Movie ticket subscription service MoviePass looks set to relaunch following news that the company has been acquired out of bankruptcy.
As Insider reports, the company is now owned by Stacy Spikes who is one of the original MoviePass co-founders. We don't know how much he paid, but Spikes confirmed his bid was below $250,000. As to the future of MoviePass, Spikes was quite clear that it's coming back as a service with a relaunch planned for 2022.
In a statement, Spikes said:
"We are thrilled to have it back and are exploring the possibility of relaunching soon. Our pursuit to reclaim the brand was encouraged by the continued interest from the moviegoing community. We believe, if done properly, theatrical subscription can play an instrumental role in lifting moviegoing attendance to new heights."
When MoviePass first launched back in 2011 it was loved by consumers and hated by movie theater chains. It replaced the need to purchase a ticket with a monthly fee allowing you to watch several movies, first by using printed vouchers before moving to a mobile app. The service suffered several major setbacks, however, with reports of subscribers being tracked, the rules around what movies could be watched and when changing often, the introduction of surge pricing, and allegations of fraud.
The closure of MoviePass was announced in Sept. 2019 and the bankruptcy filing was made the following year. We don't know what Spikes has planned for the new version of the service, but it's important to note that he was fired by MoviePass parent company HMNY in 2018 for raising concerns about the sustainability of the $10 subscription price.