MoviePass Labor Day Reboot Has Waitlist and Tiered Pricing

MoviePass is opening a waitlist this week for customers that want to get onboard in time for the company’s Labor Day comeback. Subscription tiers are initially being offered at rates generally staggered from $10, $20 or $30 per month. The startup that had a spectacular rise and fall before being purchased out of bankruptcy by co-founder Stacy Spikes last November is now headed for its third act as Spikes relaunches the once-popular moviegoing service. Mark Wahlberg through Unrealistic Ideas, his non-fiction production unit, is developing a documentary on the MoviePass ascent and flameout.

Starting Thursday at 9 a.m. ET the moviepass.com waitlist will open for five days inviting free sign-ups for the beta version of MoviePass. An email address and zip code are all that is initially required. Users will be notified on Labor Day, September 5, with three price tiers to choose from.

“Prices will vary depending on the user’s home market, but general pricing will be $10, $20, or $30 a month,” Business Insider reports, noting that “each subscription option will give the user a number of credits to use each month to see movies.”

“After the waitlist is closed, the only way to join will be through an invite from a friend,” notes Axios, explaining that “the service won’t be available nationwide until ‘on or around September 5’” when “markets will be launched in waves.” Unlike the earlier subscription models, there will not be an “unlimited” option offered during the beta period. “Users who make the cut for the beta will also be given 10 friend invites to use MoviePass,” per Business Insider.

MoviePass says it has 25 percent of U.S. theaters lined up to participate in the relaunch, which will see the once-red member cards be rebranded black. Users can initially order tickets with the MoviePass app or wait for their membership card to arrive in the mail and use that at any participating theater box office that accepts Mastercard, Business Insider says.

“Movie theater attendance has rebounded — but the explosion of streaming options coupled with the health crisis has changed moviemaking, and watching,” Axios reports, adding that “AMC, Regal and Cinemark — the three largest chains in the U.S. — have each launched their own subscription-based offerings in the wake of MoviePass 1.0’s downfall.”

Variety points out that it is unclear if any of those three chains are among the beta MoviePass participants.

Spikes and Hamet Watt founded MoviePass in 2011, offering moviegoers a chance to see a quantity of titles in cinemas each month for a subscription fee. Struggling to make a go of the business model, the company was purchased in 2017 by Helios and Matheson Analytics (HMNY), which later filed chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Spikes detailed relaunch plans for MoviePass earlier this year.

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