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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Jan 20, 2018 11:03:36 GMT -6
www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/moviepass-aims-acquire-films-distributors-1075905The controversial subscription service unveiled its new business, MoviePass Ventures, at the Sundance Film Festival. MoviePass, which sells up to a month's worth of movie tickets for the price of one, said Friday it will put more "skin in the game" by partnering with distributors to jointly acquire films. The company announced its new business, dubbed MoviePass Ventures, at the Sundance Film Festival. MoviePass made a splash late last year when it announced that the price of the subscription service it launched seven years ago for $50 a month, giving users one ticket to a theater every day, would be dropped to $9.95. MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe has always maintained that the service primarily benefits small and independent titles, since subscribers no longer feel the need to get extra bang for their moviegoing bucks by saving them for the tentpoles and franchise films. Therefore, it makes sense for MoviePass to invest in the small films that are boosted by the subscription service. MoviePass has more than 1.5 million subscribers, and Lowe says it is buying about 3 percent of all domestic movie tickets, but that has swelled to 10 percent for certain titles, such as Call Me by Your Name, The Shape of Water and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. "Given the success we have demonstrated for our distributor partners in ensuring strong box office in the theatrical window, it's only natural for us to double down and want to play alongside them — and share in the upside," Lowe said. MoviePass, though, is not without controversy, as some theater chains, AMC Entertainment in particular, believe the subscription service cheapens the moviegoing experience. "We aren't here at Sundance to compete with distributors, but rather to put skin in the game alongside them and to bring great films to the big screen across the country for our subscribers," said Ted Farnsworth, CEO of Helios and Matheson Analystics, the controlling entity behind MoviePass.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Jan 20, 2018 11:05:03 GMT -6
variety.com/2018/film/news/moviepass-sundance-1202669456/#utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=social_bar&utm_content=bottom&utm_id=1202669456Sundance: MoviePass Announces It Will Acquire Films MoviePass must have some serious Netflix envy. The subscription service isn’t just content offering customers bargain-basement tickets to movies. Like the streaming service it is most often compared to, MoviePass is diving into the content business. Using the Sundance Film Festival as a platform, MoviePass announced that it was creating a subsidiary, dubbed MoviePass Ventures, and will co-acquire films with film distributors. Details are a bit vague, but MoviePass said it plans to release films across other platforms, including streaming, DVD, and on-demand. The service is at Sundance hosting an all-day pitch to indie players that will include panels with the likes of Elijah Wood, producers Daniel Noah and Lisa Whalen, and MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe. Lowe took over at MoviePass in 2016 after stints at Netflix and Redbox. The company had struggled for years to popularize its monthly subscriptions, but after being purchased by data analytics firm Helios and Matheson, it picked up steam with a new, low-cost offering. MoviePass slashed prices from roughly $50 a month to $9.95. Since that time, more than 1.5 million people have signed up for the service. In 2016, before it announced the new pricing plan, it had 20,000 subscribers. Despite its success in attracting customers, MoviePass faces a lot of skepticism about its business model. Major theater chains such as AMC have been scalding in their criticism of their service, publicly predicting its demise. And, it must be said, MoviePass is currently a money-losing proposition. The service heavily subsidizes the tickets of its customers. It pays full price to theaters (tickets in markets like New York and Los Angeles routinely top $15), and hopes that either the data it collects on its customers or the market share it commands will give it leverage with studios and exhibitors. In essence, the company hopes that it will become such a valuable part of the movie-going ecosystem that other stake holders will either offer it cheaper tickets or will buy the information it collects. Earlier this week, MoviePass announced it was hiring Natasha Mulla as chief marketing officer and was specifically tasking her with enlisting customers in markets such as Dallas and Nashville, where tickets are cheaper as a way to offset its customers in higher-cost markets. In a statement announcing MoviePass’ move into distribution, Lowe said MoviePass has helped bolster the box office for films and wants to get in on the profits. “It’s only natural for us to double down and want to play alongside [distributors] — and share in the upside,” he said.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Jan 20, 2018 11:09:29 GMT -6
deadline.com/2018/01/moviepass-film-finance-moviepass-ventures-sundance-film-festival-1202262786/MoviePass Launches MoviePass Ventures: Subsidiary Will Co-Acquire Films With Distributors - Sundance MoviePass is getting into the film finance end of the business. The monthly movie ticket subscription service announced today that they’re launching MoviePass Ventures, a wholly-owned subsidiary founded to co-acquire films with film distributors. The announcement was made at The Sundance Film Festival during MoviePass’ content series Off-Script: The Future of Film to a room of filmmakers, producers, directors, investors, distributors, and other industry executives. “We’ve experienced enormous success bringing people back into the theaters since our launch in August and with an influx of business from distributors, have proven the impact of our marketing over and over again, giving them an incremental lift in ticket sales,” said Mitch Lowe, CEO of MoviePass. “Given the successes we have demonstrated for our distributor partners in ensuring strong box office in the theatrical window, it’s only natural for us to double down and want to play alongside them – and share in the upside.” According to MoviePass they are currently purchasing approximately 3% of domestic box office. However, it is purchasing in excess of 10% of a particular title’s domestic box office when it uses a series of levers within its app and marketing-based platform to impact a consumer’s selection of a particular independent film. Examples of having impacted 10%+ box office performance include: The Post, Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri, Call Me By Your Name and The Shape of Water. By boosting performance in the theatrical window, MoviePass says it is creating an annuity and benefiting from greater downstream revenues on all platforms , including theatrical, home entertainment, streaming and pay TV, foreign sales, digital/physical home window and other ancillary streams (hotel, airline). “We aren’t here at Sundance to compete with distributors, but rather to put skin in the game alongside them and to bring great films to the big screen across the country for our subscribers,” said Ted Farnsworth, CEO of Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc, MoviePass’ parent company. “We’re open for business. We’re here at Sundance – and SXSW is next.” It’s no coincidence that MoviePass is here at Sundance: The monthly movie ticket service has asserted that because of their $9.95/per month charge for unlimited movie tickets, moviegoers have been encouraged to watch movies they wouldn’t normally attend at the theater, i.e. micro-budget and indie films.
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