MoviePass' New Price Draws Over 150,000K Subscribers

AMC Theatres still upset with MoviePass' $9.95 price point.

By Jonathon Dornbush

After announcing a price point that allows subscribers to see a movie a day in theaters for under $10 a month, the MoviePass subscription service surpassed its 15-month subscriber goal in under a week.

Deadline reports that MoviePass amassed over 150,000 subscribers in just a couple of days, following the announcement of its $9.95 price point. MoviePass had a goal of reaching that number of new subscribers — but its target date for that goal was reportedly in late 2018. As of December 2016, MoviePass had just 20,000 subscribers.

According to the new majority shareholder in MoviePass, Helios and Matheson Analytics, two domestic theater chains saw massive upticks in the number of MoviePass attendees from before to after the price point announcement. One of those unnamed theater chains reported 20 times the number of MoviePass users attend in the week following the announcement in comparison to the week prior.

And while some chains, according to H&M, are pleased with the performance, MoviePass' initial announcement drew the ire of one of its biggest partners, AMC Theatres. At the time of the announcement, the theater chain put out a press release saying that it "is consulting with its attorneys to determine if or how AMC can prevent a subscription program offered by MoviePass from being used at AMC Theatres in the United States."

MoviePass spoke, though not in specific numbers, to its large uptick in subscribers via a blog post.

"After launching our new $9.95 unlimited plan, we were delighted to see the excitement among our members, social community, and potential subscribers," the post reads. "As many of you know, the massive amount of website and app visits caused our system to crash. These crashes, in turn, significantly increased our incoming correspondence."

MoviePass' website has since returned, but the company is offering users a detailed FAQ for those experiencing issues and for any additional questions potential subscribers may have.

The service works by mailing subscribers a debit card, which is used in tandem with an app to to check in to a movie at partnered theaters once a day and see one movie every day. (Effectively, the service now pays for itself with one movie viewing in many parts of the United States.) Those who already subscribed will automatically be adjusted down to that price on their next bill.

Jonathon Dornbush is an Associate Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter @jmdornbush.

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