu

Movie Pass surely appears to be a classic middle-man rent-seeking scam. It’s like a mafia protection racket. 

Their objective is to take a loss on the front end -buying up and then selling movie tickets at below cost- in order to collect a sufficiently large subscriber base. Then they can, um, request payment from cinemas and studios by, um, offering to incentivize audiences to go see this movie, but not that one. If they can fill or empty a given cinema or move numbers on a film’s opening weekend, they can then, um, strongly request payment from cinemas and studios to do or not do exactly that. 

They failed the first time around because they lost too much on the front end before reaching the critical mass needed to carry off the back-end revenue generating scheme. One could imagine the crypto-backing this time around would help mask those front-end losses. 

Theater chains are already selling their own subscription deals now. Look for promotions of those to pick up if Movie Pass starts gaining any traction. The chains’ own subscription deals will undermine Movie Pass by diminishing their ability to collect the subscriber base needed to move audience numbers.