Thought that was that. Ready to move on with my life and write about other things.
Nope.
It's been a busy week-or-so since I finalized that book.
I fear I may never escape my calling to be The Official Chronicler of this insanity.
Could be worse. I could be a political writer.
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The biggest announcement was MoviePass announcing they'd be bringing back their unlimited plan.
They said they were going to release it last week.
They did not release it last week.
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Instead, they got sued in a class-action suit.
Now they're very rightly being accused of a "bait-and-switch scheme." In that they promise a service that lets you see movies and then provide a service where it is nearly impossible to see movies.
But...these lawsuit-filers signed up in March 2018 and claim to have only seen three movies in the past year.
I'm extremely skeptical of people who signed up in the halcyon unlimited time of early 2018--months before it went bad--and were only able to see three movies.
After July, 2018? Sure. Nearly impossible to see anything with MoviePass.
But before July 2018?
That's poor planning and scheduling on the plaintiffs' part.
I call shenanigans on their lawsuit.
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But let's circle back to MoviePass failing to announce their new unlimited plan.
Do you think they didn't do it because the lawsuit knocked them off-course?
Naw. The business week was already over by the time the lawsuit was announced.
There's something else at work here.
It starts with an "S" and ends in "inemia."
It's Sinemia. Sinemia scared them off.
Sinemia announced that their $30/month unlimited plan is now $20/month and they'll allow one ticket rollover on the limited plans for every monthly period.
I would bet dollars to donuts that this baller move shamed MoviePass out of announcing their unlimited plan. I bet MoviePass was planning to charge $40 or $50 bucks for their unlimited plan and they realized their competition was charging half that.
As it stands now, you can see three movies a month whenever you want with MoviePass for $18-20, depending on your zip code.
Or you can see 30 movies a month whenever you want with Sinemia for $20, regardless of your zip code.
Any questions?
(Me! I have a question! This one: MoviePass, care to release the amount you were planning to charge for your unlimited plan?)
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I am currently a happy camper seeing three movies a month with Sinemia.
But not everyone is so happy with them due to their numerous changes to their terms of service, hidden fees, and app glitches.
This user, for instance, got their account canceled for seeing the same movie four times. They learned something that's apparently in the terms of service but that no one seemed to know about: you can only see the same movie up to three times.
The rule is a fraud prevention measure, because if your account is seeing the same movie four times, chances are you're not the only person using it and other folks in your house are using it to see that same movie.
Still, it's a pretty annoying gotcha, as no reasonable person reads every word of the terms of service. There should be a warning shot for something like that, not outright cancellation.
A helpful tool is available here, if you need it. Some kind citizen archived all the changes to Sinemia's terms of service with links to the way the terms stood at various times over the past couple years.
But despite their shortcomings and user annoyances, Sinemia's star is on the rise. Along with MoviePass, they were previously rated "F" by the Better Business Bureau. Now they're up to a "C"!
Yay! A passing grade!
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In other little cinematic news tidbits, there's no longer that "buy four tickets, get one free" incentive on Atom Tickets. You can still get your convenience fee waived there if you check out through Facebook Movies, but unless you got your first ticket at Atom in 2018, you can no longer get the free ticket benefit.
Fandango apparently offers credit on your purchases there, though. Each ticket is 125 points and 500 points gets you five bucks. So buying four tickets gets you five bucks. That's basically a $1.25 discount per ticket. That's less than the convenience fee Fandango charges, which varies from $1.50 to $2. BUT apparently you can get your fee waived by checking out with Facebook Movies, same as with Atom.
And the NDA has mostly locked down chatter on the in-Beta Alamo Drafthouse unlimited plan, but some gossip is available here. Take it all with a grain of salt, but I believe $15 is their price point. Not too high, not too low. Time will tell what they make it for the public.
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And let's take one last look at MoviePass' antics.
Just last week, they thought it would be a cool idea to burn heavy-duty cash on billboards in the middle of Manhattan.
Please note there is likely no way to actually use MoviePass at any theaters in the vicinity of those billboards. New York City was one of the first cities where MoviePass shut down access to theaters, even back in the glorious unlimited days.
Abandon all hope on seeing a movie with MoviePass in New York City.
Anywhere, really.
In fact, it's a NOTABLE EVENT when MoviePass makes showtimes available for the full day.
Starved users feast on the meager cinematic crumbs MoviePass throws them once in a while.
It's good to eat a movie now and then.
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Oh, and COOL TITLE ON THIS ARTICLE.
I think this is the third article to take the title of my second Cinemadness book, The Rise and Fall of MoviePass.
It's fair.
I accept it as a compliment on my genius when I keep seeing my work hijacked by others.
-B.P. Kasik/Phony McFakename
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