*By Conor White*
MoviePass is raising its monthly subscription price and limiting the movies that customers can see during opening weekends, raising doubts over the struggling entertainment service's future.
The decision to raise the monthly price to almost $15 from $10 shows that the company's business model made it difficult to [pay back exhibitors](https://www.businessinsider.com/moviepass-owner-financial-statement-should-scare-investors-2018-4) for the full-price movie tickets scooped up by the discount service's subscribers, said Jason Guerrasio, senior entertainment reporter at Business Insider.
MoviePass's strategy, which permits subscribers to see more films for less than a full-price ticket, may now be its downfall, Guerrasio said Wednesday during an interview on Cheddar.
The service sold more than a million tickets to "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Black Panther," two of the highest grossing films of all time. "Those are millions and millions of dollars, full ticket prices, that they had to go back and give back to the exhibitor," Guerrasio said.
MoviePass had allowed subscribers to see unlimited films for $10 a month, three films for $8. The new plan caps users' ability to see films on opening weekend if they play in more than 1,000 theaters nationwide. For big titles, subscribers are asked to wait two weeks.
MoviePass's parent company, Helios and Matheson, has been losing $20 million a month since last September, when its shares were trading for more than $2,700. A share is now worth less than a dollar.
MoviePass was founded in 2011, and found a wide audience last summer, when it slashed prices from as much as $50 a month to $10. It had 3 million subscribers in June.
Theater chains have responded aggressively to MoviePass's popularity, and many have launched their own competitive options: AMC now sells "Stubs A-List" subscriptions, which allow moviegoers to see three films a week for $20 a month.
"AMC basically created their service to dig at MoviePass," Guerrasio said. "They had been wanting to do it for years, and then they finally pulled the trigger when MoviePass basically beat at the hornet's nest of AMC, the biggest movie theater company in the world."
Guerrasio said that MoviePass has effectively disrupted the movie-theater business much like the music file-sharing service Napster upended the music business.
"MoviePass, whatever happens to them now, they've definitely started something now that everyone else is going to use," Guerrasio said.
For more on this story, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/is-this-the-end-of-moviepass-3).
On International Women's Day, we should not only focus on the women who came before us but but also the women doing the work today for a better tomorrow. Ms. James, also known as @iamthatenglishteacher on TikTok, is an Arkansas teacher who took her talents to the video-sharing app to expand her classroom from four walls to the world! She joins Cheddar News to discuss her love for teaching.
Two friends have joined forces to come up with an app dedicated to making mental health more approachable and to provide users with the tools needed to improve their mental health and overall well-being. Co-Founders of the Dial App Jonah Salita and Marcel Johnson, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Miss Universe 2021 Harnaaz Sandhu and Smile Train CEO Susie Schaefer join Cheddar News to talk about how Smile Train continues to support those with a cleft lip this International Women's Day.
On this International Women’s Day, Deb Cupp, president of Microsoft U.S., joined Cheddar News to talk about the implementation of her pillars to extend the company's culture, such as acting with care and putting the team first. "What I like about the pillars is they're very simple, so it's easy for us to think about how they show up every day in our lives," Cupp said.
Christian Nunes, President of the National Organization for Women, joins Cheddar Reveals to take a look at where the women's rights movement stands today and where it's headed.
Steven Spielberg has spoken out against the Motion Picture Academy’s decision to move the presentation of eight categories to the pre-show off-air for this year’s Oscars. "We should all have a seat at the supper table together, live at five," said the Academy Award-winning director, who is also nominated for two statues at this year's event.
On this episode of Cheddar Reveals, Sally Roesch Wagner, Historian & Executive Director, The Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation, discusses how the early women's rights movement evolved and the hidden influence of Native American women on early American feminists.; Christian Nunes, President of the National Organization for Women, takes a look at where the women's rights movement stands today and where it's headed; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'Ascent of Woman.'
Sally Roesch Wagner, Historian & Executive Director, The Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation, joins Cheddar Reveals to discuss how the early women's rights movement evolved and the hidden influence of Native American women on early American feminists.
