MoviePass Discussion

SeanM · Jan 22, 2018

Ashhong said:
Wait, this seems like some heavy bullshit. For AMC at least, you have to activate your rewards in 5$ increments in order for it to be available to use. Are you saying that now when you buy a ticket it will automatically use it whether you activated it or not?

Well I had like 85$ worth of active points because of what thediamondage said above - a couple weeks ago, an employee activated all my rewards without asking. If you have any active points at all, it forces you into using them now.

I took this pic a few days ago of the kiosk, you can see that it lets you delete/change the movie but you can't do the same with your Stubs points that get automatically applied. This is an older kiosk but it happens on the newer ones too so it's something they changed across all theaters.

What I've been doing is buying my tickets at the kiosk with MoviePass but without using my Stubs. Then after the movie I go to the customer service desk and hand them both my ticket stub and Subs card saying that "I forgot to use this, can you apply this to my account?" They've done it with no issues or questions.

Coraline Jones · Jan 22, 2018

AMC rewards isn't worth redeeming if you don't get the $15/yr membership.

Also, using MoviePass with your AMC Premiere membership will terminate your AMC membership.

gig · Jan 22, 2018

Coraline Jones said:
AMC rewards isn't worth redeeming if you don't get the $15/yr membership.

Also, using MoviePass with your AMC Premiere membership will terminate your AMC membership.

There evidence of this happening?

Kuro · Jan 22, 2018

AMC has some shit customer service. The kiosk guy at my AMC doesn't even let us bring in water bottles.

gig · Jan 22, 2018

Kuro said:
AMC has some shit customer service. The kiosk guy at my AMC doesn't even let us bring in water bottles.

This is standard movie theatre policy for any chain, some just reinforce it stronger than others.

Kuro · Jan 22, 2018

Gig said:
This is standard movie theatre policy for any chain, some just reinforce it stronger than others.

I've been to Regal, Paragon, Smithsonians, Kennedy Center, almost all the different chains/private theaters on the east coast and have never been stopped for water except at AMC. Would have made a big stink about it but I was with a girl. The bartender at the AMC was super nice and gave us water cups to use at the soda machines so that was nice.

louiedog · Jan 22, 2018

Kuro said:
AMC has some shit customer service. The kiosk guy at my AMC doesn't even let us bring in water bottles.

That's messed up. Do you live in a city and are they reusable or just disposable plastic bottles? I can't imagine that happening here because it's so common for people to walk around with reusable bottles and it's not like they can take it out to their car because they probably didn't drive themselves.

gig · Jan 22, 2018

Kuro said:
I've been to Regal, Paragon, Smithsonians, Kennedy Center, almost all the different chains/private theaters on the east coast and have never been stopped for water except at AMC. Would have made a big stink about it but I was with a girl. The bartender at the AMC was super nice and gave us water cups to use at the soda machines so that was nice.

Again, some reinforce it stronger than others. Most won't care about water, I walked in to our local AMC with a full cup of coffee last week. It's still policy though, so if they do ask you to leave it they have a right to do so.

Not saying I support the policy, just that it exists in an official capacity. Can really only speak for AMC, Cinemark, and Regal. Unsure of more local/smaller chains.

Kuro · Jan 22, 2018

louiedog said:
That's messed up. Do you live in a city and are they reusable or just disposable plastic bottles? I can't imagine that happening here because it's so common for people to walk around with reusable bottles and it's not like they can take it out to their car because they probably didn't drive themselves.

It was disposable. The real kicker was that both times it happened was at a past midnight showing. Like that late who gives a shit its not like the manager was even there watching them like a hawk.

SeanM · Jan 22, 2018

Coraline Jones said:
AMC rewards isn't worth redeeming if you don't get the $15/yr membership.

Also, using MoviePass with your AMC Premiere membership will terminate your AMC membership.

That's not true, I've been doing doing MoviePass + AMC Stubs since August with no issues. I know something like that is listed in their TOS but it's not enforced at all, merely a scare tactic. I haven't heard of a single person who had their membership terminated.

I think it's very much worth the $15/yr AMC Premiere membership, you make up the cost after like ten movies or less (since they often run double points promos). You can use your stubs points to renew your membership too.

