killertofu
Member
Do I need to click "send me a card" on the app if I already signed up online
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MoviePass (Unlimited Films in Theaters) Drops to $9.95 a Month
- Thread starter Expendable.
- Start date
BattleMonkey
Member
From what I understand, a theater can be asked to be removed from the moviepass service/app. Essentially they can take away the permission of moviepass to sell tickets for that theater by opting out.
So if that's true, all the AMC and Carmike's are gonna be taken off the service possibly.
It's paranoia. Moviepass even pays full price for the tickets, so it's a win win really. I can go to the movies more often, and end up buying more at the concessions, so the theater makes more than normal.
Four times a month for $10, or one time a month for $10. They are four times more likely to get more money from me once I'm in the door when using Moviepass, vs. the single time I go out of pocket once a month.
They aren't thinking this stuff through lol.
Hero_of_the_Day
Member
So, if a theater doesn't support e-tickets, do you still have to "check in" at that theater to see it? I realized the other theater in town is AMC now, and isn't showing up in the app still. I figured that's because it doesn't support e-tickets, and I need to actually be there with the debit card to use MP? Too bad. They are showing Lion King tonight. Would have been cool to see on the big screen again.
Sorcerer
Member
Just my experience. When optimum had free Tuesday night movies, you could tell who got in for free and who did not. Most who got in for free did not buy any concessions. I guess the idea that you are getting something for free was the draw and spending any money would ruin things. The people who paid for tickets were the ones buying concessions.
tearsintherain
Member
A lot of reasons. If MoviePass is successful then they will have an immense power over theaters, basically wielding a huge customer base and being able to say "Hey, work with us on how much we pay or we remove you from our theater list".
Second, it "devalues" the movie experience - right now you see a ticket as something that costs $10-15 for a night ticket, and you "get" that value presumably. If you view a movie as worth a lot less, it destroys a lot of their pricing power.
Third, they are pretty sure MoviePass is going to ultimately fail (they are giving away money basically) and if a lot of people get used to paying $10/mo they are going to be PISSED when it goes away and naturally they won't want to pay more even after MP is gone.
It is sorta reasonable thinking from their point of view, since MP isn't working with theaters but sorta doing an end run around them and paying out of its own pocket its really, really hard to see how they stay in business very long. The whole analytics thing is bollocks, you don't need lots of data to know that people will go see a lot more movies if they are paying essentially nothing, and the kind of movies they go see are gonna be the ones that... everyone likes. I'm not really sure how valuable the data is that ages X like this movie or sex Y likes this movie.
Fixed2BeBroken
Member
that sucks...I was about to sign up until I was reading posts like this....
8 theaters near me....6 have reserved seating, 2 dont. The 2 theaters that dont, are the 2 nobody likes/wants to go to cause they are the shittiest of the 8. (the 6 other theaters all have leather seats, 5 of the 6 are reclining, and 4 of the 6 serve food/alcoholic beverages...... yea the movie theater game is very competitive in my area.)
Really good points.
karmaforgotme
Member
I saw that too, but when I log in online it asks me if I received my card yet. So I think not. I just don't understand why the app doesn't say the same thing as the web site. Is it really that hard?
Follow up on my wife's account, still no email (despite charging credit card), and no response from their support.
BattleMonkey
Member
There is no real proof of that. I've had free tickets for alot of films from gift certificates and loyalty rewards, I still don't buy overpriced popcorn and drinks when I go to a movie.
Standard ticket sales dont make much money for theaters, so Moviepass isn't exactly making them extra money, and if people are abusing it for reward program benefits too, it cuts further into any profits. It also deters people from going to premium and specialty screenings, Dbox, XD, Imax, 3D, dine in, etc since its not supported by Moviepass, and people who are subbed to the service are not gonna go to these higher priced screenings which is pure profit for theaters. If it becomes too popular, it will kill off investments.
Moviepass is also obviously making a power play, and if they become a powerhouse, they will have power over the theater chains to demand special treatment, discounts, profit sharing, etc.
