MoviePass, the infamous cinema subscription service that crashed and burned in 2020, has secured a new investor amid an ambitious comeback attempt.
The New York-based company announced Thursday that it had landed an investment from Forecast Labs, a venture group owned by Comcast. MoviePass did not disclose the amount invested or other financial terms.
The plan is for Forecast Labs to grow MoviePass’ subscriber base through TV advertising.
“Today’s investment will accelerate our mission to bring new technology and innovation to the film community that will spur growth and drive higher traffic to theaters,” Stacy Spikes, chief executive and co-founder of MoviePass, said in a statement.
“We are also continuing to invest in the development of our cinematic marketplace so that studios and partner theaters can see maximum value by engaging directly with movie fans on the platform.”
Arjun Kapur, managing partner at Forecast Labs, added in a statement that the venture firm sees “tremendous value” in the new MoviePass and is confident in its ability to “enhance … the brand.”
The investor announcement comes more than four years after MoviePass filed for bankruptcy due to a lack of funding needed to sustain its perplexing business model.
The service — which offered subscribers access to screenings at various movie theaters for a monthly fee — began to unravel after Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc. purchased a majority stake in the company and dramatically dropped the monthly subscription price to $9.95 instead of $30 to $50.
Despite courting fame and millions of customers, the new model proved too good to be true, tanking MoviePass and its owner’s stock value in about three years. The fall of MoviePass spurred shareholder lawsuits and an investigation by the New York attorney general’s office.
Last month, HBO released a documentary chronicling the meteoric rise and spectacular demise of MoviePass.
Spikes revived the company in 2022 with the help of a crypto-focused gaming software and investment firm and has been mounting a comeback. Last year, the entrepreneur told The Times that he had the support of 25% of exhibitors — “totally different from before” — and seemed optimistic that other theaters would follow.
“The $10 price point was … just dumb,” Spikes said at the time.
“There’s no way to offer a subscription plan where you don’t control the cost and you make it cheaper than a movie ticket. … Just don’t set ‘unlimited’ at a $10 price point. Voilà, you’ve avoided disaster.”
