MoviePass is lowering its monthly subscription price from $9.95 to $6.95, though a slight stipulation will apply to the change.

Ever since MoviePass unveiled its $9.95 a month plan for unlimited movie theater viewings, it became a major disruption in the industry. In fact, there was significant pushback, with AMC threatening to sue MoviePass on account of the massive price drop (in 2016, unlimited viewing costs reached up to $50/month, compared to the roughly 80% decrease introduced in August 2017). The only caveat with this new change, however, is that customers will need to commit to their subscription for a total of 12 months.

The theater subscription service has been referred to as the Netflix for movie theaters, and it's simple to see why. That being said, though, this new drop in cost (which will only last for a limited time) doesn't seem to equate to a solid turn in profit for the company. However, according to MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe, the current aim isn't to necessarily build revenue, but customers. Per Variety, he said:

“We did a soft launch yesterday. We’re discovering there’s much more interest and demand than we ever imagined. We keep hearing from customers that they want an annual plan or they wanted some way to give MoviePass as a gift.”

MoviePass phones

It's certainly a risky business decision, but ever since the company rolled out its lowered cost in August, the response has been mostly positive, amping up subscribers from about 20,000 to more than nearly half a million. More than anything, MoviePass seems far more interested in making people happy than bringing in the Benjamins, which could serve to benefit them in the long run. Still, even with the promising start, Lowe is still remaining cautious, making sure to be as precise and prudent as possible with the company's monetary decision-making. He added:

“There are a lot of ways to make a buck. There’s advertising revenue. There’s marketing revenue. We’ll start testing these things with potential partners in the coming months. We’ve proven that we can build a big base of loyal subscribers.”

At the end of the day, MoviePass is still a business, and if they want to continue keeping customers happy, they'll need to make sure they can even afford surviving in the first place. At the rate their going - tricky though it might seem from a financial perspective - the odds seem to be (surprisingly) in their favor.

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Source: Variety