Hero_of_the_Day
Member
There is absolutely no way that more traffic doesn't = more concessions. Such a thing doesn't need proven, it is just literally impossible for it to not be the case. While you might not buy popcorn and shit, TONS of people do, obviously, since that is how theaters make most of their money. I am just about the only person I know who can go to a theater and not get shit, and even then, I do occasionally get a soda. And, I also always bring a friend or my wife, and they almost always get something.
This is how Best Buys Gamers Club unlocked works. They aren't making shit off that video game sale, as the 20% almost assuredly eats all of their profits. But, they know that increased traffic in the store will get them more sales. The hardest part for any business is getting people into the store. Once you have them in, a sale is just about guaranteed.
This is exactly what it is. AMC isn't being blinded by the short term gains of that extra foot traffic, 'cause they know what Movie Pass is going for, which is control of a large chunk of the market. Whatever, let AMC be pissy, I'm going to use the shit out of this. And if Movie Pass raises their prices in a year, I'll unsubscribe and go back to seeing a handful of movie a year.
It doesn't even work. So nothing to be done really until movie pass fixes their broken shit already.
We do have $5 specials here, but they are always packed so I usually just pay the extra to go on a different day. I just hope a minimal amount of people around me heard about this.
BattleMonkey
Member
It might increase concessions by a little, but is it enough to recoup loses in other areas that some theaters are going to experience? And with how expensive concessions are, just because a person can go all the time, they will realize that they are spending too much on concessions. When you are worried about price of movie tix but not of the inflated price of the popcorn? People will cut back. Concession prices are a huge rip off, just cause I got a pass to see movies doesn't mean I'm gonna then just waste that money on concessions instead if I'm being frugal on price and that is why I got movie pass.
Theaters are pushing loyalty programs, special screenings, fancy special audio/visual seats, dine in theaters, and investing more into premium theater experiences now because concessions aren't doing it anymore.
AMC opened several fancy new dine in premium theaters near me (which are high profit ventures, higher priced seats, alcohol, full dinners), not supported on moviepass.... so if I was a moviepass subscriber, my business is going elsewhere most likely hurting these expensive new theater operations.
Glass Shark
Banned
The app seems to be functional now, but there's not much I can do with it until I get my card in the mail. Hopefully it comes before my trial is over...
How did you request the card? Through the app? App's been giving me an error everytime I request a card.
Inferno313
Banned
Hero_of_the_Day
Member
The "losses in other areas" are theoretical. People are already ditching 3D showings, with imax taking a step back from them and saying theater goers are showing a clear preference for 2D.
The problem theaters are facing, is less people going to the theaters. That is their number one issue. The last couple of summers we've seen articles about how the box office ticket sales are dropping. Everything theaters have been doing is to get people into the theater.
I can't find anything that supports this theory that concession sales aren't cutting it. As a matter of fact, I found an article stating that last year concession sales were up 12% over the previous year for AMC, with sales hitting a billion dollars for the first time ever.
Again, their actual fear is what you also said. This is a power play by Movie Pass to get their numbers high enough they can attempt to force the theaters to playing along. This will assuredly result in bigger profits this year for those theaters. But, AMC sees what the future holds if they succeed and want no part of it.
tearsintherain
Member
Guys, please stop asking the same three questions OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER - the website is fucked up, you can't see theaters reliably. It currently is supposed to work with ~91% of theaters in the USA, including just about every AMC, Regal, Cinemark, etc which cover most people.
They announced this monday, and the CEO has already said the response and signup rates they got exceeded their expectations hundreds of times over. Its like if you open a Leftorium store at the mall and expect 1000 visitors the first day and instead get 5 million. Things are going to be pretty fucked up for a while as they try to figure out what the hell to do.
Its not a scam, but nobody knows what the fuck is really gonna happen for now. Only a few dozen theaters around the country support MoviePass e-ticketing, WHICH HAS NOTHING TO DO with regular movie e-ticketing like from Fandango, etc. Its their own custom "deals" with movie theaters where they directly pay the theater when you book with MoviePass. Again, just a handful of theaters do this. The rest all require you to receive a debit card from MoviePass, and then you select a movie, MoviePass loads the debit card with the correct amount, and then you "buy" a regular ticket at the theater with the debit card. That makes the process invisible as far as movie theaters are concerned, but it means you MUST get that debit card to even begin to see a movie through MoviePass.
