Watch MoviePass, MovieCrash on HboMAX
Directed by: Muta'Ali Muhammad
Starring: Daymond John, Ted Farnsworth, John Fichthorn
Rated: NR
Watch the trailer
Plot
This explores the company founding and the implosion of the MoviePass subscription service by outside investors who took over the company, leaving it bankrupt and under investigation.
Verdict
I was a member of MoviePass, so I was intrigued to go behind the scenes. I wish this explored the user experience more towards the end of it, but it does takes us through everything that went wrong and how. Ego and praise drove the new CEO to run an unsustainable business. Hollow promises and cash burn crushed the company, but it did provide a model for others to follow. We've seen this time and again with charismatic startup CEO's. Everyone wants to get in at the ground level with investors driving decisions. It's a story we've seen before.
It depends.
Review
I don't get to watch many documentaries where I have a direct connection. I joined MoviePass just before it peaked at a special offer of $10 a month instead of the standard price of $100. I was a member at it's best through the time it was clear things were going downhill with multiple aggressive changes to terms. One movie a day became three a month. Then it was only certain movies, and not the most popular releases. For a glorious six months I could see as many movies as I wanted. It ended terribly, but at least I got my refund. I canceled, well I tried to cancel but magically my password wouldn't work and I couldn't get a new password. I had to contact customer support to no effect, but ultimately I canceled and got $56 back. I was highly surprised as I had written that off. I knew when I signed up this service was unsustainable. Everyone knew it. I hoped I could get my money's worth, and I definitely did.
The CEO of MoviePass at it's peak and demise was Mitch Lowe. He got his start at Netflix and was head of RedBox. His plan was to price the service so low that it would market itself. The price stunned consumers and growth exploded. The company was struggling to get one-hundred thousand members and at that price point they were marching towards three million. Mitch was the CEO of MoviePass, with Ted Farnsworth the CEO of the parent hedge fund company. They were attributed as the founders of MoviePass. The documentary never states exactly why they got that credit. It has to be optics.
Stacy Spikes and Hamet Watts built this service over a decade, trying to chart a sustainable future. Mitch and Ted came in and create something unsustainable, but they have a resume so they're given the benefit of the doubt. They drove the company into the ground, but AMC A-list perfected the idea.
This documentary starts at the peak with Mitch and Ted, then jumping back to Stacy and Hamet and how MoviePass started. Part of their decision to hire Mitch was that older white mean want to give money to older white men, not minorities. Stacy and Hamet knew that $10 a month when customers where spending on average $46 wouldn't work. Mitch and Ted were focused on moving the stock, and not long term sustainability. I have to imagine Mitch and Ted knew what they were doing. They ride an idea, get rich, and then jump out. The stock was the new hot thing when MoviePass was the Netflix of cinema. When it was disclosed that MoviePass was losing thirty million a month the stock plummeted.
The company tried tricks to stop people from seeing movies by restricting times, selections, ticket confirmation, and even preventing use of the app itself. This touches on the user experience, but I wish it went deeper. MoviePass tried multiple tricks to discourage use. Each week was something new that made seeing movies difficult. Mitch even told engineers to create roadblocks for consumers. During Mitch's interview he's either in denial or just unwilling to admit any fault. Ted didn't interview.
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