The long-awaited return of MoviePass has set a return date, but it may not be easy to get a membership. According to a report by Deadline, the revamped subscription service will begin with a waitlist, to be posted on its website at 9 a.m. ET on Thursday, Aug. 25. Those hoping to sign up will need to cross their fingers that they make it into this new beta version of the service.
Users can sign up for the new and improved MoviePass this Thursday, and they will be notified on Labor Day about whether they will be offered a subscription. The waitlist is free to sign up for and the beta version of the service will be dolled out on a first-come, first-serve basis. Users will get a choice of three different subscription tiers with three different price tags and different perks.
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The new model will reportedly offer subscriptions for $10 per month, $20 per month and $30 per month. None of these tiers will come with unlimited movies, according to a report by Business Insider, but each will come with a number of passes and guest passes, as well as flexible options for trading passes among different users. The exact details of these perks have not been revealed yet.
MoviePass launched in 2011, originally offering subscribers unlimited trips to movie theaters for a flat monthly subscription fee. It struggled to establish appropriate pricing for its perks and it met resistance from the theater companies along the way. Users complained about the frequent, rapid changes to the service, especially near the end of its original run when MoviePass vouchers often did not apply to new releases, which some users felt defeated the whole point.
Movie Pass shut down its service in September of 2019 and eventually went into bankruptcy. However, in November of 2021 the company’s original founder, Stacy Spikes was allowed to purchase back the company and begin preparing for a relaunch. Spikes spoke about his plans for the service back in February during a launch event in New York City.
“A lot of people lost money, a lot of people lost trust,” Spikes acknowledged. He said that users should think of the new version of Movie Pass as a “co-op” more than a corporation, as every subscriber would essentially hold a small “stake” in the company. He also said that the app would soon be “powered by web3 technology,” though it’s not clear how exactly that will be implemented.
More details will undoubtedly come next month when the new beta version launches. Those interested can sign up for MoviePass’ relaunch on Thursday, Aug. 25 at 9 a.m. ET on the company’s website. They will learn whether they got a subscription on Monday, Sept. 5.