None of that works until MoviePass sends you the debit card, and we have no idea how long thats gonna take. It says 7 days on the signup pages but thats sorta hard to believe now if they got way more people than they expected.
Yes, you got charged $9.95 right away. I have no idea what the hell is going on with that either, presumably that would get refunded if you cancelled the service after you got your MoviePass card and didn't like it.
At this point either sign up and hope you get the card soon, or don't sign up and wait for the rest of us who did to get our cards and report back on what the experience is like. Its pretty safe to assume most theaters near you will support this, and most theaters near you will NOT do e-ticketing for a while. If you DO see theaters near you in the app and you don't have a MP card, it means they support e-tickets. Grats, you lucky and can see a movie this weekend! The rest of us can't.
They announced this monday, and the CEO has already said the response and signup rates they got exceeded their expectations hundreds of times over. Its like if you open a Leftorium store at the mall and expect 1000 visitors the first day and instead get 5 million. Things are going to be pretty fucked up for a while as they try to figure out what the hell to do.
Its not a scam, but nobody knows what the fuck is really gonna happen for now. Only a few dozen theaters around the country support MoviePass e-ticketing, WHICH HAS NOTHING TO DO with regular movie e-ticketing like from Fandango, etc. Its their own custom "deals" with movie theaters where they directly pay the theater when you book with MoviePass. Again, just a handful of theaters do this. The rest all require you to receive a debit card from MoviePass, and then you select a movie, MoviePass loads the debit card with the correct amount, and then you "buy" a regular ticket at the theater with the debit card. That makes the process invisible as far as movie theaters are concerned, but it means you MUST get that debit card to even begin to see a movie through MoviePass.
None of that works until MoviePass sends you the debit card, and we have no idea how long thats gonna take. It says 7 days on the signup pages but thats sorta hard to believe now if they got way more people than they expected.
Yes, you got charged $9.95 right away. I have no idea what the hell is going on with that either, presumably that would get refunded if you cancelled the service after you got your MoviePass card and didn't like it.
At this point either sign up and hope you get the card soon, or don't sign up and wait for the rest of us who did to get our cards and report back on what the experience is like. Its pretty safe to assume most theaters near you will support this, and most theaters near you will NOT do e-ticketing for a while. If you DO see theaters near you in the app and you don't have a MP card, it means they support e-tickets. Grats, you lucky and can see a movie this weekend! The rest of us can't.
old
Member
Why can't they send me an email with my membership ID to fully use the app before it arrives?
Why do I have to have my membership ID to use the "find theater" feature in the app?
Why do I have to subscribe before checking which theaters support the service?
Why do I have to subscribe and then wait 7 days before I can see which theaters use the service?
Why does "contact support" only give a boiler plate response sending you to their twitter and facebook pages?
Why, 1 hour after signing up, do I not have an email confirmation for subscribing?
The Iron Yuppie
Member
I can't tell if my local theaters support this. On their stupid site, it doesn't do anything if I punch in my Zip. So I just zoom in on my city manually, but it's just a Google map and while it does show some theaters, it also lists completely unrelated businesses so I don't know what to believe!
This is actually exactly what I'm going to do
Inferno313
Banned
This is all due to the high traffic right now. I signed up early in the morning on Tuesday, before the big rush. There was a map of every theatre that MoviePass supports. There was a live chat feature which I utilized that was very prompt and helpful. I also received my email immediately after signing up.
I think all of these things will return/stablize in a few days when the mad dash dies down.
The reason you need your membership ID, and the reason they don't email it to you, is because they don't actually start your plan until your card comes in. Once the card is in, you enter the ID, and your account fully begins.
Shogun_of_Truth
Member
So, I signed up two days ago as soon the new price was announced. Have not gotten my card yet.