Ashhong · Jan 22, 2018

thediamondage said:
No, it only uses activated points but it uses them first when buying tickets. The problem is when you go to concession stands the employee there can activate all your points with a single button press, and since AMC has very high turnover (high school kids) some of them aren't trained really at all and will happily push that button without even asking you because they think they are helping you score free food. That'll activate ALL your points in one click with zero way to undo it. Whereas when you login to your own account phone/web you have to activate $5 at a time.

What I do now is buy tickets at kiosk with my primary AMC account and then use a secondary account at concession stands (for extra points) which has only a few hundred points so my primary account can't ever get burned. For now the points you accrue at AMC, if unredeemed, have no expiration date so I'm keeping that around in case moviepass ever goes away. Fortunately Android Pay can take AMC stubs numbers so its pretty easy keeping two accounts on the phone, one in the AMC app and another in android pay.

SeanM said:
Well I had like 85$ worth of active points because of what thediamondage said above - a couple weeks ago, an employee activated all my rewards without asking. If you have any active points at all, it forces you into using them now.

I took this pic a few days ago of the kiosk, you can see that it lets you delete/change the movie but you can't do the same with your Stubs points that get automatically applied. This is an older kiosk but it happens on the newer ones too so it's something they changed across all theaters.

What I've been doing is buying my tickets at the kiosk with MoviePass but without using my Stubs. Then after the movie I go to the customer service desk and hand them both my ticket stub and Subs card saying that "I forgot to use this, can you apply this to my account?" They've done it with no issues or questions.

Ah ok, that's a relief. I'll just keep my points unactivated for now. It's the same if you use the Atom app, unless they fixed it now. It used to force you to use your Stubs BEFORE applying any promos like buy one get one free

Coraline Jones · Jan 22, 2018

AMC flagged some guy's account

This guy went to their theaters for 2 weeks straight

AndreGX · Jan 22, 2018

Coraline Jones said:
https://imgur.com/a/EOSsX

How do they know??

FireSafetyBear · Jan 22, 2018

Coraline Jones said:
https://imgur.com/a/EOSsX

Looks like they just started cracking down

You can just buy the ticket at the kiosk and talk to customer service after movie to add points

BorganXI · Jan 22, 2018

Coraline Jones said:
AMC flagged some guy's account

This guy went to their theaters for 2 weeks straight

Again, I have to wonder why the hell AMC cares. They are getting the full price of the tickets. So the guy gets to use his $5 reward more often on concessions.

I would place a guess that people using MoviePass this much end up buying more concessions over the long haul and make AMC more money anyways.

BorganXI · Jan 22, 2018

AndreGX said:
How do they know??

I'm curious about this too.

Zoe · Jan 23, 2018

BorganXI said:
Again, I have to wonder why the hell AMC cares. They are getting the full price of the tickets. So the guy gets to use his $5 reward more often on concessions.

I would place a guess that people using MoviePass this much end up buying more concessions over the long haul and make AMC more money anyways.

Did he actually watch the movie each time though?

And not everybody buys concessions every time they go to the theater.

Dreamwriter · Jan 23, 2018

One thing to realize about theaters, they don't tend to make hardly any money from ticket sales for the first two weeks a movie is in the theater. And only good movies tend to stick around longer than two weeks. So the fact that the theater gets the full price of the tickets, isn't as big of a thing as you would expect. Also, AMC is worried that MoviePass will devalue movies - people will get used to the $10 a month unlimited price, and then when MoviePass fails, stop going to the theater because $12 per showing is too expensive. That is their big fear. A secondary fear is what MoviePass is hoping for, they become big enough to have power over the theaters, being able to demand lower ticket prices and stuff because if they don't get what they want, they will remove that theater from the service and all the MoviePass customers will go to another theater in their area.

As for the Stubbs program, something people have been known to do in the past, which is now against the MoviePass ToS and will get you banned but I'm sure some people still try, is to buy tickets for a movie every single day - and then not actually watch the movie, they bought the ticket for the Stubbs points and nothing else. That is really why AMC cares, it is directly affecting their bottom line (and for us MoviePass owners, it is affecting all of us, because that kind of exploitation will bring about MoviePass's death, swiftly).

BorganXI · Jan 23, 2018

How would Moviepass or the theaters know you aren't watching the movie?

If you buy a ticket in person at the counter, and walk out, yeah I could see it.

