While MoviePass may not have achieved the status it had hoped for, it undoubtedly sparked a revolution that will change moviegoing forever. Following AMC’s lead, Regal Cinemas has announced a new monthly subscription plan that The Hollywood Reporter (THR) regarded as “the most aggressive offering yet among the top three circuits in the U.S.”
“Patrons willing to shell out $18 to $23.50 per month, along with a 12-month commitment, can view as many movies as they want on a standard format screen,” reports THR. “The bigger the city, the more expensive it will be, such as in Los Angeles and New York.”
Under the plan, prices are tiered according to the market and exactly how many locations one wishes to be able to access. Those paying $18 in smaller markets will have access to 200 cinemas across the United States, whereas those paying $21 will have access to 400 cinemas. People paying the top-tier monthly rate of $23.50 will have unlimited access to all Regal Cinemas in every major city. More from THR:
Regal Unlimited is expected to be officially announced in the coming days. The details of the yet-to-be-launched service were posted Wednesday on the circuit’s website, including additional perks, such as a 10 percent discount on concessions and free birthday popcorn.
For a surcharge, a member of Regal Unlimited falling into the first two tiers can gain access to all locations. And any customer of the plan can also pay a surcharge to see a movie in a premium format or in 3D.
One no-no: Members can’t see two movies that overlap.
Starting in 2011, MoviePass sought to change moviegoing by charging people a low monthly fee in exchange for unlimited movies at any participating theater. Last year, the subscription service expanded its base by lowering the price to just $9.95 per month. But the company quickly ran out of money to pay theaters back for the crowds of customers buying tickets to summer blockbusters.
Originally, MoviePass stated it would raise the subscription price to $14.95 per month, but recanted the policy after receiving serious customer blowback. In response to the crisis, MoviePass kept the $9.95 price while limiting consumers to just three movies per month, while offering subscribers a $5 discount for any additional films they wished to see.
The company’s CEO, Mitch Lowe, characterized the tumultuous year as being just a few broken eggs on the way to making the proverbial omelet that would revolutionize moviegoing.
“We are well aware that during our journey to innovate moviegoing — a form of entertainment that over time has become unaffordable and broken — we’ve encountered many challenges. However, any industry-wide disruption like MoviePass requires a tremendous amount of testing, pivoting, and learning,” Lowe said at the time. “We discovered over several months of research that our customers value a low monthly price above nearly everything else, so we came together to create a plan that delivers what most of our loyal MoviePass fans want, and one that, we believe, will also help to stabilize our business model.”
While MoviePass will likely become a footnote in the moviegoing revolution rather than be hailed as a trailblazer, the company’s contribution to the inevitable change cannot be overstated. In fact, the arrival of MoviePass inarguably pressured theater chains into creating subscription models in order to entice people into actually visiting the theater — an American trend that has increasingly been on the decline over the past decade. Currently, AMC offers its theater patrons a plan to see three movies per week for a price of $20–$24 per month.