MoviePass Releases A New Strategy Limiting Customers To Three Movies A Month

MoviePass, the movie service that once was a hit, now continues to struggle to keep alive.

MoviePass subscribers used to be able to see one movie a day for $9.95 a month. Starting August 15th, the company is changing their format. According to CNN Money, the subscription plan will be limiting users to only three movies a month. If a subscriber wants to see any additional movies, the company will offer a discount of up to $5 on those movie tickets.

The company continues to announce and then immediately throw away changes in their policy. They initially introduced surge pricing in July, which could make subscribers spend up to an additional $8 per movie depending on the time of day and what movie it was. MoviePass has since announced that they will suspend surge pricing.

According to CNN Money, “the company borrowed $5 million in cash to pay its merchant and fulfillment processors after it had a service outage and couldn’t afford to pay for movie tickets. The company said Wednesday that it paid back that loan.”

In a letter released to their subscribers on Monday, the company also decided to continue to let users watch blockbuster films; however, there will be some exceptions. This is a change from their plan last week, when they claimed users could not see those films.

MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe described the changes in an interview early on Monday.”I should have accelerated the process of reducing the burn faster in hindsight,” he told the publication. “Now I realize no matter how patient investors say they will be, they never are.”

The company has also decided to suspend ticket verification. Some users were required to take a picture of their movie ticket after seeing the movie, after the company found out users were just using the MoviePass card on purchases that were not movies.

The new plan comes into action on August 15th, but quarterly and annual subscribers won’t be impacted until their renewal date.

“The truth is, disruption and innovation require staying flexible and having an open mind. We genuinely strive to offer you a service that is a great deal, and we believe that the new plan we’re introducing will be attractive to the majority of our members,” Lowe wrote in the email addressed to subscribers.

With the constant changes nearly every week, it’s unclear whether or not the company will last much longer.

According to CNN Money, the company’s stock plunged from $39 last October to just 8 cents last month. The company approved a reverse split — a cosmetic change that boosted the stock 250-fold, back up to $21. Since then it’s fallen all the way back to 7 cents. The stock gained 2 cents on Monday after the new plan was announced.