MoviePass: The Ongoing Saga (Part 18 of ?)

Okay, let's talk new MoviePass plans. You can check your zip code here to find out how much each of the three plans costs.

ALLEGEDLY, the lowest-tier one STARTS at $9.95/month, the same old price. This "Select" plan is the one where you can choose from one or two late-evening showtimes of one or two movies that disappear from the app around 12:45pm, forcing you to race to the just-opened box office on your lunch break to snag a ticket before it evaporates.

I would love to know where it's actually $9.95, though.

It's $12.95 in my middle-sized city. And I checked Manhattan and L.A. zip codes and found it's $14.95 for them.

I checked a rural zip code for a town an hour south of me where there is only one crummy independent theater within an hour's drive. The price for MoviePass down there? $12.95.

If MoviePass isn't $9.95 down there, where on Earth IS it $9.95?

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I'm not gonna dignify the $22.95/$24.95 "Red Carpet" plan with a response. That's total overpriced nonsense. It justifies its price by claiming to offer premium screenings. But multiple users report that the app still blocks premium screenings at their local theaters at this pricing level, so it's fraud on its face right out of the gate.

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So on to the middle-tier one with the highly-suspect name, "All Access."

This is supposed to provide you with a functional MoviePass app, the way it was back before everything went to pot. Still only three movies a month, but you're supposed to be able to pick any movie and any showtime without the app shutting down on you.

Aaaaand surprise, surprise! Multiple reports across the Internet say that in the two weeks of its operations, it's already slammed paying users with the dreaded "No more screenings available" on all theaters in the middle of the day.

Bonus: this service tier "starts" at $14.95, but is actually $17.95 everywhere including rural areas and $19.95 in big cities.

Pro-tip: this $17.95 service level, where you're supposed to get three movies a month that you can watch anytime at any theater? Sinemia provides that for LITERALLY HALF THE COST. $8.99. Even if you live in a big city. And it DOESN'T shut the app down for the day even after specifically promising it won't.

Your move.



-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.

My "legitimate" books are on Amazon here and my Phony McFakename books are on Amazon here. I exist on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram but I only really post regularly on Instagram.