- In an all-hands meeting on Monday, MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe announced that the upcoming big releases “Christopher Robin” and “The Meg” would not be available to subscribers, a source familiar with the matter told Business Insider.
- The implication was that the practice of not offering tickets to major releases would continue for the foreseeable future.
MoviePass subscribers were frustrated to find over the weekend that they couldn’t order tickets through the app for the weekend’s biggest release, “Mission: Impossible – Fallout,” and it looks as if going forward they will continue to be shut out of major titles.
A source familiar with the matter told Business Insider that during an all-hands meeting on Monday, MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe said the app would not make “Christopher Robin” and “The Meg” – the two major releases hitting theaters in the next two weeks – available to its subscribers, and he implied that the practice of not offering tickets to major movies would continue for the foreseeable future.
The company has fallen on incredibly hard times as it tries to find a financially feasible business model.
Last week, MoviePass’ parent company, Helios and Matheson Analytics, did a reverse stock split that boosted shares to about $14 on Wednesday from $0.09 on Tuesday. The service temporarily shut down on Thursday night because it ran out of money, and HMNY said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Friday that it had to borrow $5 million in cash to get it back online. Its stock closed at $2 on Friday.
Things didn't get any better going into the weekend as complaints on social media were rampant. "Mission: Impossible - Fallout" was blocked for subscribers, and the app had more technical issues again on Sunday.
Lowe's announcement at the all-hands meeting came on the heels of an open letter on Friday in which he said, "As we continue to evolve the service, certain movies may not always be available in every theater on our platform."
When reached for comment for this article, a MoviePass representative referred Business Insider to the CEO's statement in the Friday letter.
Because MoviePass has to pay the full ticket price for all the movies its subscribers go see, eliminating major releases going forward means the cash-strapped company would pay millions less. (As of mid-July, MoviePass paid more than 1.15 million tickets for just "Avengers: Infinity War.")
HMNY's stock closed below $1 on Monday.
