For major movie fans, the MoviePass was like a combination of Christmas, Hanukkah and every other major holiday put together.
For a brief period between 2017 and 2019, holders could pay $9.99 per month and watch movies in a theater as many times as they could fit into their schedule.
There was even a brief promotion during which the pass cost $7.99 and gave one access to two movies a month. The unlimited service, however, was what drew many in.
It was highly popular but, as could be expected, not sustainable for long-term profit. The company that took over the service in 2017, Helios and Matheson Analytics (HMNY) , filed for bankruptcy in 2019 as its stock plunged to zero.
Helios and Matheson Analytics was promptly delisted from the Nasdaq.
Here's What Goes Into MoviePass' New Tier System
With movie theaters reopening and attendance slowly going back to pre-pandemic levels, MoviePass is now staging its own comeback.
As first reported by Insider, a revamped version of the service is relaunching in beta mode on Sept. 5. The biggest difference is that it will no longer offer the unlimited option.
Instead, a tier system for $10, $20 or $30 per month will give pass holders credits to use inside a movie theater.
The exact number of credits one will get at each tier level (as well as how many one will need to see a movie) are not being revealed by the MoviePass program.
It did, however, confirm that users will be able to transfer credit over to friends and earn them by referring new sign-ups.
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The MoviePass program, according to Insider, currently has partnerships with approximately 25% of the theaters across the U.S., so it shouldn't be too hard to find a place where it is accepted in major cities.
MoviePass is not yet available for widespread purchase but those who want it can sign up for a waitlist between 9 a.m. on Aug. 25 and 11:59 p.m. ET on Aug. 29.
The number of people who get invites to buy the MoviePass, which will be sent out by Sept. 5, will vary depending on how popular it is.
Will The MoviePass Work This Time?
Insider reported that, under MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe, the MoviePass went from having 20,000 users in 2017 to over 3 million by the time the program was scrapped.
But popularity isn't always enough and one of the biggest issues dragging down the MoviePass program back in 2017 and 2018 was the unlimited program.
Some movie fans milked it for all it was worth and reported watching more than a hundred movies in two months.
While scrapping the unlimited program will prevent the program from bleeding money, MoviePass now faces the worst of both worlds when compared to traditional movie theaters and streaming services like Netflix (NFLX) and Disney Plus (DIS).
Without the unlimited program, the MoviePass has to attract viewers who may not want to leave the comfort of their home post-pandemic.
And when you leave out the small group who is particularly interested in viewing movies in a theater, it has to deal with the same program facing streaming services: drawing in viewership among a plethora of competitors on the market.
"There has to be a concentrated push to really promote [certain types of movies] and get people back in the habit of going to see those movies again, because that’s incredibly crucial to the overall health of the industry," Phil Contrino, director of media and research at the National Association of Theatre Owners, told MarketPlace.
