In the face of Netflix and other formidable forces, I refuse to abandon the movie theater experience. The 20th Century Fox fanfare on the big screen makes my heart swell, the Star Wars crawl brings tears to my eyes and don't even get me started on how much better popcorn tastes when consumed in a plush red chair.
Frequent moviegoing is an expensive habit, so imagine my excitement when I discovered MoviePass, a service that charges $9.95 a month and allows you to see one film a day. That's cheaper than a single ticket in most major cities. The company now has more than 1.5 million subscribers and pays the theaters full price for each ticket, hoping to eventually make money by attracting studios as investors.
Here are some points to consider if you're on the fence about signing up.
• As of now, MoviePass still works at a good number of theaters.
Even though Jumanji has made box-office history, some of us hesitate to shell out more than $10 to see Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Karen Gillan buddy it up on screen. With MoviePass, you can swipe that magical card and it'll feel like you paid nothing to see it.
You can see which theaters in your area accept MoviePass at moviepass.com. (In Little Rock, MoviePass is accepted at United Artists Breckenridge Stadium 12 and the Colonel Glenn 18.)
• You have to show up in person to get tickets -- so you risk a movie selling out
Weeks ago, after hearing office workers rave about a little movie called The Post, I trekked across the city and got to a theater around 2 p.m. to buy a ticket. Surprise! Every showing of the film was sold out for the rest of the day. That was four separate showtimes. MoviePass doesn't let you buy tickets online, which means you either have to get to the theater earlier in the same day to buy a ticket, or risk it and show up right before.
I wasn't about to waste an hour of travel, so I opted to see The Greatest Showman.
• It's great for solo moviegoers, but not so much if you prefer group outings.
There's so much to be said for seeing a movie alone. You can go whenever you feel like, focus entirely on the movie and form an opinion all on your own.
Solo moviegoing also prevents you from having to bring other people into that Greatest Showman scenario.
• MoviePass is another subscription you'll have to keep track of (or not).
How many subscription services have you signed up for? Netflix, Spotify ... hmm. Five? Six? You're probably forgetting one. I know a few people who get a new pair of printed socks mailed to them each month. MoviePass charges you automatically, which is convenient and good for budgeting. But this could work against you if you never use it or forget you even have it.
The weirder thing about MoviePass is that it also keeps track of you. Last summer it sold a majority stake to Helios and Matheson Analytics, a data company that can draw information from MoviePass members. While the company doesn't plan to sell that user data to others, according to Wired, it can still use it to target movie promotion via the app or email. It's all very Black Mirror.
• You can't use MoviePass on 3-D or IMAX movies.
The tickets are simply too expensive for the service to afford. For people like me, this might not be an issue. I haven't seen a 3-D movie since I watched glowing Na'vi warriors fly around on mountain banshees during Avatar and went home with a pounding headache.
Style on 02/27/2018