With new partner, MoviePass makes another go (VAR, DH)

By Nancy Tartaglione

MoviePass, the $50 all-you-can-watch subscription scheme which announced its arrival in June only to scrap plans when exhibitors refused to honor it, has returned.

According to reports, the startup is trying a different path to the box office by partnering with Hollywood Movie Money, a ticketing utility whose vouchers are accepted at nearly every indoor venue in the US. Deadline notes Hollywood Movie Money has established relationships with exhibitors and the studios, and roughly 36,000 screens in its network.

Per Variety, the new arrangement will see MoviePass subscribers print out Hollywood Movie Money vouchers at home, and theaters will be electronically reimbursed for the full price of a ticket at the point of redemption.

"Our relationships with each of the theaters is to accept Hollywood Movie Money regardless of where it comes from, so we have no obligation to advise (theaters)," Ron Randolph-Wall, CEO of Quantum Rewards, operators of Hollywood Movie Money, told Variety. "They only care that we pay them in real time, and pay them full price."

Also per Variety, MoviePass founder Stacy Spikes said the company's business model relies on patrons' tendency to underuse such services. It remains to be seen whether theaters will play along.

The new launch is targeted for mid-September, Deadline said.