Is MoviePass Coming Back? Service Shuts Down For This Reason

The turbulent saga of would-be game-changer MoviePass took another turn on the Fourth of July. As reported by Variety, the movie-ticket subscription service announced that it would be temporarily shutting down its app. Despite the numerous issues the service has weathered since its inception, the company insists that this shutdown is only to smooth out technical issues and to help launch a new version of the app.

During this shutdown period, subscribers will not be charged for the service, and the company will not be accepting any new members. No exact return date has been announced, but the company insists that the hiatus will only last "several weeks."

“There’s never a good time to have to do this,” MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe said about the shutdown. “But to complete the improved version of our app, one that we believe will provide a much better experience for our subscribers, it has to be done.”

During this time, MoviePass also intends to recapitalize, with the vague rationale that it’s “to facilitate a seamless transition and improved subscriber experience once the service continues.”

Terminally unprofitable since its move to a $9.95-a-month subscription model in 2017, MoviePass has had difficulty maintaining its operation in recent months. In late July 2018, services outages and limited film selections began to affect subscribers as a result of the buzzy service’s inability to turn a profit. Since then, subscribers have left en masse, with the count going from over 3 million in 2018 to 225,000 over the course of this year.

MoviePass initially made waves with a $9.95-a-month subscription service that allowed users to see one movie a day at most theaters nationwide. Recently, the service has switched over to tiered plans, with $9.95 getting users three films a month and $14.95 getting them one a day from a limited selection.