If you are buying from a kiosk or at the counter for a later showing, there's really no way for them to track if you viewed the movie later that day.

crimsonECHIDNA · Jan 23, 2018

Dreamwriter said:
One thing to realize about theaters, they don't tend to make hardly any money from ticket sales for the first two weeks a movie is in the theater. And only good movies tend to stick around longer than two weeks. So the fact that the theater gets the full price of the tickets, isn't as big of a thing as you would expect. Also, AMC is worried that MoviePass will devalue movies - people will get used to the $10 a month unlimited price, and then when MoviePass fails, stop going to the theater because $12 per showing is too expensive. That is their big fear. A secondary fear is what MoviePass is hoping for, they become big enough to have power over the theaters, being able to demand lower ticket prices and stuff because if they don't get what they want, they will remove that theater from the service and all the MoviePass customers will go to another theater in their area.

As for the Stubbs program, something people have been known to do in the past, which is now against the MoviePass ToS and will get you banned but I'm sure some people still try, is to buy tickets for a movie every single day - and then not actually watch the movie, they bought the ticket for the Stubbs points and nothing else. That is really why AMC cares, it is directly affecting their bottom line (and for us MoviePass owners, it is affecting all of us, because that kind of exploitation will bring about MoviePass's death, swiftly).

To add on to that, Movie Theater chains get the majority of their profits from concession. In the long run, AMC would be losing out on money there as well becuase suddenly you'd have Stubbs members constantly redeeming their reward money at concession. I know I was reaching the point where I was getting those $5 rewards every two or three visits. And that doesn't even touch the people who are hoarding the rewards so that they don't have to pay to renew their membership.

mrmoose · Jan 23, 2018

Dreamwriter said:
One thing to realize about theaters, they don't tend to make hardly any money from ticket sales for the first two weeks a movie is in the theater. And only good movies tend to stick around longer than two weeks. So the fact that the theater gets the full price of the tickets, isn't as big of a thing as you would expect. Also, AMC is worried that MoviePass will devalue movies - people will get used to the $10 a month unlimited price, and then when MoviePass fails, stop going to the theater because $12 per showing is too expensive. That is their big fear. A secondary fear is what MoviePass is hoping for, they become big enough to have power over the theaters, being able to demand lower ticket prices and stuff because if they don't get what they want, they will remove that theater from the service and all the MoviePass customers will go to another theater in their area.

As for the Stubbs program, something people have been known to do in the past, which is now against the MoviePass ToS and will get you banned but I'm sure some people still try, is to buy tickets for a movie every single day - and then not actually watch the movie, they bought the ticket for the Stubbs points and nothing else. That is really why AMC cares, it is directly affecting their bottom line (and for us MoviePass owners, it is affecting all of us, because that kind of exploitation will bring about MoviePass's death, swiftly).

I understand the fear of Moviepass devaluing ticket prices or wielding enough power to force their own terms, but even with the theaters not getting ticket sales, it's a boon to them (for now) because it still fills seats that would otherwise be empty (if there's like rabid demand for a movie like Star Wars, you won't be getting your seats same day) and at least some of those people will figure that they saved money on admission so why not buy some (super) overpriced snacks? And they do get some portion of the ticket price, so even the guy abusing Moviepass and not going to the movie is going to hurt Moviepass (who is paying the full price of the ticket) more than AMC.

Forsaken82 · Jan 23, 2018

Kuro said:
AMC has some shit customer service. The kiosk guy at my AMC doesn't even let us bring in water bottles.

Was this your first time trying to bring outside food/beverages into a theater or something? This is common place. I clearly don't know what AMC you go to, but if it's anything like the ones around me I am 99% positive you walked passed a sign on a door that said "no Outside food or beverages"

Kuro · Jan 23, 2018

Forsaken82 said:
Was this your first time trying to bring outside food/beverages into a theater or something? This is common place. I clearly don't know what AMC you go to, but if it's anything like the ones around me I am 99% positive you walked passed a sign on a door that said "no Outside food or beverages"

I have never been stopped for water my entire life until I went to AMC for the first time. I usually watch at least 6-8 movies a year at the theater and tend to go to all different sorts. I'm smart enough to hide snacks that I bring in but water has never been a problem. I actually could even pull the medical condition card since I have a history of kidney stones and need to stay hydrated but fuck that, its common decency to let people bring at least water.

SeanM · Jan 23, 2018

AndreGX said:
How do they know??

BorganXI said:
I'm curious about this too.

