If you subscribe to MoviePass, the service that at one point allowed its members to watch unlimited movies for $9.95 a month, you better hurry to the theater for one last show.
The company is shutting down its operations Saturday.
Helios and Matheson Analytics, the parent company of MoviePass, said Friday afternoon that a failure to recapitalize the service would result in “interrupting the MoviePass service for all its subscribers effective September 14, 2019.” Helios and Matheson left the door open for MoviePass to start up again, but such a possibility remains a long shot at best, and that it “is unable to predict if or when the MoviePass service will continue.”
Founded in 2011 by former Redbox executive Mitch Lowe, MoviePass once boasted having 3 million subscribers who paid a monthly fee for the ability to watch as many movies as they wanted in a given month. However, the company struggled with its business model; earlier this year, it offered a revamped subscription program that let member watch one movie a day for $9.95 a month. Several movie chains, including AMC and Cinemark, began offering their own movie-membership programs, which cut into MoviePass’ customer base.
By the end, MoviePass was estimated to have to fallen to less than 300,000 subscribers.
The company had also been dealing with legal issues, such as an investigation into its business practices that was launched by the office of the New York Attorney General in October.
