【2005 Archives】

MoviePass005 Archives the company that plans to revolutionize movie theaters with a flat monthly ticket rate, has reached 1 million subscribers since August. Though MoviePass has been around for several years, in August it was acquired by Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc. and lowered the monthly subscription rate to just $9.95.

"We are excited and proud to have reached the one millionth subscriber level in such a short time while still early in the consumer adoption curve," said Mitch Lowe, MoviePass CEO, in a press release. "Our focus on creating the best movie theater subscription service experience for our subscribers has propelled our growth to date. We believe that growth will continue as we further develop our application, improve customer service, enhance exhibitor relations and fill movie theater seats for incredible films to be released in the future."

MoviePass users can see up to one film per calendar day by checking in on the mobile app and then paying with a special MoviePass credit card. The initial price drop drew skepticism, including explicit dismissal from AMC theaters (at press time, AMC still accepts MoviePass).

The press release notes how quickly MoviePass reached 1 million after changing its pricing, as compared with other subscription services that charge roughly $10 per month: Netflix, Hulu, and Spotify. But the MoviePass model is new, the release notes, and this growth rate could change. There's also no guarantee that the subscription rate is profitable, given the rising price of movie tickets nationwide.

"The whole reason that we did this deal and raised significant funding is so that we could afford to build a big user base and then work with the people who benefit, which are the studios and the theaters, and figure out how to share in that benefit," Lowe told Mashable in August.

(Editor: {typename type="name"/})