MoviePass has a simple premise. The U.S.-based subscription service promises unlimited movie tickets for one low price. Unfortunately, the service looks ever-closer to shutting down after temporarily running out of money on Thursday night.
According to Business Insider, MoviePass alerted members last night that “technical issues” were keeping some from checking-in to movies. Hours later in a tweet, MoviePass kept to this story, explaining, “We are still experiencing technical issues with our card-based check-in process and we are diligently working to resolve the issue. In the interim e-ticketing is working. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience while we resolve this issue.”
On Friday morning, however, a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) told a different story. On Thursday night, Helios and Matheson Analytics, which owns MoviePass, was forced to borrow $5 million in cash because it was unable to make payments.
The filing read:
The $5.0 million cash proceeds received from the Demand Note will be used by the Company to pay the Company’s merchant and fulfillment processors,” the filing said. “If the Company is unable to make required payments to its merchant and fulfillment processors, the merchant and fulfillment processors may cease processing payments for MoviePass, Inc. (‘MoviePass’), which would cause a MoviePass service interruption. Such a service interruption occurred on July 26, 2018.
At the time of this writing, MoviePass still wasn’t processing all check-ins, and the official MoviePass app remained on the App Store. The company’s last tweet reads, “We’ve determined this issue is not with our card processor partners and will be continuing to work on a fix throughout this evening and night. If you have not headed to the theater yet, we recommend waiting for a resolution or utilizing e-ticketing which is not impacted.”
We've determined this issue is not with our card processor partners and will be continuing to work on a fix throughout this evening and night. If you have not headed to the theater yet, we recommend waiting for a resolution or utilizing e-ticketing which is not impacted.
— MoviePass (@MoviePass) July 27, 2018
MoviePass started in 2011 allowing subscribers to see two to three movies per month for one price. Last year, the service grew significantly when it began offering unlimited movies for one low price.
Increasingly, in recent months, MoviePass found this business model not sustainable. By the spring, the company was forced to stop offering unlimited movies to all customers, although the change was only temporary. Then in June, AMC, the largest movie chain in the U.S., began offering a similar plan to take on MoviePass. For $19.95 per month, the AMC Stubs A-List subscription plan allows you to watch up to three movies a week.
We’ll continue to follow this story. Of note, MoviePass is still offering unlimited movies for $9.95 per month. If you’re a MoviePass customer, let us know below whether you can use the service again.