One-movie-a-day pass is back.
After months of introducing different discounted plans and subscription bundles in what seemed to be an effort to find a sweet spot for its financial sustainability, MoviePass this week returned to its original one-movie-a- day monthly subscription plan.
Just a week after CEO Mitch Lowe said, “I don’t know,” about whether MoviePass would return to its one-movie- a- day deal, the company reintroduced the offer on its website at $9.95 a month as of Thursday. It also is offering a $7.95-a-month subscription that has a cap of three movies a month.
In an interview with Variety on Wednesday, Lowe said, “Any time we’ve done a promotional package, we’ve taken the monthly plan off our site. We never planned to abandon the flagship product that everybody loves.”
Since introducing the onemovie-a- day deal last August, MoviePass has grown into a player in the movie theater industry withmore than 2million subscribers in the United States. But last month, it scrapped its monthly plan for new subscribers, which worked out to as low as $7.95 a month, and offered $29.95 for three months to watch up to four movies a month and receive a free iHeartRadio subscription.
On Thursday, the $29.95 plan was replaced by a new limitedtime offer: a $7.95monthly plan to watch up to three movies a month and get a free threemonth iHeartRadio subscription trial.
It is unclear if and how continuing subscribers will be affected by the new monthly plans. MoviePass did not immediately respond to questions from this news organization.
MoviePass is still searching for a sustainable subscription business model after its parent company, New York City-based data firm Helios and Matheson, lost $150 million in 2017, according to its 10-K annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In his Variety interview, Lowe maintained MoviePass will eventually make money by running ads, partnering with theater chains, or using the col-
lected data on its 2 millionplus subscribers.
“We have a constantly evolving business model,” said Lowe. “We’re getting more and more occasional moviegoers and cutting back on fraud and abuse. I feel very confident about our trend lines and I know we’re going to continue as a going concern and continue to be popular.”