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The Journal.

The Former MoviePass CEO on What Went Wrong

The Journal.

The Wall Street Journal

News, Daily News, Business News

4.25.8K Ratings

🗓️ 3 October 2022

⏱️ 22 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

MoviePass took off like a rocket when it unveiled a $9.95 monthly service in 2017 that allowed customers to see a movie a day in theaters. But its crash was just as spectacular as its rise. Now, the service is coming back under new management. Mitch Lowe, the former CEO, talks about what went wrong. Further Reading: - It’s a Wrap: MoviePass Ends Theater Subscription Service - MoviePass Is Making a Comeback With Plans From $10 to $30 a Month Further Listening: - The Fundamental Flaw (and Alleged Deception) of MoviePass Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

I'm not sure.

0:05.7

Ask just about anyone about movie pass and they'll probably say two things.

0:10.6

First, that it was one of the best deals ever.

0:13.6

For just 10 bucks a month, you can go see a movie in a theater every single day.

0:19.2

And second, that it was a massive business flop.

0:22.6

Movie pass is on life support this morning.

0:25.1

Yeah, the stock price has dropped below a buck per share.

0:28.6

It's been a rough year for movie pass.

0:30.3

It upset a lot of its original members.

0:32.3

The curtain has closed on movie pass.

0:34.7

The movie ticket subscription service shut down on Saturday.

0:39.0

By January 2020, two years after cutting its price to 10 bucks, movie pass shut down.

0:45.7

It lost tens of millions of dollars, was sued by regulators, and had to declare bankruptcy.

0:52.1

But now, movie pass is staging a comeback.

0:56.1

Last month, the company said it was relaunching under new management and with a new pricing

1:00.6

strategy.

1:02.1

And movie pass is former CEO, Mitch Low, is speaking out about what went so wrong the

1:07.9

first time around.

1:09.5

The model actually could have worked given enough time and enough money.

1:15.4

We had neither of those, you know, this whole meteoric rise was like eight months.

1:22.1

And so we just didn't have the time.

1:28.6

Welcome to the journal, our show about money, business, and power.

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