They didn't even sabotage their app any more than usual to do so!
However, am hearing more reports than ever of people arriving at the theater only to find showtimes suddenly gone, even if these showtimes were there mere minutes before. People suspect MoviePass is shutting them out in a bait-and-switch scam where they trick you into coming to the theater in order to block you once you're there.
Double-however, correlation is not causation. Many of these reports are from folks who arrive at the theater expecting to purchase a ticket after 5 pm. MoviePass shuts the app down for the day as early as 5pm (earlier on weekends) almost every day. It's not that you get close to the theater and MoviePass magically shuts down. It's that you happen to get there at the time of day (high-demand time) where MoviePass happens to shut down.
Why do they shut down early every day?
Speculation varies. But the most plausible explanation is that they have a certain amount of money to spend each day and when they run out of their allotted funds for the day, party's over and they shut down the app. "THERE ARE NO MORE SCREENINGS AT THIS THEATER" across the board.
Lesson to be learned: stop going to the theater late in the day and expecting to be able to buy a ticket. It won't happen and you'll just get sad. If you don't have a functional eticketing theater nearby or you can't get to the theater early in the day - over lunch or something - to get your ticket for later, MoviePass isn't for you. In its current incarnation, at least.
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And remember that weird thing they did, where they tried to trick-re-enroll people who didn't actively cancel their accounts?
Those accounts were supposed to reactivate on October 5.
No one has yet to report this actually happened. Everyone has reported it has not. Latest news: they might get these accounts up and running by November 1. Maybe.
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This is terrifying: an unsubstantiated, hopefully fake-news online rumor that Live Nation wants to buy MoviePass.
Kiss the service COMPLETELY goodbye if that happens.
The problems the service currently faces? The headaches they provide its users?
Baby, you ain't seen NOTHIN' yet! Live Nation basically exists to make your life a living hell. Making money is just a nice bonus for them.
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This one's not a rumor: MoviePass is throwing their hat into the ring of my favorite genre: horror.
And to their credit, they have good taste. They're greenlighting a Neil Marshall film.
That article has a huge omission, though. Yeah, Marshall made The Descent and Dog Soldiers, both great. But he also made Doomsday! Doomsday! The most awesome, crazy post-apocalyptic pastiche mess of all time! It's up there with the wacky early 80's Italian Mad Max-ripoff genre hybrids. Strong female lead. Great soundtrack. Great visuals. Crazy, unpredictable plot. Was lucky enough to see it in the theater, lost count of how many times I've seen it since. I'd watch it again right now.
I forget what we were talking about. But, yeah: Doomsday!
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Oh, and Sinemia made a super-baller move, possibly a MoviePass-destroyer.
To clarify: Sinemia is offering their platform and tools to any theater. ANY THEATER can now set up their own customized version of a subscription model. It's a build-your-own-MoviePass.
I mean... that removes any incentive for smaller theaters to play ball with MoviePass. Most of the eticketing theaters out there (the ones where you can actually reliably use MoviePass) are smaller theaters that cut a revenue-sharing deal with MoviePass. I'd bet dollars to donuts the deal Sinemia is offering is better for these theaters.
This is huge.
And I've been reading about Sinemia a whole lot lately.
I'm gravitating more and more into their orbit. I hate their $30/month price for their unlimited plan. And I hate their stupid hidden fees on every ticket, both "processing" and "convenience." And I hate their extra attempts at bilking you for fees ($10 for "early activation," $20 if you want to go month-to-month rather than pay a year in advance).
But... apparently, their service actually works. Their MoviePass-comparably-priced $10/month three-movie-plan sounds super-appealing, even with potential $1-$3 fees attached to each ticket... because you can ACTUALLY USE IT. You can see what you want to see where you want to see it when you want to see it. You don't have to make an extra trip to the theater early in the day to get a ticket before they shut down their app for the day.
I'm still locked into the annual plan for MoviePass, but I'd seriously consider quitting and trying Sinemia if I were month-to-month.
If you decide to take the Sinemia plunge, here are some quick pro-tips I've gathered: sign up for a year in advance (waives the activation fee), wait two weeks for account to start (waives the early user fee), and then buy your tickets through Facebook Movies (waives the processing fee, for now at least). And bonus: if you use Atom Tickets (they're some kind of new Fandango) and connect it to Facebook Movies, you get a free ticket for every four tickets you buy with them. Go to the theater and get your ticket when it's time to see your movie to avoid paying advance convenience fees. And of all their plans, the $9.99/month plan for three movies makes the most sense. (Their other plans are more expensive because they offer one 3D/IMAX/upgraded per month but 3D/IMAX/upgraded movies are stupid and annoying on the eyes and ears, so don't pay extra for that nonsense.)
If MoviePass is losing a longtime lover and cheerleader like me, I can only imagine how casual users feel. But then again...
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Here's a bit of speculation: MoviePass wants you to quit.
Seriously.
They publicly brag that they've made it so hard for users to see movies with their app-blackouts and lame showtimes/screenings even on their best days, that they've got users down to seeing an average of one movie per month.
They want it that way.
They want you to pay for their service and not use it. Or preferably, to forget to use it.
Like a gym membership.
Back when they had an unlimited plan on offer, this wasn't feasible. But as it is now? Yup. They're pulling it off.
They had almost three million users at the height of their powers and that number has been spiralling down since they went in the toilet. No one knows their exact numbers, but I suspect MoviePass would be perfectly peachy-keen happy to get their membership rolls whittled down to one million people who never/almost-never use the service.
I didn't want to believe the worst about MoviePass. I kind of had faith that they'd pull it together and start behaving better once they had all customers down to the three-monthly plan on September 16, 2018.
But no. It's been over a month since then and they still suck. And they're showing no signs that they're interesting in not sucking.
Leaving any reasonable human with the inescapable conclusion:
MoviePass wants you to quit.
-B.P. Kasik/Phony McFakename
I wrote the book on MoviePass TWICE, once from a positive perspective, and once from a more realistic perspective. I also wrote a horror book about a sort-of evil MoviePass.
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