'MoviePass, MovieCrash' showcases the catastrophic behind-the-scenes story of the movie-ticket-subscription app
- "MoviePass, MovieCrash" explores the rise and fall of the movie-ticket-subscription company MoviePass.
- It's based on award-winning reporting from Business Insider.
The upcoming HBO documentary "MoviePass, MovieCrash" chronicles the meteoric rise and fall of the movie-ticket-subscription company MoviePass.
After gaining millions of subscribers when the company dropped its monthly price to $10 back in 2017, MoviePass was hyped as the "Netflix for movie theaters," as moviegoers headed to their local cineplexes in droves. But it all turned out too good to be true, as the company burned through hundreds of millions of dollars, eventually going bankrupt in 2020. (Stacy Spikes, its cofounder, has since relaunched it.)
"MoviePass, MovieCrash," which is based on Business Insider's award-winning reporting, delves into what was happening at the company behind the scenes that led to its downfall, including the ousting of its cofounders, Spikes and Hamet Watt, and the questionable activities by both Mitch Lowe, the company's CEO, and Ted Farnsworth, the head of MoviePass' parent company, Helios and Matheson Analytics. (Both Lowe and Farnsworth were charged with securities fraud in 2022 and are awaiting trial.)
"MoviePass, MovieCrash" is directed by Muta'Ali and produced by Assemble Media and Mark Wahlberg's Unrealistic Ideas. It debuts May 29 on HBO and will stream on Max.
Correction: May 16, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated the year that MoviePass went bankrupt. It was 2020, not 2019.