Image: MoviePass
As MoviePass has gone through what’s seemed like dozens of changes to its “unlimited” movie theatre subscription plan, users who bought the annual option have mostly been able to live like it’s the good old days. That’s coming to an end, but MoviePass is willing to hand out refunds, so you might want to act fast in case the company runs out of cash again.
According to the Verge, users who currently have an annual subscription with MoviePass are now receiving an email that reads:
We want to thank you for being a loyal member of our annual MoviePass plan. Your commitment to MoviePass has contributed to making our vision for an accessible and affordable moviegoing experience a reality…
After experimenting with different models and options, we believe that our current monthly plan captures the need of our community — keeping prices low while continually striving to offer a wider selection of films.
As of August 31, annual subscribers will have to decide if they want to go forward with the new plan that monthly plebes have been forced into accepting, or cancel their subscription altogether and request a refund. Currently, a monthly subscriber can see three movies per month and get a $5 reimbursement on a fourth ticket for $9.99. It’s not a terrible deal but the app has experienced more outages recently and you have to pick from an a la carte choice of available films that changes each day. Annual subscribers who choose to stick with the company will have the remaining months on their contract applied until they hit their one-year mark.
We’ve reached out to MoviePass to ask for comment on this story but did not receive an immediate reply. The company sent CNET a statement that reads in part:
We are grateful to our MoviePass community and have offered a number of our annual subscribers the option for a refund if the new plan doesn’t align with their viewing preferences. With this transition, we intend to offer more film options so subscribers can continue exploring a wide variety of movies. We believe that our new plan is a positive change in the right direction and that it captures the needs and desires of most of our MoviePass community in our journey for an accessible and quality movie experience.
Considering the fact that MoviePass lost $219 million in the second quarter of 2018 and is being sued by shareholders for fraud, none of these changes are surprising. It certainly could expect to see some legal challenges from its customers, but just taking the refund before it declares bankruptcy would be a lot less hassle.
Because MoviePass fans accuse me of being a mole working for Big Movie Theatre every time I recommend an alternative service, I’m just going to save myself the headache this time around. When this is all said and done, just know that alternatives exist.
[The Verge, CNET]