MoviePass has slowly but surely turned into a significant player in the modern entertainment landscape, disrupting the traditional theatergoing model by offering users subscription-based movie tickets. That said, the service has not gone without its own share of bad press in recent days, as some users had expressed outrage at the recent decision to drop the one-movie-per-day business model that brought it widespread notice from consumers. Now, seemingly in the face of such outrage, it looks like MoviePass has decided to backpedal and return to that format.
In the early days of MoviePass, the subscription service offered users one movie ticket a day for users. That said, things changed on April 13 when MoviePass changed its service to offer new subscribers only four movies a month, with the addition of iHeartRadio's streaming service, at the cost of $29.95 for three months. However, as of right now, MoviePass has returned to the original, $10 per month subscription offer now that the promotional package is no longer available.
We should note that it sounds like this may have always been MoviePass' plan. In fact, while speaking with Variety about the decision to move back to the old model, MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe specifically noted that the intention was never to move away from the classic MoviePass business model permanently. As he explained, the company simply removes the monthly plan off of its site whenever it goes in on a promotional campaign such as this. That said, it is still worth wondering if the user outcry against the move played a role in the decision to announce a return to the old subscription format, as Lowe spoke out at CinemaCon last week and said that he didn't know if MoviePass would go back to the $10 unlimited model.
Of course, it is worth mentioning that this is not the first instance of MoviePass encountering user pushback and bad publicity. The company's rapid growth has become a notable topic of conversation over the last year, and as a result of the expansion, many MoviePass subscribers have experienced difficulty getting efficient customer service. Moreover, MoviePass also drew anger from some users because of its recent decision to prevent subscribers from seeing the same movie in theaters more than once, a decision that directly coincided with the record-breaking release of Avengers: Infinity War.
With that said, the folks at MoviePass don't seem particularly worried about all of this. Despite some recent conflicts with theaters chains like AMC, bans on MoviePass were recently lifted, and MoviePass has stated that it intends to start making a profit once it gains more subscribers. With a return to a more well-liked business model, we will have to wait and see how this pans out.
CinemaBlend will bring you the latest MoviePass updates as more details about the controversial service are made available to us. For now, if you need more updates about all of the films that are set to hit the silver screen this year, you can head over to our 2018 movie premiere guide to see what movies are on the horizon and fill out your moviegoing calendar accordingly!