Last night I was able to see a movie paid for with moviepass through e-ticketing, and it works folks!
The app is still glitchey as heck though. When I clicked "reserve ticket" it stuck at the screen until I got an error. Nothing showed up in the e-tickets tab at all in the app.
However, I have my theater loyalty card linked to moviepass, so I saw the points for the ticket appear there and I knew it had gone through.
I gave my name at the box office, they found my booking, printed off a ticket, and I was good to go!
Going to try again tonight and see if it works any smoother.
Regardless of the crappy app (which hopefully will work better after the servers stop getting slammed by new users), as long as it gets me a movie a day for $10, I can't complain too much.
So yeah, you can see movies before you get your card and before your trial even starts, as long as the theater supports e-ticketing through moviepass. (only two theaters near me do, but one happens to be my closest one, so I lucked out)
Last night I was able to see a movie paid for with moviepass through e-ticketing, and it works folks!
The app is still glitchey as heck though. When I clicked "reserve ticket" it stuck at the screen until I got an error. Nothing showed up in the e-tickets tab at all in the app.
However, I have my theater loyalty card linked to moviepass, so I saw the points for the ticket appear there and I knew it had gone through.
I gave my name at the box office, they found my booking, printed off a ticket, and I was good to go!
Going to try again tonight and see if it works any smoother.
Regardless of the crappy app (which hopefully will work better after the servers stop getting slammed by new users), as long as it gets me a movie a day for $10, I can't complain too much.
So yeah, you can see movies before you get your card and before your trial even starts, as long as the theater supports e-ticketing through moviepass. (only two theaters near me do, but one happens to be my closest one, so I lucked out)
I think they're severely underestimating how many people won't use the pass enough times to subsidize the cost for others.
Unless concession sales are really really good, I don't think theaters will be cutting them in to the profits. They'll just wait for them to run out of money and then start their own theater-exclsuive subscription service that's more reasonably priced.
this is awesome, thank you!
RastaMentality
Banned
I've spoken to tons of theater managers while doing advance screenings and they love the increased concessions traffic those things give them. And they don't sell a single movie ticket with that so idk how moviepass isn't good for them.
Fuck, offer a competing service for $20 a month that works with reservations, IMAX, and 3D and the theaters probably have a winning service, even if it only works at one chain.
Falchion
Member
Yeah, more foot traffic will always be better for their bottom line for concessions.
Bruce Springsteen
Member
And how do you figure out which theater supports e-ticketing?
Fantastical
Death Prophet
Some people were saying that the "Theaters" page on the app should populate with theaters that support it. Mine just spins and then nothing shows up... don't know if that means it's not working or there are no theaters. When I try to look at the map it says "No theaters found" :S
vatstep
This poster pulses with an appeal so broad the typical restraints of our societies fall by the wayside.
Yeah, nothing was showing up for me last night but it works now. There are eight e-ticketing theaters near me. Maybe I'll try to see something this weekend.
Hero_of_the_Day
Member
Yeah, app is working fine for me now, except I still can't pick a seat for a reserved seating showing. Would like to see Dark Tower tonight, but all I see when I try to pick a seat is the screen, like it is failing to load the actual seating chart.
Bruce Springsteen
Member
I'm in the center of Manhattan and no theatre shows up, has to be a glitch
tearsintherain
Member
If you change your zip code to 75001 in the app (location) and then you see a list of theaters but don't see a list of theaters for your zip code, it means your zip code doesn't have any theaters that do e-ticketing.
MoviePass e-ticketing has nothing to do at all with regular theater e-ticketing, its their own custom version of it that only a handful of theaters nationwide support - a few in Dallas, a few in Arizona, and a few in Florida is all as far as I can tell.
Without e-ticketing you need to wait for the MoviePass debit card to be mailed to you.
MoviePass e-ticketing has nothing to do at all with regular theater e-ticketing, its their own custom version of it that only a handful of theaters nationwide support - a few in Dallas, a few in Arizona, and a few in Florida is all as far as I can tell.
Without e-ticketing you need to wait for the MoviePass debit card to be mailed to you.