MoviePass has been in the media a lot lately with the recent changes to the program combined with the one year anniversary of the new system. Everything I see and read is putting MoviePass down for changing its deals, rumors of price hikes, and people canceling their subscriptions in outrage.
The way I see it, they're getting an unjust bad rap.
Before MoviePass introduced its $9.95 subscription, it spent three years offering a deal in which cardholders could see one movie a day for either $35 or $45 per month, depending on their plan. After three years, they partnered with AMC in 2014 in an effort to bring in new subscribers. This is the history of MoviePass that no one seems to know (or doesn't care to remember).
When Mitch Lowe became CEO of the company, he took a radical leap in an attempt to break the status quo and lowered subscription prices to $9.95. His goal was to knock the movie theater industry down a peg and bring the theater experience to more people. And you know what?
He did it.
People who saw two or three movies a year were now seeing every new box office hit, and going to the movies came back as a budget date night idea. I signed up for mine the day the offer was announced, and I went from someone who "didn't like movies" to going to see five or six movies a month. The movie theater experience was no longer a luxury but rather something that nearly anyone can enjoy.
Without the help of the big theater companies, the $9.95 price point simply isn't sustainable. I think we all knew that going in, but after a year of having something too good to be true, we start to forget what it came from. People complaining about changes in the MoviePass program is like someone protesting when their free trial ends for a product and they can't just start another free trial. This was meant to change the industry, not to bankrupt Mitch Lowe while we all see movies on his dime.
What we should be protesting is AMC and Regal, as well as other theater companies, not cutting deals with MoviePass despite the huge amount of traffic the company is bringing into their businesses.
Imagine if, before you had MoviePass, you were in line at the theater and you were buying your ticket for $10.50 with your student discount but the person beside you ordering was shouting, "I already bought one ticket this month! I shouldn't have to pay for any more tickets, you need to let me into the theater for free!" They would sound like a crazy person. Guess what, guys? We have all become that crazy person, taking a good thing for granted. Seeing three movies a month for less than the cost of one ticket - plus discounts on all tickets after that? That's still a total steal!
Let's be honest, none of us were seeing 32+ movies a year before. That would have been at least $300 a year just on movies. But now that we can see 32+ movies a year for less than half that cost, we want to complain that we should be able to see even more movies for even less.
There has to be a cutoff, and this is it. Get over yourselves, guys. Don't cancel your MoviePass just because you're stubborn. Just look up the weekly schedule and be happy that you still have more than you had two years ago.