Every MoviePass card starts with the same first four digits (5336) so that's probably how they are determining MoviePass users.

I don't think there's some widespread crackdown though, they are probably just sending warning emails to the most blatant / severe abusers.

manchego obfuscator · Jan 25, 2018

Uh-oh, it appears that MoviePass is cutting off some of the highest-volume AMC theaters. Not sure which party is responsible (these are also some of the most expensive theaters in the country, so this could be MoviePass trying to save money), but this doesn't bode well.

AndreGX · Jan 25, 2018

manchego obfuscator said:
Uh-oh, it appears that MoviePass is cutting off some of the highest-volume AMC theaters. Not sure which party is responsible (these are also some of the most expensive theaters in the country, so this could be MoviePass trying to save money), but this doesn't bode well.

This is concerning, particularly if it's the start of a trend. Tickets aren't cheap here in SF either, but I wonder if there's more to this situation?

mrmoose · Jan 25, 2018

It would help if they gave us some indication of what was going on, that's gotta suck to go out to the theater and then not be able to buy tickets with no update from moviepass until they happen to answer a tweet.

louiedog · Jan 25, 2018

AndreGX said:
This is concerning, particularly if it's the start of a trend. Tickets aren't cheap here in SF either, but I wonder if there's more to this situation?

Cutting off the Metreon would be a big blow considering Drafthouse sells out of all decent seats days in advance and the Westfield Cinemark and AMC don't overlap what they get.

Deleted member 31817 · Jan 25, 2018

Forsaken82 said:
Was this your first time trying to bring outside food/beverages into a theater or something? This is common place. I clearly don't know what AMC you go to, but if it's anything like the ones around me I am 99% positive you walked passed a sign on a door that said "no Outside food or beverages"

Pretty much all movie theaters have signs like that and I've never had issues with water bottles. No way in hell I'm paying extra just to buy water. Worst case scenario use a bag/purse/backpack. I bring snacks in those a lot and have never had issues in probably over a decade.

AndreGX · Jan 25, 2018

louiedog said:
Cutting off the Metreon would be a big blow considering Drafthouse sells out of all decent seats days in advance and the Westfield Cinemark and AMC don't overlap what they get.

Yes indeed! Metreon's usually the one I go to, but at least the Century (it is Century right?) right across the street is a good backup at times.

manchego obfuscator · Jan 25, 2018

I literally can't recall a movie theater not allowing me to bring water in from outside. That's pretty shitty.

PassiveObserver · Jan 25, 2018

louiedog said:
Cutting off the Metreon would be a big blow considering Drafthouse sells out of all decent seats days in advance and the Westfield Cinemark and AMC don't overlap what they get.

That would completely suck. Definitely the most convenient place for me to use my MP. Sounds like if they were attempting to check in that that AMC was still appearing in the app.

AndreGX · Jan 25, 2018

Psychoward said:
Pretty much all movie theaters have signs like that and I've never had issues with water bottles. No way in hell I'm paying extra just to buy water.

At the least, they'll give you a free cup of water if you ask for it.

louiedog · Jan 25, 2018

AndreGX said:
Yes indeed! Metreon's usually the one I go to, but at least the Century (it is Century right?) right across the street is a good backup at times.

Yeah, that's the brand of Cinemark that's there. But if the Metreon gets a movie it won't necessarily so it's not a reliable backup. You might have to go to Cinemark's CineArts down at West Portal or try to get Drafthouse tickets or go to one of the tiny independent theaters which aren't as nice.

louiedog · Jan 25, 2018

I'm also seeing complaints on twitter that some AMC locations aren't showing up in app right now. So I guess check your local one.

Metreon is still on there.

FireSafetyBear · Jan 25, 2018

Wait so is it all AMCs now? Can anybody confirm?

I see one AMC by me but can confirm Disney Springs is gone.

That guest services account is probably ran by somebody who isn't in the clue

louiedog · Jan 25, 2018

FireSafetyBear said:
Wait so is it all AMCs now? Can anybody confirm?

That guest services account is probably ran by somebody who isn't in the clue

I've only seen 3 locations on twitter that people are saying are gone so far. AMC Empire 25 in NYC, Disney Springs, and Chicago's River East.

edit: And looks like Boston Common as well.

FireSafetyBear · Jan 25, 2018

louiedog said:
I've only seen 3 locations on twitter that people are saying are gone so far. AMC Empire 25 in NYC, Disney Springs, and Chicago's River East.

