INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
After the revelation that MoviePass borrowed $5 million to keep its service up and running last week, things aren''t looking good.
MoviePass
subscribers, myself included, were met on Monday with a blank screen where their choice of screening should be
Navigating around dozens of theaters only shows a message that &There are no more screenings at this theater today.
Twitter noticed too, and
people are starting to sound the death knell for the beleaguered monthly movie subscription service
Some MoviePass theaters that offer e-ticketing still appear to have available showings according to Twitter users, but that doesn''t appear
to be true across the board.
Plenty of companies fail, but few flail so publicly before doing so
MoviePass has dragged its subscribers on for its own apparent financial rollercoaster ride, switching pricing schemes around with bizarre
frequency, adding surprise fees and suffering repeated outages.
We are very sorry to users having issues checking-in this evening
Some users have reported issues with card-based check-ins and we are working towards a fix on this technical issue
In the meantime, all e-ticketing remains fully functional.
mdash; MoviePass (@MoviePass) July 29, 2018
On Monday, stock for MoviePass
parent company Helios and Matheson Analytics (HMNY) plunged by a rather bleak 60 percent.
Competing services from Sinemia and AMC are
moving into the space with seemingly less doomed business models, so for frequent moviegoers, that something to watch
Unfortunately, jumping ship from MoviePass is easier said than done, as many users have reported problems cancelling the service
(For the record, I just tried to cancel my subscription through the Android app and my own cancellation would not go through.)
Given the
service unreliability and apparently shady cancellation practices, it wouldn''t be surprising to hear the FTC and other consumer protection
groups getting involved.
Is this the end Has MoviePass burned through its last stack of cash Is it just a reallypopular day at the moviesThe
company hasn''t tweeted or provided any official updates yet, but if this isn''t the end, then it certainly near.
