A couple days ago it was announced that a new startup called MoviePass would work as a sort of Netflix for seeing movies in theaters. For a $50 a month subscription, members of MoviePass could then see as many movies as they wanted. The problem with a service like this is that MoviePass would need the cooperation of all of the nation’s biggest theater chains in order to be a service worth using. I know personally that if a MoviePass-like service were adopted by both AMC and Landmark theaters, then it would be well worth my money to purchase a membership. A pretty big wrinkle in these plans has already surfaced, however, seeing as AMC has already officially announced that they won’t be taking part.

AMC chief marketing officer Stephen Colanero explained the company’s position by saying, “Plans for this program were developed without AMC’s knowledge or input. As MoviePass is currently designed, it does not integrate well into our programs and could create significant guest experience issues.” The main concern AMC has with the project is how it would interact with their recently launched Stubs reward program. If a customer paid for their movie with a MoviePass membership, then how would they collect their Stubs points? As a Stubs member, I can confidently say that if MoviePass existed, I wouldn’t care about Stubs points whatsoever; but AMC already knows that. This really just seems to be a case of the company not wanting any of their customers playing in someone else’s sandbox. To hammer home the point that AMC would not be using MoviePass, Colanero went on to say, “We were surprised to see the press release and subsequent press coverage of MoviePass earlier this week as it included several of our San Francisco locations. It was news to us to see that we were participants and we will be communicating to those theaters they are not to accept MoviePass.”

Source: Deadline Schererville