MoviePass has had a rough few months and is responding to the difficulties it is facing with some policy changes. Its latest change came with the announcement that it will be discontinuing its annual subscription plan. In an email sent out to annual subscribers, obtained by The Verge, the company stated that it was ending its annual plans as part of its mission to keep prices low while expanding its slate of available films.
While MoviePass has undergone numerous changes over the past several months, its annual subscribers have been largely immune to these effects. The company’s shifting policies have had the largest impact on monthly subscribers. However, this change will convert the company’s annual subscribers to monthly ones, meaning they will then be subject to the same conditions as other monthly subscribers.
Perhaps the biggest changes that these subscribers will face is the fact that their unlimited movies a month has been downgraded to three a month. For some people, three movies a month might still seem like a good deal, but MoviePass has been offering a very limited selection lately.
Some of the company’s statements have implied that this limited selection would be improved in September, though according to Twitter, that may not be soon enough for some users.
Every MoviePass member’s concern is that we can’t see any movies because they’re either not offered, not available at a reasonable showtime, or just not available after 11 am. You don’t need a DM or email address to fix that.
— Jack Schlesinger (@games_by_jack) August 22, 2018
I was so happy this am when I opened the app and it was working all the movies available. But then reality hit it was just a fluke. Back to only 2 movies. I’m done with the scam I’m canceling my account
— Gustavo Valdez (@gavchapis) August 23, 2018
Of course, part of the reason that annual subscribers were immune to some of these changes was due to legal concerns, since they paid for the service in advance with specific expectations about what that service would entail. It isn’t completely clear that MoviePass can simply convert these users to monthly plans. However, it is offering refunds for those who are not interested in continuing, and that may help the company out on the legal front.
