MoviePass, which briefly removed its movie-a-day monthly subscription from its website, will start allowing customers to sign up for it again.
Variety, citing MoviePass Chief Executive Mitch Lowe, reported the company never intended to give up on its popular plan, in which customers can access a movie-a-day monthly subscription package.
“We never planned to abandon the flagship product that everybody loves,” said Lowe in an interview. “Any time we’ve done a promotional package, we’ve taken the monthly plan off our site.”
The executive was referring to a promotion MoviePass has been offering since April 13, in which customers pay $29.95 for a three-month plan and get to view four movies a month. The promo also included a free trial of iHeartRadio’s All Access on-demand streaming package, noted Variety.
The removal of the popular movie-a-day monthly plan prompted rumors the company could be running out of money. That worry was heightened after an independent auditor expressed concerns about the ability for the company to continue to operate.
“It’s marketing 101,” Lowe said. “We wanted to focus everybody on this partnership promotion. If people knew the [movie-a-day] plan was coming back, they might not be interested in the iHeartRadio deal.” His comments to Variety differ from what he told The Hollywood Reporter, noted the report. In that interview, the CEO said he didn’t know if MoviePass would return to offering a movie a day.
When asked about the independent auditor’s concerns about the company’s ability to continue operating, Lowe told Variety he wasn’t worried. “That’s just really relative to how much cash we have at any one time in the bank,” Lowe said. “We have a constantly evolving business model. We’re getting more and more occasional moviegoers and cutting back on fraud and abuse. I feel very confident about our trend lines, and I know we’re going to … continue to be popular.”
During CinemaCon, the industry trade show that took place in late April, when asked about MoviePass’ ability to stay in business, the CEO had one answer: “See you in 2019.”
As for its move to prevent users from seeing the same movie twice, Lowe said the rules were changed to prevent fraud: The company believes some people were using one card among individual family members. “A small percentage of people are abusing the system,” he said. “By doing this, we can continue to provide a great service.”
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