Move over, MoviePass, AMC Theatres (NYSE: AMC) is coming for you! As MoviePass continues to struggle with a sustainable business model, AMC Theatres is seeing success with its new subscription service, Stubs A-List. AMC launched the service in late June. As of mid-August, AMC had more than 260,000 paid subscribers to its new subscription service and more than 1 million moviegoers in attendance.

AMC, who has long been vocal about its concerns about MoviePass, launched Stubs A-List, as a new VIP tier for its loyalty program. For $19.95 a month, moviegoing subscribers can see up to three movies per week, including multiple movies per day and repeat visits to movies they’ve already seen. The movie subscription can be used at all AMC, AMC Dine-in and AMC Classic theatres in the U.S. It is also valid on premium showings including IMAX, Dolby Cinema, RealD 3D, Prime and BigD movies.

AMC reported these additional statistics in an August 16 news release:

• A-List members have used the service at every one of AMC’s 640 U.S. theatres in 44 states.
• Since launching on June 26, subscribers have seen more than 150 different movies.
• Subscribers account for more than 4 percent of AMC’s U.S. attendance and more than 5 percent including additional paid tickets by A-List members.
• In the last week, 40 percent of A-List moviegoers bought additional tickets to see a movie.
• Twenty-eight percent of subscribers are under the age of 30.
• Forty-five percent of A-List members were not previously signed up to its AMC Stubs loyalty program.

AMC’s pace is well ahead of schedule, with 500,000 subscribers estimated by June 2019 and 1 million by June 2020. At this rate, AMC will have no trouble meeting or beating those goals.

“We remain immensely satisfied by the initial consumer response to AMC Stubs A-List. With more than 260,000 members enrolled and over 1 million in attendance in just seven weeks, A-List in its early going is already demonstrating that it encourages moviegoers of all ages, locations and backgrounds to come to movie theatres more often, and they bring family and friends along with them,” said Adam Aron, AMC CEO and president. “While one would think that the rate of signups will inevitably have to slow down at some point, enrollments now are continuing at quite a brisk pace, getting AMC to scale much sooner than we initially anticipated. This is very good for AMC and very good for our movie studio partners as well.”

 “We expect that AMC Stubs A-List will be a permanent part of our marketing activity going forward. It should be reassuring to hear that AMC is broadening our full 12-month guarantee for each member from the date of his or her 2018 enrollment against any changes in AMC Stubs A-List program pricing, terms or benefits,” added Aron. “…as a stable and sizable operator, we have every intention of keeping our promises and offering delightful and stress-free movie-going experiences to our much-appreciated AMC Stubs A-List guests.”

Aron is referring to a new change to the Stubs A-List subscription. Members who enroll during 2018 will receive a price guarantee for 12-months from the date of their subscription. In addition to guaranteeing the subscription price, no terms or benefits of the program can be changed during a subscriber’s first 12 months of the program.

Insider Take:

This is how it’s done! AMC Theatres saw an opportunity and seized, creating a sustainable movie subscription program that subscribers want. They priced it affordably, offered reasonable benefits and have now extended the rate and benefits for 12 months. This is a smart play by AMC Theatres, especially as MoviePass flounders. AMC Theatres will benefit from MoviePass’ fickle business model, unreliable service and constantly-changing pricing. Bravo, AMC, bravo!