Business Insider
MoviePass.
- MoviePass' parent company Helios & Matheson Analytics has delayed its 10-K filing with the SEC.
- CEO Ted Farnsworth told Business Insider it was because "we were finishing up the integration of MoviePass."
- However, one analyst says the delay "raises further concerns about cash flow."
- On Thursday, Helios & Matheson said it agreed to buy Moviefone an online service for entertainment industry information like movie showtimes, trailers, and interviews, from current owner Verizon.
MoviePass' majority owner, Helios & Matheson Analytics, reported earlier this week that it would delay its 10-K filing, saying it needed "additional time to work internally with its staff and externally with its outside auditors to prepare and finalize the annual report."
A 10-K filing is an annual report required by the SEC that gives a comprehensive summary of a company's financial performance.
"We experienced a delay in filing because we were finishing up the integration of MoviePass," Helios & Matheson Analytics CEO Ted Farnsworth told Business Insider via a spokeswoman on Wednesday. "There are no further delays expected."
But others aren't taking it lightly. Analysts have worried that a business model of charging $10 (or less) per month, to let people watch one movie a day in theaters isn't sustainable, and RBC analysts wrote that they're concerned about the delay.
"We think [the delay] raises further concerns about cash flow," RBC analysts wrote in a note to clients. "MoviePass recently lowered its monthly price to $6.95, but required an upfront annual payment, likely in a bid to generate cash flow. While we think MoviePass likely boosted the box office over the past six months (data we've seen suggests it accounts for 3% of attendance), we do think it is viewed as a longer-term risk to the industry."
In the past, these temporary price cuts have immediately boosted subscription numbers for MoviePass. But if a customer pays for a year of MoviePass up front, the company is on the hook to buy all their tickets for the rest of that year. If MoviePass can't negotiate better rates than full price with giants like AMC, it could cause problems down the line.
For just "Black Panther" alone, MoviePass reported that it bought over 1 million tickets.
But MoviePass has said it will seek to make money in ways other than subscription revenue as well.
On Thursday, Helios & Matheson announced that it had agreed to buy Moviefone, an online service for entertainment industry information like movie showtimes, trailers, and interviews, from current owner Verizon.