MoviePass Has Reportedly Lost Over 90% of Subscribers in Less Than A Year

The never-ending story of MoviePass has hit rock bottom as Business Insider reports the movie ticket subscription service only has about 225,000 current subscribers, a massive decline from the over 3 million people who were using MoviePass in June 2018. The service became a sensation for moviegoers in 2017 after it announced it would let subscribers see one movie each day for the total price of $9.95 per month.

The $9.95 price point drove millions of subscribers to MoviePass, but it was a business model that could not sustain itself. MoviePass co-founder Stacy Spikes gave an interview to Business Insider earlier this month and claimed the company always knew the $9.95 fee would not be financially successful. Spikes said the idea to lower MoviePass’ monthly fee to $9.95 originated as a “promotional thing” to celebrate Helios and Matheson Analytics’ acquisition of the company. Spikes had been testing sustainable price points for awhile and had a $12.99 plan he said would have worked, but MoviePass refused to change its $9.95 price once millions of subscribers came on board.

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“We hit 100,000 [new subscribers] in 48 hours,” Spikes said. “So I’m like, ‘OK, turn it off. We reached our goal.’ Where things started to divide is: Myself and a handful of others were methodical about testing price points. The lowest we ever got down to was $12.99 and as high as $75, where we added Imax and 3D. We knew what was sustainable. But the overriding voice was, ‘No, this is awesome, look how fast we’re growing.’ And it was this moment of ‘but $10.’ It doesn’t fly. Now the plane is falling.”

By summer 2018, MoviePass was forced to make changes to its subscription model. What followed was a rollercoaster of changing plans and services offered by MoviePass, with the company at one point forcing subscribers into an annual plan in which only three movies per month were offered.

MoviePass announced a new plan last month called “Uncapped,” which reverted back to the one-movie-a-day plan but for a price of $14.95 per month. The effort has only led to 13,000 new subscribers since “Uncapped” was first announced March 19. By comparison, 100,000 subscribers signed up for MoviePass in just two days after they announced the $9.95 plan in 2017.

IndieWire has reached out to MoviePass for further comment.