MoviePass has officially declared bankruptcy after traversing a long rocky road. Founded in in 2011 it offered competitive means to purchase movie tickets. They made it onto Business Insider’s “25 Most Disruptive Apps of 2012” list. They employed even more aggressive tactics to lure more subscribers by lowering their monthly subscription fee to $9.95 in 2017. At the time a member could see a movie a day, for that one fee, and even cheaper if they paid for the year already. This in turn led to some, like theater chain AMC, stating this new business model would be unsustainable.
Their troubles would begin shortly after that signalling tough times ahead. After half a million new subscribers, following their price drop, financial woes and support issues arose. It re-branded the new offer to a limited time $30 special. Soon after some theaters we’re no longer available through the service and thus compounding funding streams.
In September 2019 the service would officially shutdown bringing this fast moving train to a halt. MoviePass explored numerous strategies to remain fiscally solvent but was unable to implement one. Ultimately the subscription service has now filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.