Major-theater chain AMC Theatres is offering a monthly pass in two cities, seeing if the all-you-can-eat subscription model that made Netflix a success will work in cinema.
with film distributors; it’s not clear what box office money should be attributed to what movie, as with a regular ticket purchase. AMC did not respond to a request for more information.
The Boston.com article says the test comes as movie attendance lags with the youth audience, which is heavy movie-going demographic. “For a monthly fee of $45 (or $35 excluding 3D films), a subscriber can see a movie a day,” says the Connolly article. “This is the first time a massive movie theater chain has partnered with subscription service, MoviePass.”
Such month pass initiatives have been tried sporadically but not caught on widely in the U.S. and Canada so far. Small independent theater chains are actively mounting such pass offers, though without fanfare.
Says the third edition of “Marketing To Moviegoers”, “New York-based MoviePass initially field-trialed the unlimited access at $50 a month in 2011. Exhibitors and distributors worry flat-rate pricing will undermine consumer perception of à la carte tickets. For exhibitors, a benefit is that more attendees would likely raise high-profit food and beverage sales.”
AMC Theatres has 344 locations with 4,959 screens located mostly in the United States; the exhibitor is owned by Chinese entertainment conglomerate Wanda Group.
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