MoviePass Gives Up Dream of Having Hollywood Support Its Service
(Bloomberg) -- MoviePass Inc., the discount film-subscription service rocked by heavy losses, is retooling its strategy again.
The business, owned by Helios & Matheson Analytics Inc., no longer hopes to get significant money from studios and theater chains. In a statement Wednesday, MoviePass said it would rely instead on “self-generated revenues” from its movie-production company, subscriptions and the Moviefone advertising service.
The idea is to get those three parts of the company to work more closely together and build a sustainable business. For instance, there may be special perks for MoviePass members seeing MoviePass Films -- say, the ability to attend advanced screenings.
Previously, MoviePass had said that partnerships with the movie industry would help make the company profitable. It aimed to sell advertising to studios and persuade exhibitors to share their popcorn and ticket revenue. But major cinema chains, such as AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. and Regal Entertainment Group, balked at the idea. They had no desire to share revenue.
MoviePass's latest pivot is an admission that its earlier gambit failed.
Delisted Stock
Customers won't be immediately affected by the change, but they've already lost the benefits that previously came with a MoviePass membership. Subscribers used to be able to see a movie every day for $9.95 a month -- an offer that millions of Americans took advantage of. When that approach proved unprofitable, MoviePass reduced how often customers could use the service and limited the movies they could see.
But it's still struggled to find a winning formula, and competing subscription services from AMC and Cinemark Holdings Inc. enticed customers. Helios & Matheson was delisted from the Nasdaq last month after the stock lost almost all its value. New York state authorities also opened a securities-fraud investigation into whether the company misled investors about its finances.
The shares, which now trade over the counter, climbed 33 percent on Wednesday but are only just above a penny.
To contact the reporters on this story: John J. Edwards III in Geneva at jedwardsiii1@bloomberg.net;Anousha Sakoui in Los Angeles at asakoui@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, Rob Golum
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
-
Talking Points This Week: Tech Nerves, FII Buying, And A Faraway Banking Shock
The global markets are not shining this Diwali. The exception in the large markets is, India.
-
Midterm Rally Lasted A Day. The Hard Reality Of A Divided US May Last Two Years | Opinion
Between a contested AI boom, a debt ceiling that arrives in 2027 and a president with every incentive to act alone, the next two years may prove more volatile than the first day's rally suggests.
-
Blue Wave Will Derail the AI Trade but Won't Dismantle the AI Era | Unhedged Position
The Democrats' sweep of the US Congress will see politics collide with economic forces both over the long and short term.
-
It's Time To Take The GST Council's Bet On Trust Global
Payment records can prove India's services exports, and clear, proportionate rules can bring foreign digital sellers into the tax net.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
-
Navigating Energy Crossroads: S Jaishankar's Call For Diversified Supply Chains At G20 Ministerial Meeting
As geopolitical fault lines continue to test maritime trade routes and commodity flows, Jaishankar's message remains pertinent: true economic resilience requires open markets, protected transit lines, and a genuine commitment to multilateral cooperation rather than coercion.
-
Indians Are Travelling, But Not Every Journey Is A Holiday | The Week In Whys
Pilgrims, patients and working women are the real travellers, and the system hasn't quite caught up with them.
-
Getting To Work Costs Women More | The Reason Why
It is not just about women paying more than men. It is about women paying much more in cities than in villages.
-
AI Bias In Investing Cannot Be Eliminated, But It Can Be Governed
Framing is a particularly important example as identical financial information presented in terms of gains rather than losses can lead an LLM to reach a different assessment.
