How movie theaters are approaching subscription plans after the death of MoviePass, and 7 services battling for US market share
- MoviePass is done, but movie-ticket subscription is here to stay.
- Business Insider talked to movie-theater insiders about the impact subscription has made so far in the industry.
- We also broke down 7 movie-ticket subscriptions plans that are out there today.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Though the $10-a-month plan to see a movie a day by MoviePass was too good to last, the idea of movie-ticket subscription has stuck around.
There are currently at least seven theater chains doing their own version of a subscription plan in the US, including the three biggest in the country: AMC, Regal, and Cinemark.
It's an idea that is not new to the business. In Europe and other parts of the globe, subscription plans and movie theaters have gone hand-in-hand for decades. But what the rise and fall of MoviePass proved was that there was an appetite for theater subscriptions in the US. And it seems it's only going to grow.
"The data points to subscription being part of the market, like it has been in the UK for 15 to 20 years and is about 10% of the box office," Atom Tickets cofounder and chairman Matthew Bakal told Business Insider. His company created Atom Movie Access almost a year ago to help theaters launch their own plans through Atom's tech. "It seems to me that's where things will be over here five years from now." (Atom has helped launch Megaplex Theatres' MegaPass and Showplace Icon Theatres' Showcase Icon Extras Plus.)
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is the latest chain to get in on the fun, as it launched its long-awaited Season Pass plan in February. The company said it had a wait list that was over 50,000 to get on the beta version of the plan.
Another mid-level chain that's bullish on subscription is Showcase Cinemas, whose program is called Showcase Subscribe.
"We have thousands of members as part of Subscribe and it's growing substantially," said Mark Malinowski, VP of global marketing at Showcase Cinemas. "We're looking to add other things to the program because they just love it."
Though many theaters were thinking about launching their own movie-ticket subscription plans long before MoviePass became popular, the big roadblock was the approval by distributors and studios, which take a healthy cut of all movie-ticket sales (theaters also pocket the revenue from concessions). One industry source told Business Insider that studios and distributors were keeping a close eye on the growth of movie-ticket subscription, as they want to continue to get the agreed cut of admission. However, Malinowski said even the studios realize they also have to change with the tide.
"I think there's more discussion and flexibility," Malinowski said about the topic of subscription between exhibition and studios. "There's definitely a change in conversation even from a year ago."
The bottom line is that movie-ticket subscription is not a multiplex fad that audiences will tire of in the next few years. It has staying power, especially in uncertain times.
"In this year where there is going to be a lot of new IP coming out, even from Disney, you need as many ways to reach your customers as possible," Malinowski said, referring to the lack of big must-see titles on the 2020 slate compared to years past. "Subscription is part of that, I don't think it's going anywhere."
Here are details of the movie-ticket subscription plans at 7 theater chains: