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How Does MoviePass Make Money?

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Re: How Does MoviePass Make Money?

#31

Post by dawnerd »

scarface74 wrote: post #12
libertine wrote: post #6

I still remember when movie theaters provided a different experience - and I'm in my late 20's, so it was not that long ago. Movie theaters became just another living room - people go there chat, comment and eat during the movie just like they were at home. It became such an obnoxious experience, where people are shoved into a room and door is closed. This goes to say: movie theaters had a lot of distribution costs r…

It depends on the theatre. I only go to a regular movie theatre when I'm back home seeing my parents. I enjoy the theatre experience where you get reclining seats and you get to reserve your seat beforehand. The next step is the dinner and movie experience where you get to both enjoy reserved seating and get food served while you're eating. Those theatres by necessity aren't as crowded and you have a much better expe…

moviepass works for new movies, you just have to show up first thing in the morning and reserve a night show. Never had problems getting a good seat myself at a regal with reclining/reserved seats.

Re: How Does MoviePass Make Money?

#32

Post by dawnerd »

criddell wrote: post #30
j1vms wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They claim most people stop going to the movies after the first couple of months. Which of course hurts the ads/analytics side of their business. Not going to any movies means little or no data generation.

When the subscription price was higher, they have fewer members and the people that signed up went to a lot of movies and MoviePass was losing a lot of money. When the dropped the price, a lot more people signed up and most of these were casual movie goers. In every way they are better off with two million subscribers that go to 8 movies a year than a hundred and fifty thousand subscribers that go to 25 movies a year…

And this is exactly why they pulled out of the top AMC theaters. No surprise they're also the most expensive ones. The AMC at citywalk in LA is almost 20 a ticket for a basic 2d showing.

Re: How Does MoviePass Make Money?

#33

Post by RodgerTheGreat »

jorams wrote: post #9
throwaway287391 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the theatre companies are complaining about this, which blows my mind. It’s a phenomenally good deal for them at the moment — tons of free revenue they otherwise wouldn’t see at all, courtesy of VC capital. What a bunch of whiners.

> It’s a phenomenally good deal for them at the moment The problem here is in the at the moment. MoviePass trains consumers to see the experience of going to the movies as effectively worth nothing. That is very bad for theaters, because when MoviePass goes away they will be left with a product---with small margins---that consumers see as incredibly expensive.

And the insidious part of this is that MoviePass doesn't have to fail. If they achieve sufficient market dominance they can ruin any theater that refuses to play ball by removing their ticket "subsidies".

"Heads I win, tails you lose."

Re: How Does MoviePass Make Money?

#34

Post by xivzgrev »

I don't quite follow the angle of promoting smaller studios' movies. If I am such a studio, and pay moviepass $100k to push a movie, and then that results in $1M tickets sold thru MoviePass, and I get $500k (or whatever), didn't MoviePass just lose $900k? MoviePass is both the marketing channel AND consumer. The studio has to make a profit and that has to come from somewhere - MoviePass' profit.

Re: How Does MoviePass Make Money?

#36

Post by dublidu »

schizoidboy wrote: post #3

I thought their business model was like a gym: hope that most people won't use it. (Source: I have MoviePass and I'm seeing less than 1 movie per month because I'm too busy :-D) Instead, this article claims it's: 1. Studio of movie $M pays MoviePass $X to market it to subscribers. 2. Subscribers see a movie they otherwise wouldn't pay for. MoviePass eats this cost ($Y). 3. Subscribers' word-of-mouth network effects b…

MoviePass can’t use the gym model because most people actually like going to the movies, it’s not aspirational. MoviePass also has much higher cost per visit, since they have to pay full price to AMC.

Re: How Does MoviePass Make Money?

#37

Post by scarface74 »

slfnflctd wrote: post #19
scarface74 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on the theatre. I only go to a regular movie theatre when I'm back home seeing my parents. I enjoy the theatre experience where you get reclining seats and you get to reserve your seat beforehand. The next step is the dinner and movie experience where you get to both enjoy reserved seating and get food served while you're eating. Those theatres by necessity aren't as crowded and you have a much better expe…

> The ticket costs for the movie and dinner type places are usually cheaper since they can make it up on food For some of them, this may be true. However, one I visited in the Midwest put their 'eat & watch' section in an exclusive balcony above the standard seating area and was charging almost double per ticket (along with sub-Applebee's food at Chili's prices). They have apparently been in business for over five ye…

I have seen both. I went to a theatre in Miami where you had to pay more for the eat and dine experience and just to be in the lobby.

Where we usually go - Studio Movie Grill - you can usually get a ticket for $5. The prices of the food and the quality is around AppleBeds like you said.

That's true about the silverware, it's never been distracting but another place we go - a small place with about a capacity of 70 that has live music uses paper plates and utensils.

Re: How Does MoviePass Make Money?

#38

Post by jon-wood »

At least in the UK each of the big cinema chains runs there own equivalent to this, and they push their staff hard to sell passes because the actual seat costs them a negligible amount of money, and people who “aren’t paying” for the seat are more likely to buy food and drink.

Re: How Does MoviePass Make Money?

#39

Post by etcet »

dawnerd wrote: post #32
criddell wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When the subscription price was higher, they have fewer members and the people that signed up went to a lot of movies and MoviePass was losing a lot of money. When the dropped the price, a lot more people signed up and most of these were casual movie goers. In every way they are better off with two million subscribers that go to 8 movies a year than a hundred and fifty thousand subscribers that go to 25 movies a year…

And this is exactly why they pulled out of the top AMC theaters. No surprise they're also the most expensive ones. The AMC at citywalk in LA is almost 20 a ticket for a basic 2d showing.

It's apparently not the ticket price that they care about. They removed support for the River East 21 in Chicago, which has 21 screens and shows a lot of foreign and limited releases. You could probably go there every couple of days and see a new movie you haven't seen before. Ticket prices there are actually cheaper than the 600 N. Michigan AMC which they still support. But that theater only has 9 screens and basically only shows blockbusters.

Likewise, the Webster Regal in Chicago is about $3 more per ticket than theater they dropped support for. But they don't carry all the limited/foreign releases that River East does.

Re: How Does MoviePass Make Money?

#40

Post by praneshp »

Heads up from a former customer that just cancelled: I was a huge fan 3 months ago, but they've been dropping theaters left and right. Around mountain view, they have gone and dropped both theaters I watch movies in.

In my opinion, this will be a better program if there was a guarantee that theaters will stay for X months.

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