Back at the tail end of 2016, MoviePass head honcho Mitch Lowe announced that the service would cut prices drastically in the hopes it could increase subscribers as well as the number of attendees at the movies. In 2017, MoviePass launched its $10 passes and various iterations of the pass have been available via various outlets in the months since. The result is that MoviePass has landed millions of subscribers, and with such a heavy volume user base, the subscription movie service has started making changes. One big change actually happened this weekend, as MoviePass made it impossible for its users to go see the same movie twice using its pass. The move coincided with the big release of Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War this weekend.
The change came to section 2.3 of MoviePass' terms of service on Friday, and you can see the new change in ALL CAPS, below.
A valid MoviePass subscription to the Service entitles you to: (1) see one (1) 2D film per calendar day through MoviePass; and (2) a single seat, depending on availability, for a 2D film showing open to the general public. The Service excludes premium showings such as: 3D films, IMAX, 4D, XD and specialty theaters. The Service is available every day of the week, subject to the theater being open, inventory, and usage. THE SERVICE PROHIBITS REPEAT VIEWINGS OF THE SAME MOVIE. Alternative or future MoviePass Service subscription plans may include (1) premium plans that provide access to 3D, IMAX, and specialty formats and (2) capped plans (limited amount of movies per month.)
The part about the service prohibiting "repeat viewings" only came into effect this weekend, but it's one of several changes that MoviePass has made since the company first offered its $10 MoviePass. Although MoviePass has seen a lot of success with its business model, even hitting 2 million subscribers, about 5 months ago the service made changes to its terms of use, at that time noting that Moviepass "reserves the right" to change its policies as well as "ticket availability" to its members. The change to seeing a movie more than once is an example of one of the ways MoviePass has changed its policies, and it may not be the end to those changes. MoviePass had also previously blocked service to some members and to some screenings of popular movies, including Red Sparrow.
MoviePass is not a new business, but it saw an explosion in growth over the past 12 months. Because of this, it's not a huge surprise that the service would see changes as it tested limits and tried to make money. There have been kinks; some customers have had problems getting their MoviePass cards after ordering and have experienced other customer service problems. The service has also tinkered with different price models, something that Netflix also did (and continues to do) after it started becoming more popular.
As for this particular change, making the move right as the summer movie season kicks off is prescient. Not only has Avengers: Infinity War already made more money on opening weekend than any other movie in history -- including Star Wars: The Force Awakens -- there are a slew of other big movies coming up like Deadpool 2 and Solo: A Star Wars Story, plus a ton of other stuff later this summer. If MoviePass needs to make changes to its terms of service, before the summer season is the time to do it.
A lot of CinemaBlend readers have tried out MoviePass. Do the latest changes make a difference to your moviegoing habits, or do you still feel like MoviePass is a good deal? Stay tuned as MoviePass likely has more changes coming down the pipeline.
