With box office sales beginning to sag under the weight of piracy and Popcorn Time, movie theaters are looking for new ways to put people in their seats. MoviePass, which just raised $2.2 million in new financing, may have a solution.
By subscribing to the company’s service, moviegoers can watch one movie a day — up to 30 movies in a month. While few movie buffs have the time to watch a movie a day, the service, which clocks in at roughly $30 a month, is a pretty great deal for even the casual fan. In New York, tickets are about $15, so after two trips to the movies in a month, the subscription would pay for itself.
Once you sign up with MoviePass the company sends a personalized card in the mail, and an iPhone or Android app that helps members locate the MoviePass-participating theater closest to them with the movie they want to see. Members use the app at the theater to check-in to the movie, and then take their MoviePass card to the box office or kiosk to receive their ticket.
The new financing was led by Chris Kelly, a former Facebook executive who is active in the film industry, and Structure Capital. Previous investors in the company include AOL Ventures (the venture capital arm of AOL Inc., which owns TechCrunch), True Ventures, Lambert Media, Moxie Pictures, Brian Lee, Diego Berdakin, MJ Eng, Ryan Steelberg, and Adam Lilling.
While the subscription service is the company’s core product, Kelly says the company is working with movie theaters on other potential services too. “We’re working with theatrical exhibitors on a variety of other ways to innovate on ways to get people into their theaters,” says Kelly.
Kelly, a producer of films like “Jiro Dreams of Sushi“, is building a portfolio of media-related companies including the startup Fandor, a streaming video site for independent and art-house films.
MoviePass is already accepted at 93% of movie theaters nationwide. “For movie fans, an affordable flat fee for a movie ticket every day just makes sense,” Kelly said in a statement. “The subscription model is the future of movie-going.”
Photo via Flickr user Michael Saechang