Service outages and money woes have led movie-ticket subscription service MoviePass to make some unpopular decisions.
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Its latest moves: Raising prices and limiting access to blockbuster releases.
MoviePass parent company Helios and Matheson Analytics announced today that "within the next 30 days," its standard one movie per day plan would increase from $10 to $15 per month.
And tickets to first-run movies opening on at least 1,000 screens will be limited for the first two weeks.
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These new elements are expected to help the company’s “long-term growth plan to protect the existing community and set it up for future sustainable growth,” according to the news release.
“While no one likes change, these are essential steps to continue providing the most attractive subscription service in the industry,” CEO Mitch Lowe said. “Our community has shown an immense amount of enthusiasm over the past year, and we trust that they will continue to share our vision to reinvigorate the movie industry.”
Earlier this month, MoviePass introduced surge pricing for popular movies during peak showtimes, but Lowe on Monday "implied that the practice of not offering tickets to major movies would continue for the foreseeable future" in a company meeting, Business Insider reported.
After MoviePass ran out of money and temporarily shut down last week, Helios and Matheson Analytics was forced to borrow $5 million in cash to get the service back online, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
The chaos continued over the weekend as users took to social media to complain about limited availability to “Mission Impossible - Fallout.”
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