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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

#161

Post by mi100hael »

lainga wrote: post #110
wildpeaks wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Nerdwriter has a good video (short, just 6 minutes) about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w876zZZIb10 The gist of it is, they're hoping to grow so big that movie theaters will have no choice but to negotiate with them, to share part of the revenues they bring theaters from people who normally don't come watch movies on a whim anymore.

Isn't that kind of rent-seeking?

Not if they are providing a better customer experience along the way as well as drawing new customers to the market. "Rent-seeking" implies a desire to simply extract cash without providing any value to anyone.

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

#162

Post by cabaalis »

MusaTheRedGuard wrote: post #51
legitster wrote: post #20

If I am a traditional 'tech' company - I can afford to lose money when I am investing it in my platform or technology. It's like borrowing money to invest in your assets. For MoviePass, they are losing money and passing it off to theaters - it's like borrowing money to buy more ingredients for a failing restaurant. You can't charge less than the marginal cost, it doesn't make sense! I am trying to wrap my head around…

It's crazy. The data is basically worthless. I honestly don't know if they will survive for more than a few months. I was just thinking, what could they possibly do to survive as long as possible? They could introduce incentives to reduce the number of movies people saw a week? Maybe some kind of credit system, where customers built up points towards a premium membership. They could also start taking the most expensi…

Use some of the funding to start their own theater chains?

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

#163

Post by mi100hael »

Spooky23 wrote: post #17
ChuckMcM wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think of Moviepass as the pets.com of 21st century VC madness. That said, they clearly had a great pitch, I'd love to see their series A pitch deck.

I guess the upside is that they will fail fast!

I'm not sure 7 years and a mostly-acquisition counts as "fast." Quite frankly it's impressive their charade has lasted this long.

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

#164

Post by mrep »

reaperducer wrote: post #143
legitster wrote: post #20

If I am a traditional 'tech' company - I can afford to lose money when I am investing it in my platform or technology. It's like borrowing money to invest in your assets. For MoviePass, they are losing money and passing it off to theaters - it's like borrowing money to buy more ingredients for a failing restaurant. You can't charge less than the marginal cost, it doesn't make sense! I am trying to wrap my head around…

An emergency loan with no change to the service whatsoever? They are really having a deer in the headlights moment. Reminds me of a startup I worked with once. The goal wasn't to make a viable product. It was to make a big splash and get bought. 10 Start a product/service 20 Make a big hype and get lots of publicity 30 Get bought by some larger company that sees you as a threat/opportunity 40 Founders get big cash pa…

There is a funny south park episode that goes over this: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-south-park-can-teach-...

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

#165

Post by balls187 »

ironjunkie wrote: post #158
reaperducer wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An emergency loan with no change to the service whatsoever? They are really having a deer in the headlights moment. Reminds me of a startup I worked with once. The goal wasn't to make a viable product. It was to make a big splash and get bought. 10 Start a product/service 20 Make a big hype and get lots of publicity 30 Get bought by some larger company that sees you as a threat/opportunity 40 Founders get big cash pa…

This unfortunately is probably the untold goal of 80% of startups around the Bay area that have unsustainable business models. What I find ethically borderline is that no founders will admit this, they will all pretend their goal is to make it a super successful sustainable company. As you said, the issue is that founders will usually get a moderate payout (a couple Million$), while even early employees will get almo…

The problem isn't necessarily one of ethics, it's that employees aren't able to appropriately assess a companies business strategy.

1. What is your monetization strategy?

2. What is your plan for profitability?

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

#166

Post by gamblor956 »

lev99 wrote: post #149
clircle wrote: post #31

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 th…

I want movie theaters to close. I think people that do not attend movie theaters also do not mind. If they liked movie theaters they would attend. I have a small apartment with a 70 inch screen in the living room. The three movies a year Hollywood produces I am interested in can be watched from the comfort of my own home in 4k surround sound for $4.99 a few months after they arrive in theaters. I can control the volu…

The only advantage a movie theater has is that it receives movies a few months earlier. If movie theaters close that solves that advantage.

Not sure what sort of crappy theaters you have nearby, but the 70 foot screen on my local theater absolutely dwarfs the 70 inch screeen of your TV. Highest-gamut color range, laser projection. Fully tuned Dolby Atmos surround sound speaker system. Reclining, reserved seats. Wine, beer, and heated foods.

Pretty much the only advantage of watching at home is that I can pause and not put on clothes.

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

#167

Post by matte_black »

ironjunkie wrote: post #158
reaperducer wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An emergency loan with no change to the service whatsoever? They are really having a deer in the headlights moment. Reminds me of a startup I worked with once. The goal wasn't to make a viable product. It was to make a big splash and get bought. 10 Start a product/service 20 Make a big hype and get lots of publicity 30 Get bought by some larger company that sees you as a threat/opportunity 40 Founders get big cash pa…

This unfortunately is probably the untold goal of 80% of startups around the Bay area that have unsustainable business models. What I find ethically borderline is that no founders will admit this, they will all pretend their goal is to make it a super successful sustainable company. As you said, the issue is that founders will usually get a moderate payout (a couple Million$), while even early employees will get almo…

What if founders were personally liable for losses?

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

#168

Post by ironjunkie »

matte_black wrote: post #167
ironjunkie wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This unfortunately is probably the untold goal of 80% of startups around the Bay area that have unsustainable business models. What I find ethically borderline is that no founders will admit this, they will all pretend their goal is to make it a super successful sustainable company. As you said, the issue is that founders will usually get a moderate payout (a couple Million$), while even early employees will get almo…

What if founders were personally liable for losses?

I find it non acceptable that founders get out of LowBall acquisitions with a couple Million$ , while early employees that worked almost as much, will in the best case get out with 100k$, in the worst case nothing (depending on the shares classes)

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

#169

Post by astrodust »

acchow wrote: post #111
legitster wrote: post #20

If I am a traditional 'tech' company - I can afford to lose money when I am investing it in my platform or technology. It's like borrowing money to invest in your assets. For MoviePass, they are losing money and passing it off to theaters - it's like borrowing money to buy more ingredients for a failing restaurant. You can't charge less than the marginal cost, it doesn't make sense! I am trying to wrap my head around…

> You can't charge less than the marginal cost, it doesn't make sense! It worked for Uber tho. And now they've raised prices in markets where they are established.

If by "worked" you mean "burned through ten billion in cash" then sure, it worked.

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

#170

Post by wccrawford »

avree wrote: post #54
izzydata wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Over the last 20 years I often have food and / or drinks in my hands when I walk in. No 16 year old ticket taker is ever going to make a fuss about it, because they certainly don't care. It is odd how deeply rooted in everyone's mind it is that there will be a huge scene if you try and sneak in food.

Most American movie theaters allow outside food/drink, so long as it doesn't give off a noticeable odor and isn't alcoholic. The myth about needing to sneak in your food is just that—a myth.

It was real at one point. Every AMC in our area refused to allow outside food for the entire time I was living with my parents. Some time after I moved out, they dropped that policy. So far as I can tell, it didn't make any difference at all in our spending habits. It just changed how fat my mom's purse got while we entered the theatre.
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