Ever since MoviePass dropped its monthly subscription price to $10 last year, it seems like every week there is a new story about the disruptive service, as consumers sign up in droves and the industry waits to see if this is a passing phase or a permanent shift. The subscription service is growing at a rapid pace and if MoviePass and CEO Mitch Lowe have anything to say about it, this is the future of moviegoing. If MoviePass is right about its subscriber growth, it will be hard to argue. The company is now expecting to hit an insane 5 million subscribers by the end of the year.
At the Entertainment Finance Forum (via Media Play News), MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe, said that the company expects to hit 5 million subscribers this year, up from its current number of over 2 million subscribers. The 2 million the service now boasts accounts for 6% of ticket purchases. The 5 million number on its own might not seem that that impactful, but when you consider that it could make up 20% of all ticket sales, that is downright bonkers. If MoviePass does indeed achieve this goal, you have to imagine that the impact would be monumental.
Despite this huge subscriber goal, there are still some questions about sustainability. The see-one-movie-a-day service seems too good to be true and too expensive to maintain. However, as the service grows, it expects more casual users to help offset those who use it a lot. MoviePass is also looking to monetize consumer data about when people go to the theater and where they go afterwards in order to form partnerships with restaurants, retailers and theaters to promote a complete movie night experience through the app. Of course, not all theaters are on board with this, but if one-fifth of all tickets start being sold through the subscription service, MoviePass will be harder to ignore.
The box office was down last year, but more alarming is the continuing decline in attendance. MoviePass says that it wants to reenergize moviegoing and getting more people out to the theater is a part of that. The service is apparently already growing attendance at non-blockbuster films while bringing in the coveted millennial demographic and people who don’t usually go to the movies. This gives MoviePass a great deal of leverage, though and MoviePass has already flexed this power with Red Sparrow this weekend. This power will likely only grow as the service adds subscribers so this next year will be very interesting as this disruptive force in the industry shakes out.
Whether you use MoviePass, one of the alternatives, or plain old-fashioned money, there are plenty of reasons to visit the theater this year, check them out in our release guide. For all the latest in how $10 a month is the key to world domination, stay tuned to CinemaBlend.
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