Well that didn’t take long.
Not long after MoviePass and company CEO Mitch Lowe stayed all but mum on whether the company would bring back its “unlimited” subscription plan, the company has done an about-face.
Recently the company changed its subscription model to cap the number of films its users could see in a month, while offering a three-month trial of iHeartRadio All Access. In announcing the partnership, the company said it had no current plans to bring back its “unlimited” plan, which allowed subscribers to see one movie per day for $9.95 per month.
“We’re continually testing various promotions with different partners, and the current iHeartRadio deal is consistent with that approach,” the company said at the time. “This does not mean that our unlimited subscription will not be offered in the future.”
Lowe echoed this stance in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, insisting, “Every time we try a new promotion, we never put a deadline on it.”
On Wednesday, the company updated its website to revive the movie-a-day plan as well as offer another, cheaper subscription model. For $9.95 per month, subscribers can attend a veritable all-you-can-eat buffet of films; on the other hand, for $7.95 per month, they can see three movies per month plus receive three months of iHeartRadio All Access.
Lowe told Variety that the company never had the intention of abandoning its unlimited subscription tier.
“Any time we’ve done a promotional package, we’ve taken the monthly plan off our site,” he said. “We wanted to focus everybody on this partnership promotion. If people knew the [movie-a-day] plan was coming back, they might not be interested in the iHeartRadio deal.”
What are you waiting for? Unlimited movies in theaters for $9.95 a month is BACK. Any theater. Any movie. Any day. moviepass.com
Posted by MoviePass on Wednesday, May 2, 2018
While the movie-a-day plan has returned, some users are still left perturbed by changes to the company’s terms of service. Ahead of the release of one of the biggest movies of the year, Marvel’s “Avengers: Infinity War,” MoviePass updated its TOS to limit that number of times its users can see select films.
Whereas subscribers could previously see a single movie as many times as they’d like in a month – something fairly common for tentpole films like those from Marvel, DC and the Star Wars franchise – MoviePass now blacks out previously viewed films in its app.
“We recently updated our Terms of Service to reflect that MoviePass subscribers are only permitted to see a select movie in theaters once with your MoviePass,” the company’s website was updated to say. “We hope this will encourage you to see new movies and enjoy something different!”
Other modifications to its TOS include only allowing users to switch devices once per month (sorry to those of you with a tendency to drop your phones in the toilet), and requiring users to use the latest version of the MoviePass app or risk account suspension until the app is updated (sorry to those with older devices that may not support future app updates).
Some users also report that the MoviePass app prompts them to upload a photo of their ticket stub to counter fraudulent activity. The MoviePass card acts as a debit card, preloaded with the price of a single movie ticket, and users – in theory – could use the card to purchase tickets to premium (3D and IMAX) screenings.
