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MoviePass couldn’t afford to pay for movie tickets on Thursday

money.cnn.com

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Re: MoviePass couldn’t afford to pay for movie tickets on Thursday

#31

Post by clircle »

My wife and I are so frustrated by the movie going experience in the US. In Taiwan, everyone is permitted to bring food and drinks to the theater and that's pretty common. In the US I'm forced to pay an absurd amount of money for awful junk food. No thanks, I want to drink tea while I watch a movie. We always have to smuggle in drinks because the theater just doesn't provide any good options.

None of the movies is the US are subtitled. I am a native English speaker, but I really prefer to watch every movie with subtitles. Reading the dialogue while I hear it helps me remember the content of a movie, helps to understand what characters are saying while there are explosions going on in the background, let's me lower the volume for the sake of those around me, and so on.

And then there's the friggin' cell phones... but I suppose this isn't really a US specific problem.

Re: MoviePass couldn’t afford to pay for movie tickets on Thursday

#32

Post by Analemma_ »

mdrzn wrote: post #2

A couple months ago there were optimist articles about how they'll "make it in the long run", having "enough money to keep going before being profitable". Cinemark even announced something similar. Guess it didn't last THAT long. I'm scared for other services with the same pricing scheme.

I mean, in the case of MoviePass, their pricing was so obviously stupid that people sort of assumed that they MUST have a trick up their sleeve to make it work, because no one could be that dumb.

And it turns out, they don't (or maybe they did but it didn't work). Not everyone is playing 9D chess.

Re: MoviePass couldn’t afford to pay for movie tickets on Thursday

#33

Post by gambiting »

They still keep thinking that people will eventually treat it like they do gym memberships - buy them, but ultimately not use them. But there is a certain social expectation to have a gym membership and at least pretend you are doing something about your physical fitness. I have one through work and the last time I've been to that gym was over a year ago. But I can't be bothered to go to HR and actually cancel my account. But going to the gym sucks - and going to the movies does not. There is no reason to not use the movie pass once you have one. I'd be shocked if anything but an absolutely marginal percentage of their users were actually paying more than they were using.

Re: MoviePass couldn’t afford to pay for movie tickets on Thursday

#34

Post by Jtsummers »

clintonb wrote: post #30
s73v3r_ wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They already do strongarm some smaller theaters into getting a cut of concessions.

What leverage do they have to strongarm? If a theater is popular, that means MoviePass customers like the theater. MoviePass needs the theater more than the theater needs MoviePass. If MoviePass chooses not to pay for tickets at the theater, that’s a MoviePass problem.

It becomes the theater's problem if the customers have alternatives. In my area, they don't. There are 2 theater companies and 3 theaters. But say you're in Atlanta, there are tons of theaters, and often not too far from each other. So the decision to go to theater X or theater Y could easily be determined by which one accepts MoviePass.

Customer's line of thought: I've already paid for this service. It'd be stupid to see a movie without using it, because I'd be double paying (not entirely accurate, but this is the thinking). I can go 2 more miles and see the same movie at a similar time and not have to pay for the ticket. Sold!

The problem for MoviePass is the customers will do that, and MoviePass can't actually afford the tickets (since most of their spending, now, seems to be from borrowed money).

Re: MoviePass couldn’t afford to pay for movie tickets on Thursday

#35

Post by jld »

sspencer wrote: post #12

I would love to see the terms for that emergency 5 million in cash. Probably eye-watering interest rates.

Via Bloomberg...

"Terms of the loan are onerous. Investment firm Hudson Bay Capital Management can demand repayment of more than $3 million of the loan on Aug. 1, and the rest on Aug. 5. Proceeds from a planned stock sale must also be used to repay the debt.

If Helios and Matheson Analytics fails to pay, it will be subject to a 15 percent annualized late fee until it makes good on the obligation. If the company is 48 hours late in its payment, Hudson Bay can require the company to repay the debt at 130 percent."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-27/moviepass...

Re: MoviePass couldn’t afford to pay for movie tickets on Thursday

#36

Post by okmokmz »

gorbachev wrote: post #13
calyth2018 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's eye-opening that there are companies that forgets about cash-flow and profitability...

Uber, Spotify...plenty of other examples, I'm sure.

Soundcloud as well. They have something like 175 million users but almost shutdown last year

Re: MoviePass couldn’t afford to pay for movie tickets on Thursday

#37

Post by jonknee »

gambiting wrote: post #33

They still keep thinking that people will eventually treat it like they do gym memberships - buy them, but ultimately not use them. But there is a certain social expectation to have a gym membership and at least pretend you are doing something about your physical fitness. I have one through work and the last time I've been to that gym was over a year ago. But I can't be bothered to go to HR and actually cancel my acc…

And a critical difference, your gym doesn't lose actual money any time you visit. They may not want everyone to visit all the time, but it doesn't drain their bank account anytime you enter the door.

Re: MoviePass couldn’t afford to pay for movie tickets on Thursday

#40

Post by Jasper_ »

First, they tried to strongarm AMC into getting a portion of ticket and concession sales [0]. When AMC said "lol no", MoviePass blocked AMC and tried to pass it off as AMC blocking MoviePass. They then lied about how much money they made AMC [1].

[0] https://deadline.com/2018/01/moviepass-lack-of-amc-theatres-...

[1] https://variety.com/2018/film/news/amc-blasts-moviepass-fals...

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