MoviePass is shutting down. The subscription service announced it will stop offering discounted movie tickets on Saturday, September 14th. In a press release, the company said its “efforts to recapitalize MoviePass have not been successful to date.” Moving forward, all options are on the table, with MoviePass parent company Helios and Matheson Analytics saying it’s considering, among other things, selling itself off entirely. It added that it doesn’t know when or if it will be able to continue.
The service reached peak popularity in 2018. The $9.95 a month plan allowed users to see an unlimited amount of films at participating theaters. In May 2018, the company reported a $40 million loss. Efforts to restructure MoviePass continued through 2018, as it switched from unlimited movies to three a month, then hiked the price to $14.95 and limited the choice of movies. In March 2019, MoviePass tried to bring back unlimited movies for $9.95 if you paid for a full year up front.
MoviePass was also met with two lawsuits within this time, one accusing the company of not following through on its promises and another claiming that MoviePass used bait-and-switch tactics.
