MoviePass Sets Labor Day Return With Tiered Pricing And Waitlist

Zac Ntim
·2 min read

MoviePass, the subscription moviegoing service whose spectacular fall after a buzzy start ended in liquidation two years ago, is set to return on Labor day in beta form with a new tiered pricing system.

The subscription service will reopen on Thursday, August 25, with a waitlist posted on its website at 9 a.m. ET where cinemagoers wishing to join the beta version can sign up, the company confirmed to Deadline.

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The waitlist will be open for five days and it will be free to sign-up on a first come, first served basis, according to Business Insider’s Jason Guerrasio who first reported the news. The first batch of successful applicants will be notified on Labor Day when they will be offered three subscription price tiers.

The prices will range between $10, $20, or $30 a month and each subscription option will give the user credits to cash in each month to see movies. There will not be an unlimited viewing option during the service’s beta version, Business Insider reported.

Earlier this year, Deadline reported that Stacey Spikes, the former studio marketer who co-founded MoviePass only to be ousted as its CEO, outlined revival plans for the service during a panel at Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theatre. Spikes and his business partners acquired the brand out of bankruptcy and have hired a number of former employees, including engineers.

“We’re going to make mistakes,” Spikes said while discussing his planned reboot of the service. “We’re not going to get it right out of the box. It’s going to be trial and error.”

Spikes, who had previously worked as an exec at Miramax, October Films and Sony Music, co-founded MoviePass in 2011. During his initial tenure at the company, MoviePass developed a devoted following, with much of its focus on the speciality business.

In 2018, when MoviePass started to hit turbulence, major wide releases like Mission: Impossible – Fallout experienced such heavy demand that it essentially fried the circuit board of MoviePass. The company was unable to obtain enough tickets to fulfill customer orders, a noisy mess that was followed by a series of revamps of the pricing strategy.

Mark Wahlberg’s Unrealistic Ideas, the company behind HBO’s Emmy-nominated McMillions, is currently developing a documentary on the rise and fall of MoviePass. Unrealistic Ideas has teamed with Assemble Media and Insider (formerly Business Insider) to develop the premium limited docuseries.

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