MoviePass says it had over 460,000 signups to its waitlist within 24 hours
- MoviePass had 463,000 signups to its waitlist in first 24 hours, according to the company.
- There were 30,000 signups in the first five minutes of the waitlist opening on Thursday, CEO Stacy Spikes said.
MoviePass had an exciting first 24 hours of the relaunch of its popular movie-ticket-subscription service.
The result was 463,000 signups to its waitlist to use the service in its first 24 hours of being open, the company said. MoviePass provided the figure to Insider on Friday, noting that it was from raw data and may have included duplicate signups.
"We're thrilled to see this level of excitement and can't wait to get back to the business of driving traffic to theaters," MoviePass CEO and cofounder Stacy Spikes told Insider about the response.
On Thursday morning, MoviePass opened up a waitlist to use the service for when it starts back up on Labor Day. People who signed up will be notified when they can begin using it.
Spikes told Insider on Thursday afternoon that 30,000 people signed up for the waitlist in the first five minutes. It led to its server crashing for two and a half hours.
Once people on the waitlist are chosen to use the service, they will select from tiered pricing options. Prices will vary depending on the user's home market, but general pricing will be $10, $20, or $30 a month. Each subscription option will give the user a number of credits to use each month to see movies. There won't be an unlimited option during the beta version.
Reactions to the service relaunching from those within the movie-theater business who Insider has spoken with have ranged from positive to wait-and-see. But generally, in the postpandemic era, there's interest in something that could help spark the consistent return of moviegoers.
"The theater industry is still trying to get guests back consistently, so I'm in favor of things that get them back in seats, " said Russell Vannorsdel, the president of the Iowa-based Fridley Theatres. "We had guests that appreciated MoviePass and were sad about its demise."
Insider reported in November that Spikes, who cofounded MoviePass alongside Hamet Watt in 2011, had bought the company back after its parent company, Helios and Matheson Analytics (HMNY), went bankrupt.
MoviePass skyrocketed in popularity in 2018 after it lowered its monthly subscription price to $10, amassing 3 million subscribers. But it wasn't sustainable. After burning through millions of dollars, MoviePass shut down in September 2019 and HMNY filed for bankruptcy in 2020.
Vannorsdel said what he loved about his theatergoers using MoviePass was they would come in the middle of the week, which is considered downtime in the exhibition business. He hopes that returns.
"My goal is to get people back into movie theaters, and not Saturday or Sunday, but off-peak and not just to see the blockbusters," he said. "I hope this time around MoviePass figures out a sustainable business model."