iBankCoin
18 years in Wall Street, left after finding out it was all horseshit. Founder/ Master and Commander: iBankCoin, finance news and commentary from the future.
Joined Nov 10, 2007
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Watch Out Below: Moviepass No Longer Working with AMC Theaters

The feud between America’s largest movie theater chain and the largest subscription service for movie theaters has reached a new fevered pitch tonight, which was brought to light by a random tweet by a Moviepass subscriber who complained on Twitter about her inability to use the card at an AMC theater.

In the thread, the official Moviepass twitter account confirmed the company was no longer working with AMC — which is likely a ploy to extract concessions from the company. My guess, they want in on the hot dog and popped corn sales.

The CEO of Moviepass, Mitch Lowe, responded to the drama with a brief statement.

“As of today, you’ll find a small handful of theaters are no longer available on our platform. Our number one goal as a company is to provide an accessible price-point for people to enjoy films the way they’re meant to be seen: on the big screen. Many exhibitors have been receptive to this mission, and we’re excited to keep working with theater chains that are closely aligned with our customer service values.

As we continue to strive for mutually-beneficial relationships with theaters, the list of theaters we work with is subject to change. We advise customers to always double check the MoviePass app for the most up-to-date list of participating theaters.”

According to Deadline, AMC stands to lose $2 million in weekly sales as a result of the ban.

It has been long rumored that AMC would, at some point, ban Moviepass from AMC theaters. Moviepass has made it clear they intend to extort concession stand revenues out of movie theaters by pursuing a purposeful ruinous business model which is intended to gain scale and importance, leading to power and mafia styled extortion. During AMC’s past conference call, the CEO insisted he would not ever share concession revenues.

AMC CEO Adam Aron: ”MoviePass paid AMC, according to our records, $11.88 for each and every ticket that it purchased for our mutual guest. That’s quite a gap, $9.95 a month versus $11.88 a visit. I must point out that’s very gracious of them and we appreciate their business, but I think it’s also important to make clear that despite claims they’ve made to the contrary, AMC has absolutely no intention, I repeat no intention, of sharing any – I repeat, any, of our admissions revenue or our concessions revenue with MoviePass.”

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8 comments

  1. mushroomz

    A game of chicken with AMC?

    I would think HMNY would have the upper hand in this situation if they can continue to grow subscribers at a rapid pace and are well financed. Although I’m sure they will continue to dilute shareholders as well.

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  2. metalleg

    Why would any theater chain get in bed with Moviepass? How does it benefit the theaters?

    My wife said she was going to sign up but now that AMC is out, she probably won’t. How does that give MP the upper hand?

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    • mushroomz

      If moviepass gets enough subs (5 mill) then they can direct those movie goers to certain non AMC theaters which would be bad for AMC. HMNY doesn’t have much to lose, they are just sort of yoloing into the sun. AMC has plenty to lose.

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  3. ironbird

    Planned Parenthood works the same way.

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  4. sarcrilege

    mexican standoff

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  5. chuck bennett

    But where are the Mexicans (no-racism)?

    Regards

    Chuck Bennett

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