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Service Outage, Mission Impossible Cast Doubt on Future of MoviePass
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Shares of Helios and Matheson Analytics (HMNY - Free Report) , parent company of the subscription-based movie ticket platform MoviePass, plummeted more than 35% in early morning trading Monday after its popular-but-maligned service faced a number of new headwinds in recent days.
Last week, Helios and Matheson said in a regulatory filing that MoviePass had experienced a “service interruption” because the company could not afford to make required payments to theaters. The outage forced MoviePass’ owner to borrow $5 billion to keep its platform operating.
During the incident, MoviePass users could not check in to see movies via the mobile application. Company CEO Mitch Lowe apologized to subscribers in a public message on Friday, assuring users that the service was not “up-and-running with stability at 100%.”
The service outage underscores the difficult economics of MoviePass, which charges just $10 per month to see one movie at a participating theater per day. In most markets, a single movie ticket costs more than $10, so MoviePass likely loses a significant amount of money when subscribers see more than one movie per month.
MoviePass told regulators in April that it has been losing about $20 million per month since September, causing auditors to flag “significant net losses” and concerns about capital as reasons to doubt its chances at survival.
In an effort to stop some of the bleeding, MoviePass has begun to restrict its “one movie per day” policy. The company now adds surge pricing charges for popular movies during busy times, and this weekend, it barred users from seeing blockbuster film Mission: Impossible – Fallout.
“As we continue to evolve the service, certain movies may not always be available in every theater on our platform,” said Lowe in a statement. “This is no different than other in-home streaming options that often don’t carry the latest shows or movies that may be available on other services.”
MoviePass is still a heck of a deal for its subscribers, but it is possible that continued evolution away from the unlimited plan that made it famous might result in a user revolt—a result which would add even more pressure as theater chains like AMC (AMC - Free Report) start to roll out rival deals.
Want more market analysis from this author? Make sure to follow @Ryan_McQueeneyon Twitter!
Wall Street’s Next Amazon
Zacks EVP Kevin Matras believes this familiar stock has only just begun its climb to become one of the greatest investments of all time. It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in pure genius.
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Service Outage, Mission Impossible Cast Doubt on Future of MoviePass
Shares of Helios and Matheson Analytics (HMNY - Free Report) , parent company of the subscription-based movie ticket platform MoviePass, plummeted more than 35% in early morning trading Monday after its popular-but-maligned service faced a number of new headwinds in recent days.
Last week, Helios and Matheson said in a regulatory filing that MoviePass had experienced a “service interruption” because the company could not afford to make required payments to theaters. The outage forced MoviePass’ owner to borrow $5 billion to keep its platform operating.
During the incident, MoviePass users could not check in to see movies via the mobile application. Company CEO Mitch Lowe apologized to subscribers in a public message on Friday, assuring users that the service was not “up-and-running with stability at 100%.”
The service outage underscores the difficult economics of MoviePass, which charges just $10 per month to see one movie at a participating theater per day. In most markets, a single movie ticket costs more than $10, so MoviePass likely loses a significant amount of money when subscribers see more than one movie per month.
MoviePass told regulators in April that it has been losing about $20 million per month since September, causing auditors to flag “significant net losses” and concerns about capital as reasons to doubt its chances at survival.
In an effort to stop some of the bleeding, MoviePass has begun to restrict its “one movie per day” policy. The company now adds surge pricing charges for popular movies during busy times, and this weekend, it barred users from seeing blockbuster film Mission: Impossible – Fallout.
“As we continue to evolve the service, certain movies may not always be available in every theater on our platform,” said Lowe in a statement. “This is no different than other in-home streaming options that often don’t carry the latest shows or movies that may be available on other services.”
MoviePass is still a heck of a deal for its subscribers, but it is possible that continued evolution away from the unlimited plan that made it famous might result in a user revolt—a result which would add even more pressure as theater chains like AMC (AMC - Free Report) start to roll out rival deals.
Want more market analysis from this author? Make sure to follow @Ryan_McQueeney on Twitter!
Wall Street’s Next Amazon
Zacks EVP Kevin Matras believes this familiar stock has only just begun its climb to become one of the greatest investments of all time. It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in pure genius.
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