After years of trying and failing, MoviePass ended up in bankruptcy court, a broken, battered mess before being rescued from the ruins by MoviePass executive and co-founder Stacy Spikes. Spikes brought MoviePass back from the brink, relaunching the service in beta to those on a waitlist in August 2022. Ready for a wider launch this summer, The Street reports that MoviePass is teaming up with Walmart.
The major retailer will promote the MoviePass subscription service through advertising and in-store displays. MoviePass hopes this partnership will give their service more visibility and introduce the subscription to potential subscribers.
“This is a huge win for MoviePass and for the theatrical movie business. It signals the big screen experience of the movie theatres has no equal, even with the virtually unlimited availability of filmed content at home on the countless TVS, computers, and other small screen devices sold by Walmart itself,” Paul Dergarabedian of ComScore told Business Insider.
Through the partnership, Walmart stores across the country will sell MoviePass subscription cards. While there is no official date for the summer launch of MoviePass yet, the subscription cards could be rolled out at the same time. The website simply says, “launching to the public summer 2023.” Though some restrictions and limitations apply, MoviePass will be available in more than 4,000 theaters. A complete list of participating theaters is available on the MoviePass website.
Pricing
According to MoviePass’s Plans page, plans range in price between $10 and $40 a month, except for Southern California and the New York metropolitan area. At $10 a month, MoviePass subscribers can see one to three movies in standard 2D theaters. At $40 a month, a Pro subscriber can see up to one movie per day. The new MoviePass model uses a system of credits, so how many movies subscribers can see is based on the number of credits needed to watch select movies. In Southern California and the New York metropolitan area, plans range from $20 per month for the Basic plan and $60 a month for the Pro plan.
Plan pricing and credits needed to see a particular movie are based on the time and location of the movie and theater, and plans and credit values are subject to change as they continue beta testing.
Why now?
After the pandemic, many thought the movie industry was dying, but the needle has shifted in the last year. Many moviegoers have proven they will go back to the theater for quality content that they prefer to see on a bigger screen, CNET reported. Making the MoviePass name more visible to consumers at Walmart may intrigue potential subscribers, and remind them that going to the theater is a different experience from watching a streaming movie at home.
“After a heavy dose of streaming at home during the last two years, consumers have decided that the cinema is the place to go for an experience that can’t be replaced at home,” said Rosenblatt Securities analyst Steve Frankel.
Insider Take
After the mess the previous owners made of MoviePass, it is hard to be optimistic about the company. However, as a co-founder and former MoviePass executive, Spikes has a vested interest in reviving the idea of a movie subscription service. The concept all along has been a good one; its execution and business model, however, were flawed. While it is too early to tell if this model will be successful for Spikes, we like that they are taking their time with the beta testing and making adjustments where needed. Coupled with a partnership with Walmart, MoviePass may finally have the right stuff to make this movie subscription model work. Pass the popcorn! We’ll be watching.
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