Yes, we all know the moviegoing paradigm is shifting, and theaters are struggling to keep up. This summer’s box office tally was a head-turning moment for execs, as Hollywood failed to crack $4B in ticket sales for the first time since 2006. The number of moviegoers buying tickets is severely down, while streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon are making people stay at home instead of handing over their hard-earned money for overpriced parking, popcorn and movie tickets. It’s a no-brainer decision for many; why go through all that effort to watch a movie when you can just stay in the comfort of your own home, save money, and not have any of the annoyances that come with watching a film in public (texting, talking, endless preshows, etc)?
With all that in mind, Mitch Lowe, one the co-founders of Netflix, had people talking today. His idea to save the industry was met with celebratory approval by audiences, but with a vehement negative rebuttal by a theater chain.
READ MORE: The Next ‘Silicon Valley?’ Watch The First Trailer For AMC’s New Comedy-Drama ‘Loaded’
Lowe’s startup is MoviePass. Founded in 2011, subscribers would originally pay $30 or more per month to watch an unlimited amount of movies in theaters. However, the company’s problem was that not many were using the service and Lowe, in a last-ditch effort, has decided to significantly cut the price to gain more members. Starting next Tuesday, the price to sign up for MoviePass will drop to a very affordable $9.95/month. The move was so popular, their website temporarily crashed.
What do you get for ten bucks a month? One showing every day at any theater in the U.S. that accepts debit cards. According to Business Insider, “MoviePass will pay theaters the full price of each ticket used by subscribers, excluding 3D or Imax screens.”
Lowe acknowledges that his company will be subsidizing ticket buyers and almost certainly losing money with this new subscription rate, however his argument is that he wants this new model of thinking to prove its value to theaters and studios. Particularly for the former, the theory is that MoviePass will get more people into cinemas, and buying concessions and other extra goodies, which is where cinemas make their real money anyway. MoviePass says they’ll eventually make money themselves by selling data they obtain about moviegoer habits, which would surely be valuable to a variety of industry interests.
READ MORE: Zombies Keep Moving As AMC Renews ‘The Walking Dead’ For Season 8
You would think that theater chains would welcome this effort to increase ticket sales with open arms, however, Variety reveals that AMC is not cool with the plan at all, and are seeing how they can legally opt out. The company said that MoviePass is “a small fringe player” and their plan “is not in the best interest of moviegoers, movie theatres and movie studios.”
Certainly, AMC wants you to be loyal to AMC. They probably want you to look at your AMC app and go to an AMC theater every time, instead of using the MoviePass app and going to the theater closest to you. But once again, the hard reality is that overall movie attendance is way down. Lowe knows that it’s not just the options available at home that is keeping people away from movie theaters, it’s also the high price of tickets. Getting audiences back to cinemas in significant numbers will require something drastic, and the MoviePass plan might just be crazy enough to work.