The Background

In early to mid-September you may have heard people talking or seen a lot of buzz online about MoviePass—the company promising “any movie, any theater, any day” for only $9.95 per month. You read that correctly, for roughly $10 a month you can see a movie a day. If you think that offer sounds too good to be true, well, you’re not alone.

Many people have only just recently heard about MoviePass but the company has actually been around since 2011. Previously MoviePass membership costs were tiered and—depending on where you live—could be anywhere from about $15 to $21 for a plan that allowed you to see a limited number of movies or from about $40 to $50 for a plan that allowed you to see any movie on any day. With the cost of this new plan being 4 to 5 times lower, it has really generated a lot of hype for MoviePass. This is exactly what the company was shooting for. This new pricing model was announced on August 15^th after a change in ownership of the company which had brought with it a new business model and a need to really grow their customer base. The good news for MoviePass was it worked, the bad news for customers was that the company underestimated the demand.

The big question though, “Is it legit?” Can you really see any movie, anytime, in any theater, once a day, for just $9.95 a month? Well, let’s find out.

My MoviePass Sign Up Experience

I signed up for MoviePass on August 23^rd on the company’s website MoviePass.com. For me the sign up process wasn’t very smooth at the time. The online signup form was buggy and it actually took a few tries to successfully create an account. Checking the MoviePass Facebook page I had read many complaints of website, mobile app, and customer service issues. After some digging around in the FAQ section of the MoviePass website I had found that these issues were likely due to the influx of new customers that the new $10 plan had generated. There was also a note that the company was working on resolving the issues but that would ultimately take some time.

Once I had successfully created an account I received a message that said my MoviePass card should arrive via mail within 5 to 7 days. I assumed this to mean 5-7 business days and marked my calendar to remember to check for my card through Friday, September 1^st. When September 1^st arrived and the card still had not, I decided to be patient and wait until Tuesday of the next week. Unfortunately by that Tuesday, September 5^th, I still hadn’t received the card and at that point I sent an email to the MoviePass support team. That experience was a little strange and felt broken to me as well. I received what looked to be an automated email from their support team but the subject of their email was “Supported Theaters” and the content of the email only said to check their website for a list of supported theaters and to visit their FAQ page for further information. I found that strange because my email had a subject of “Question About My New Signup” and I had asked no questions related to supported theaters only questions about my signup and the expected delivery date of my MoviePass card. I decided to wait for a reply to my actual questions even though at that point I was doubtful that I would receive another response, but knowing about the influx of new customers I decided to be reasonable and give it another week.

On Thursday September 7^th I had received an email from MoviePass with the subject of “Important MoviePass Updates.” This was not from their support account but looked to be a general email update sent to all MoviePass customers. Within it stated that they had “received an unprecedented volume of traffic” in response to their new pricing and that their “customer service team was working to respond as soon as possible.” More importantly it also stated there was a 2-3 week delay in card delivery. With that information in mind, I now expected delivery of my card by September 15^th.

The surprise good news was that the day after that email update, Friday, September 8^th, I had finally received the MoviePass card in my mailbox. The letter with the attached card also clarified a couple of things in regard to their “any movie, any theater, any day” slogan. It stated that MoviePass can be used at over 4,000 theaters nationwide—with the list available through their app—and that you can see up to one “standard 2D movie” per day at any of their participating theaters. This information is also on their website but in a more toned-down manner than the “any movie, any theater, any day” slogan plastered on their front page.

The letter also had listed the three steps to using MoviePass:

• Step 1—Download the MoviePass app from the App Store or Google Play Store
• Step 2—Go to the theater and use the app to check in to a movie and showtime
• Step 3—Purchase your ticket with your MoviePass card at a kiosk and enjoy the show

My MoviePass Theater Experience

With card in hand, I decided to give it a shot. Over the course of 21 days, between 9/17 and 10/7, I had seen a total of nine movies across four different movie theaters in the Chicago (well three in Chicago and one in Hodgkins to be exact). The ticket cost for seeing all nine of those movies was $119.38 but thanks to MoviePass my cost was only $9.95. That’s pretty amazing! Although there was one small issue I ran into during the fifth time I had tried to use the MoviePass card it was declined multiple times at the kiosk so I actually had to pay for that ticket out-of-pocket. After contacting MoviePass Customer Support and explaining the issue they did offer to reimburse me the price of that ticket, so problem solved.

I tried to use the pass once a day and did so for the first five days, but to be honest, for me, I found that getting to the theater every day is pretty exhausting. Luckily, you really only need to see one movie a month to have a MoviePass membership pay for itself. I should note that for all of my visits I didn’t hit the concession stands, doing so would have upped my out-of-pocket cost significantly. If you can sit through a movie without a jumbo-sized drink and popcorn it’s totally worth it!

The Verdict

Yes, MoviePass is legit! It does allow you to see a movie a day at any theater (well, any supported theater) all for just $9.95 per month.

Now that you know it’s legit you might be asking, “Where in Chicago is MoviePass accepted?” The most up-to-date answer to that question will always be found on the MoviePass website or within their mobile app but at the time of this writing I had counted a total of 16 theaters in Chicago and even more if you include the surrounding suburbs.

One of the great things about the theaters where MoviePass is accepted is that it’s not just the big chains but also theaters like The Logan Theatre, Music Box, Brew and View at the Vic and the Gene Siskel Film Center.

Final Thoughts

If you’re already sold and think a MoviePass membership is right for you, my advice is act fast and take advantage of the offer as frequently as possible while it lasts. I’m wondering how long MoviePass can keep this $10 price point considering they currently are paying the full price of every ticket out to the theaters for every movie that a MoviePass customer goes to see. That’s insane! In addition, there has already been some industry outrage over the MoviePass model. As reported by Variety, AMC is threatening MoviePass with legal action over it. That means there may be industry pressure to stop this type of low-priced membership model in the future.

It’s also worth pointing out that the real cost of a membership may not just be the $10 per month paid but there may also be a hidden privacy cost. I have read about two strategies for profitability from two different sources. In a Bloomberg article, Ted Farnsworth CEO at Helios and Matheson (the venture capital firm that funded MoviePass) is quoted as saying that the goal is to amass a large base of customers and collect data on viewing behaviors and eventually target advertisements or other marketing materials to subscribers. This model is similar to how Google or Facebook amass users and use their data to drive advertisement revenue. Another strategy as outlined in a Variety article, has Mitch Lowe, MoviePass CEO, quoted as saying that after MoviePass proves to drive profits to theaters (via increased attendance and concession sales) he hopes that the theaters will cut MoviePass in on the profits. Only time will tell what course they’ll take to get revenue on track, but they will have to do something even if it means increasing the cost of membership or reverting back to a tiered pricing model.

What do you think?

Will you be signing up for MoviePass? Discuss in the comments below.