I’ve been to the movie theater more times in the past few months that I did all of 2016. It wasn’t that the movies released that year were trash, because they weren’t, it’s just that the price of a movie ticket has sored in the recent years and I just couldn’t see myself shelling out $12+ every time I wanted to go to the theater. I’m not a movie buff, but I do like them and my budget just didn’t allow for me to shell out $60-75/month to go see the latest Hollywood release.
Enter Movie Pass.
So apparently this service has been around since 2011, but I just found out about it last Fall when they revamped and added their new monthly subscription plan. Before then they a few plans ranging $15-50 depending on your location and how many movies you wanted to see in a month, and honestly that wasn’t a bad price point if you were seeing a lot of films in theaters. Then they made the announcement for their $9.95/month for unlimited movies plan and almost broke the internet…well their website at least. New customers (and existing ones) crashed their site for a few days trying to sign up for the almost “too good to be true” plan, and I know because I was one of them. I was one of those people who signed up and had to wait almost 3 weeks for the card to come in the mail, but I didn’t care. This card and plan were going to change the way I saw movies.
Here’s how it works. You subscribe to the service and set up your automatic payments like you would for say Netflix or Hulu, they mail a Movie Pass debit card to you, you download the iOS or Android app, register your card and you’re good to go! According to their terms and conditions, you’re allowed to see one 2D movie within a 24 hour period. So it’s not truly “unlimited”, but it’s pretty close! It works perfectly for me because it allows me to treat myself to more movie dates and see movies I wouldn’t necessarily see because I didn’t want to pay $12 and risk not liking it. I can walk out of a theater and not have to wait in line for a refund, which is exactly what I did when I saw ‘All the Money in the World’. That’s another story for another time though.
Pros of the service:
- I’m able to essentially see about 30 movies each month if I want to (or if I had the time), and I only have to pay for one of them. Yeah, the card pays for itself after the first movie (at least here in Houston) so I make sure that I go see at least one per month.
- It’s accepted at numerous theaters including AMC, Regal Cinema, and even Studio Movie Grill
Cons of the service:
- I have to physically purchase my ticket at the ticket counter. I’m the type of person who likes to book things online and pay for them in advance, but Movie Pass doesn’t allow us to do that. You have to be within 100 yards of the theater where you can then open the app, pick a movie and showtime, check in and then the funds for the movie ticket will then be loaded onto your debit card. It’s like magic! Now, I haven’t tested this theory yet, but I think that since it shows all of the showtimes for a day you can get to the theater early (like say in the morning) and buy your ticket for a later show and it should be fine. This would be helpful for opening night showings of a big release or just pre-purchasing your ticket if you want to go out with a group of friends later and you want to make sure you have a ticket for the showing. Like I said, I haven’t tried it yet but I might do it for a ‘Black Panther’ showing.
- It’s only for 2D films. Now, this isn’t necessarily a con for me since I don’t go watch 3D movies like that, but I’ve heard other people complain.
- You can only buy one ticket per day, per card. This means that if you’re trying to treat someone else you’ll have to do two separate transactions. It’s usually no biggie, I’ve done it a few times when I’ve taken my nieces and nephews or a friend to the movies. The only time it’s bothersome is when I go to a theater where I get to choose my seat and I have to speed through the transactions and pray that the neighboring seat is still available.
I personally think it’s a great subscription service if you do like going to the theater and seeing movies. I’ve saved a few hundred since I signed up and I definitely see myself keeping it as long as they have this plan. Have any of y’all signed up for it? If so, do you like it and do you plan on keeping it? Comment below and let me know!