MoviePass CEO: “Tickets to Major Releases Will Not Be Available on App” | Hacker News Reader

MoviePass CEO: “Tickets to Major Releases Will Not Be Available on App”

businessinsider.com

15 pointsanw17 comments

Even though they aren't making money customers did pay to use the service. You can't just change the terms after you get the money - they've just defaulted on their obligations.

The officers are opening themselves up to liability issues by continuing to run a known insolvent business and losing more investor money.

I just cancelled my subscription and put this as the reason. It's too unpredictable to use the app. I have no idea how much money it's going to cost me to see movies with it anymore.

Good luck -- straight from their Terms of Service:

> You are expected to read these Terms of Use because your use of our Site and Service constitutes your agreement to the Arbitration Agreement and Class Action waiver described in Sections 17 and 18 below to resolve any disputes with us.

Another damn arbitration clause. I'm so conflicted about these things -- on the one hand, I'm sure they defer many frivolous lawsuits. On the other, they seem to tilt the balance of power overwhelmingly toward the company/business/service. Do any lawyers out there know if there are situations in which these arbitration clauses wouldn't be legal & binding?

The FTC isn't bound by that and are happy to go after false advertising - neither are the creditors. Running a bankrupt company after knowing it is insolvent is one reason for piercing the corporate veil. They have a duty to minimize the loss in this situation.

How many times does the FTC go after these sorts of things? I genuinely don’t know. My gut assumption is they won’t be going after this.

I watched some old taped TV documentaries on YouTube and checked out what happened to the companies in the commercials. A surprising number met their end by the FTC or some other government agency.

Isn’t this a step towards their hopes of trying to make it solvent? Since they still have their whole notion of selling data. Not that either of us likely believe that’ll work but hemorrhaging money like crazy would mean they are done in a matter of days vs these changes could possibly somehow let them survive longer.

Putting all that aside. What liability? From the government? They most certainly don’t have to worry about lawsuits. Anyone who wins any against them will be in a long list of creditors waiting to collect.

Liability from the creditors. If a company is in default they must declare bankruptcy. Failure to do so leaves its officers subject to personal liability.

When you fail to supply your customers with the agreed merchandise because you have no money you are bankrupt. Bankruptcy law doesn't allow you to pick and choose who you will pay/supply in hopes you get a last minute break.

I feel a bit foolish having bought a yearly subscription in March......

But then again I have seen more than enough movies to break even on that yearly price so perhaps I was not so foolish after all!

If you go to their website right there, first thing you see:

UNLIMITED.

ANY THEATRE. ANY MOVIE. ANY DAY.

ToS:

2.3 The Service excludes premium showings such as: 3D films, IMAX, 4D, XD and specialty theaters. THE SERVICE PROHIBITS REPEAT VIEWINGS OF THE SAME MOVIE....The Service is available every day of the week, subject to the theater being open, inventory, and usage.

2.4 MoviePass reserves the right to offer members a new price option if they exceed watching a certain amount of movies per month.

2.4.ii To the extent that IMAX or RealD 3D or other premium format showings are ever offered to subscribers, these showings will also be subject to surcharge pricing....Subscribers may avoid this surcharge by choosing an alternative date, time of day or film.

So it's not unlimited - it's limited to 1 movie per day. It's not any theatre, it excludes specialty theatres. It's not any movie, high profile blockbusters are excluded. It's not any day, high demand days you won't get tickets.

Even if this company were successful, they're a damn slimey company. Quite nice to see them going out of business.

Honestly, what did you expect for $10 a month? That's less than a single movie ticket. As soon as I saw the price I said: no way that's going to last...

My brief experience with MoviePass when they first opened...

I've typically gone to Alamo Drafthouse. It's a somewhat upscale theater chain if you're not familiar. Pairs of seats share little tables, you buy a ticket for a specific seat, and they serve meals and drinks during the film.

When MoviePass came out I doubted they'd include Alamo but looked anyway. The local Alamo did indeed show up among the MoviePass theaters so I signed up.

When I tried to use it, I checked in advance because I've learned that the good seats get reserved early so unless it's a mostly empty showing, getting a ticket at the last minute can relegate you to the eyestrain seats in the very front couple rows.

The app said I could only get a ticket if I was geographically close to the theater. I can't reserve good seats well in advance. In fact I can't even head to the theater knowing I have tickets. I have to go there first hoping that a) I can get tickets and b) hoping I can get good tickets.

The idea being, I guess, that MoviePass' arrangement with Alamo is purely about helping Alamo fill any seats that may still be unsold when the movie is about to start. And then maybe Alamo can sell those people some food and drinks.

This might work for someone who will stop by a theater often, has flexible plans, and sees a lot of less popular showings. It's a total non-starter for someone like me who goes only occasionally to mostly highly anticipated films and always as a date with a significant other who cares a lot about having a plan in place and getting good seats.

Oh well, what did I expect. It's a cheap monthly subscription.

But the final frustration was trying to quit. I recall the app making this rather difficult and non-intuitive, and then warning that if I quit I wasn't going to be permitted to sign up again.

The business is obviously failing. Continuing membership at this point is begging to be disappointed.

That hardly matters as long as they keep paying. In fact most of the profit was always going to be from people who were on recurring subscriptions who used the app rarely or forgot about it completely. People who used the app a lot just cost money.

Might as well sign up to get in on the future class action suit

For people who want to use MoviePass, it matters if they can't actually use it for movies. To them, I say cancel your membership.

Yes, this breach of trust might actually save MoviePass, as they can ditch the frequent users and collect subscriptions from people who forgot about it or rarely use it.

I hear that they were losing $21 million a month. I’m not business expert, but that can’t be good. So I decide to sign up for AMC A-List: https://dealspure.com/AMC-Promo-Codes/Coupons/P1WZUFNP61

Reply on news.ycombinator.com