movie theater

What is a MoviePass and will it Succeed?

/ Claire / 1 Comment

MoviePasses are like monthly subscriptions to movie theaters. For about ten dollars a month, a user can go to their local movie theater and see any movie they want, any time they want.

“I thought it was a great idea and brought people back out to movie theaters. The climbing prices of movie tickets over the last few years was a huge reason why theaters were struggling and when MoviePass first came out it seemed like it was going to be a possible solution for them” said Simranjeet Kaur, MoviePass subscriber.

Or at least that was the original idea. To say that the MoviePass system has gone through some major problems would be an understatement.

Starting with their original launch in 2011, they experienced pushback from movie theater chains. Despite MoviePass guaranteeing access to every theater, customers were met with resistance from AMC Theaters. In 2018, with over three million paying subscribers, MoviePass quietly took away the unlimited plan for its new customers. After receiving backlash, the unlimited plan was brought back two weeks later.

However, MoviePass’ biggest problem is that it loses money. MoviePass is a third party service that has no deals with any theater. As a result, MoviePass must buy the tickets from theaters at standard prices. The more subscriptions they get, the more money they lose. MoviePass has recently been climbing out of a massive debt that involved obtaining a loan.

What does this mean for the customers of MoviePass? Nothing good. The MoviePass system has primarily worked with customers through their app. This app has consistently crashed and many believe that it is a result of the company being unable to pay for it. They have repeatedly changed the pricing of they plans, limited the amount of movies to three per month, and limited the selection of movies available. Customer were informed that they would not be forced to opt-in to these new plans and could drop their account by taking no action. However, some customers were placed in a “test group” that restored the unlimited movie plan. To leave this group, users would need to either opt-out or continue being charged.

“I actually feel pretty angered by the recent changes. It seems like every month I get an email that says they’re changing something about the pass. First it was that you couldn’t see the same movie twice, then they limited it to 3 movies a month, and now there’s only 1 or 2 movies playing a day that you can choose from. Also, I know many people have said the movie they want to watch shows up in the app when they’re at home but when they get to the theater it says that there are no more screenings available at the theater today. Honestly, I think I’m going to cancel my MoviePass soon. However, it did re-spark my love for going to the movies and I’ll probably continue to go more often now then I did before I had MoviePass” stated Kaur.

Overall, MoviePass is based on a great idea but is being executed incredibly poorly. I personally see MoviePass as a way to open the door to a better version of itself. Similar to how Netflix gets a lot of the credit for being the first streaming service, when in reality all it did was make it popular. AMC has already implemented its own version of MoviePass called AMC Stubs A-List.

I explored Fourtown Movie Tavern and Found a Unique Movie Watching Experience

/ Claire / 1 Comment

This Saturday I got to enjoy a new experience with movies and movie theaters. I went to a place called a movie tavern. A movie tavern is a new type of movie theater that serves food and drinks while you watch a movie.

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Are Streaming Sites and the Internet Ruining Movie Theaters?

/ Claire / 2 Comments

The internet ruins everything. People are using twitter instead of buying newspapers. Everyone cheats on trivia night. But is the internet ruining movie theaters? Are streaming sites such as Netflix and Hulu pushing people to stay on the couch for their entertainment?

Over the past week I ran four polls with 27 people to get an idea of how streaming sites have affected people going to the movies.

The first poll was to find out who is subscribed to streaming sites. Thirteen people say they are subscribed to Netflix. One person says they are subscribed to Hulu. Eleven people are subscribed to multiple streaming sites and three people saiy they were not subscribed to any sites.

My next question was about how long it had been since they had seen a movie. Nine people said that it had been six months to a year since they had last been to a movie theater. The remaining eighteen people said that they had all been to a movie theater within the past two months.

The next poll was about going to the movie theater at all. Six people said they would rather wait for it to be available online to watch. The twenty-one remaining people they still go to see movies in theaters.

My last poll had to do with content. More specifically streaming site content verses made in Hollywood content. Although the majority preferred the content on streaming sites, Hollywood movies still had their fans. The total votes being eighteen people for streaming sites and nine people for Hollywood.

These polls and other research and lead you to conclude several things.

First is that movies have definitely been affected by the internet and streaming sites. The convenience of streaming sites and their lower prices will inevitably cause difficulties with movie theaters. However, the good news is that the content on streaming sites forces Hollywood movies to push themselves more and keep up with the competition.

The second thing is that, although the internet is going to make it harder for movies, it is not going to ruin movies or movie theaters. Whether people are going for the nostalgia, the authenticity, or for a crappy first date, people are still going to the theaters.

 

Welcome to the Movie Comeback

/ Claire / 1 Comment

My name is Claire McKissick. I am a Radio Television Film major at Rowan University with minors in Journalism and New Media. I have had a strong passion for movies my entire life and wanted to create a blog to discuss how the movie industry has been progressing within the past few years.

I plan to attend drive-in theaters as well as movie taverns to review unique ways to enjoy movies outside of a traditional theater. I will also be discussing different movie apps, movie passes, and the effects of streaming sites on theaters. I will have posts dedicated to diversity in modern films and posts about how female characters are represented. Something I will continuously bring up is where movies were, where they are now, and where I feel they need to be.

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