Yup, can confirm Disney Springs is gone for me too.

AMC Universal is still there. Weird.

grang · Jan 25, 2018

AMC Boston Common is no longer there, but several others in the area are still up.

Deleted member 31817 · Jan 25, 2018

Not seeing any loss of AMC theaters by me

Sly Chimera · Jan 25, 2018

Psychoward said:
Pretty much all movie theaters have signs like that and I've never had issues with water bottles. No way in hell I'm paying extra just to buy water. Worst case scenario use a bag/purse/backpack. I bring snacks in those a lot and have never had issues in probably over a decade.

https://hydawaybottle.com/
I live by it lol

Sly Chimera · Jan 25, 2018

AMC Veterans gone in Tampa.

louiedog · Jan 25, 2018

Deadline story

CEO Mitch Lowe issued the following statement about the latest MoviePass outage as many took to Twitter to complain: "As of today, you'll find a small handful of theaters are no longer available on our platform. Our number one goal as a company is to provide an accessible price-point for people to enjoy films the way they're meant to be seen: on the big screen. Many exhibitors have been receptive to this mission, and we're excited to keep working with theater chains that are closely aligned with our customer service values.

As we continue to strive for mutually-beneficial relationships with theaters, the list of theaters we work with is subject to change. We advise customers to always double check the MoviePass app for the most up-to-date list of participating theaters."

Also interesting

MoviePass insiders have informed Deadline that the movie ticket service covers over $2M in ticket sales weekly to AMC.

mrmoose · Jan 25, 2018

Man, the AMC CEO put the hammer down on the last earnings call too:

AMC CEO Adam Aron said in a November earnings conference call, ""MoviePass paid AMC, according to our records, $11.88 for each and every ticket that it purchased for our mutual guest. That's quite a gap, $9.95 a month versus $11.88 a visit. I must point out that's very gracious of them and we appreciate their business, but I think it's also important to make clear that despite claims they've made to the contrary, AMC has absolutely no intention, I repeat no intention, of sharing any – I repeat, any, of our admissions revenue or our concessions revenue with MoviePass."

FireSafetyBear · Jan 25, 2018

mrmoose said:
Man, the AMC CEO put the hammer down on the last earnings call too:

I don't think MoviePass cares about that. They make the money from selling data.

TAJ · Jan 25, 2018

crimsonECHIDNA said:
To add on to that, Movie Theater chains get the majority of their profits from concession. In the long run, AMC would be losing out on money there as well becuase suddenly you'd have Stubbs members constantly redeeming their reward money at concession. I know I was reaching the point where I was getting those $5 rewards every two or three visits. And that doesn't even touch the people who are hoarding the rewards so that they don't have to pay to renew their membership.

I use all of my Crown Club points to buy tickets for other people. Those people have bought concessions every time. So lol.

AndreGX · Jan 25, 2018

FireSafetyBear said:
I don't think MoviePass cares about that. They make the money from selling data.

All the affected theaters so far are AMC, unless I'm mistaken? I wonder if the two are connected, perhaps MoviePass playing hardball now that they have some leverage?

mrmoose · Jan 25, 2018

FireSafetyBear said:
I don't think MoviePass cares about that. They make the money from selling data.

Sure, they make some money selling data. I can surmise that a lot of people will see a lot of movies they otherwise wouldn't if given an all you can eat movie pass for 10 bucks. How much more data than that are they getting?

Compbros · Jan 25, 2018

Doing this without telling people is pretty fucked.

louiedog · Jan 25, 2018

mrmoose said:
Sure, they make some money selling data. I can surmise that a lot of people will see a lot of movies they otherwise wouldn't if given an all you can eat movie pass for 10 bucks. How much more data than that are they getting?

That's what I've wondered about this. It's going to be better because it spans theater chains, but is it really that much more valuable than what Cinemark, AMC, and other rewards programs collect, especially when you have to consider it alters customer viewing habits when it's a different business model?

MoviePass Discussion

Prophet of Regret

Prophet of Regret

Prophet of Regret

GameXplain

Banned for use of an alt-account

▲ Legend ▲

GameXplain

Deleted member 31817

GameXplain

GameXplain

Banned for use of an alt-account

Banned for use of an alt-account

Deleted member 31817

Alt Account

Alt Account

Banned for use of an alt-account

GameXplain