Huh. This might be worth it for me.
It's a smartphone app that lets you into any movie in any participating theater for however many times you want in lieu of a movie ticket.
Subscription is $50 a month for unlimited movies, $30 a month for 4 movies, and you pay $3 admission every time you use it for IMAX or 3D showings. Not too outrageous if you go to the movies every week.
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/...l-to-theaters/
Movie Theater DiaryQuoting Donald Glover
Whoa. $30 for 4 movies a month is a pretty sweet deal.
Do they block you out of certain showtimes or new releases? You used to be able to bulk buy tickets in advance at AMC but there were certain times and shows you couldn't use those tickets at, which limited the usefulness of it.
I posted this in the Flick discussion thread. I think it's awesome. I don't go 4+ times a month so it wouldn't be worth it for me, but it's a good idea for moviegoers.
Heh, to be honest, the idea of not having to print or pick up tickets and just walk in whenever I want with my iPhone is pretty great, too.
Movie Theater Diary
That is awesome. Now, if only art house theaters would participate...
Contagion (Soderbergh, 2011) - 6.5
The Descendants (Payne, 2011) - 7.5
Midnight in Paris (Allen, 2011) - 5
Margin Call (Chandor, 2011) - 6.5
The Ides of March (Clooney, 2011) - 5
Aside from the AMCs, all the theaters listed as participating theaters in the Bay Area beta are arthouse theaters.
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I love the idea.
But, what do the studios think?
My YouTube Channel: Grim Street Grindhouse
My Top 100 Horror Movies OF ALL TIME.
I don't think the studios care, as a long as they keep getting the same percentage.
My guess here is that this is sorta like an ongoing Groupon, where the item in question is sold as a loss leader to get people into the store.
What they really want is (1) your ass in the theater buying $6 bags of popcorn every week and (2) the opportunity to upsell you on DVDs the second the movie is over.
This article from Wired really highlights how much marketing they're hoping to do to the people who sign up for this:
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/...l-to-theaters/
I'll be honest, if this is supported in my city, Im jumping on it and going to as many movies as I can.
This is a fantastic thing.
Just got my card. Can't wait to try it.
Movie Theater Diary
Ive used it 4 times so far. It pays for itself very quickly!
I can't imagine this service lasting. What the hell is their business model?
They've got to be subsidizing the cost of the tickets. They just got $1.5MM in funding, but that's not much and won't last more than a year at most.
I imagine that they're hoping to build a big enough user base to start negotiating with movie theaters.
Movie Theater Diary
Yeah, that's what I can't figure. To what end? The theaters already run these kind of discount programs & have years of data on their effectiveness. They can also just blow off MoviePass and build their own systems.
On the other side, this is a startup that's banking on an awkward user experience that's based on something (movie theaters) that's becoming something of an antiquated distribution system.
Seems like a lot of ways to lose.
You can now only see a movie once every 24 hours rather than once a day. After you buy a ticket, a 24 hour countdown appears on the app.
Bah, why the fuck does that matter if I see a movie in the morning or the evening? (say if I go Friday night and want to go again Sat morning) That's so lame.
Because if they prevent you from seeing it Saturday morning, maybe you won't see a movie on Saturday at all, and the less you use your card, the more they profit. Capitalism!
Movie Theater Diary
Was the countdown still on? He showtimes are greyed out for me when there's time left.
The countdown is on, but I scroll down and can select the showtime. I remember wondering what the case would be like if it started at exactly the same time.
And, um, I've also tried it where I wanted a different movie at a later time, picked that, and went with the one I really wanted, and that worked...
I was going to ask for this for my birthday, but you guys are really not selling it too well.
Well, beyond that inconvenience, let's take a look: I have had it for seven months ($245). I have seen 34 movies with it, so probably savings of over $100.
I don't recommend it to people anymore. You should be saving at least 3 movies' worth a month to make all that hassle of scheduling worth the effort. I still pay the pre-price hike $29.99 a month and movies are $14.50 here so I try my best to rob them blind. I've used my card 7 times this month, and I was out of the country for the first two weeks. Would have been more without that damn countdown, though.
I recommend it. Especially if you live in a metropolitan area like NY/LA type. Movies are $10-$15 around me. I just need two movies, and that's it.
Not sure what I'll do come February though. Wonder if I can just close it for two months.
I use it to see old movies a lot. That's what I do when new releases are shit.
It does work at the Arclight and Beverly Cinemas... Good idea.
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