MoviePass Launches All-You-Can-Watch Movie Theater Service

A new start up firm Movie Pass is trying to apply a Netflix model to the Cineplex. Could this be a what the theaters need to for a new era of attendance? Or is there reluctance on the part of the chain owners?

MoviePass, which offers all-you-can-watch movie-going for less than $40 a month, starts a limited national rollout Tuesday — more than a year after a near-disastrous miscue, which was followed by a year of beta testing.

In July 2011, MoviePass started a test in the San Francisco Bay Area. “Some article mentioned that we were working in conjunction with AMC Theatres, which was not true,” says Stacy Spikes, CEO and co-founder of MoviePass.

That caused a backlash from the theater circuits, which had not been consulted in advance about the new offer, which would feed off their business. Things grew testy, and MoviePass pulled back.

The company shut down that test but took its list of interested potential customers with it. Within a short time in the Bay Area, it had attracted about 19,000 people who wanted to know more or sign up for the service. The team felt it had something but put the idea under review.

The Hollywood Reporter | Read the Full Article