AMC Theaters Rejects MoviePass, Stings The Whole Idea

As a company who plans on relying on other companies to make a program work, there are usually a few necessary steps to take before telling the public about your scheduled program. The first of which would involve clearing your ideas with your partner companies. It'd pretty looney to expect partner companies to just go along with whatever you publish before you even check with them, but evidently that is exactly what MoviePass did last week. There was a report suggesting that an all-you-can-watch theater program was going to start in San Francisco, but now it appears that MoviePass didn't even bother to check with theaters in the area before speaking about the trial. The truth probably sits somewhere in-between; theaters likely heard of the idea, but never committed to it 100 percent. Either way, AMC Theaters has a little something to say about it.

The company issues a terse press release saying that they quite simply will not participate in the MoviePass program test, as that San Francisco launch included their theaters without their consent. Stephen Colanero, chief marketing officer at AMC Theatres, had this to say: "As MoviePass was created without AMC's input and testing, we cannot confidently say the guest experience would be positive for our guests and specifically our AMC Stubs members. 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."


We had a feeling that theaters wouldn't be too happy about losing revenue with a subscription plan, and now we know that there's no plans to go through with it. We do wish, however, that MoviePass would end up getting their act together; it sounds like a fantastic option for the casual movie-goer, but it'll have a tough time gaining acceptance now that this is out.

AMC Theatres Will Not Participate in MoviePass Program Beta Test

Beta test for program to launch in San Francisco included AMC without company's consent

KANSAS CITY, Mo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AMC Theatres® (AMC), a leading theatrical exhibition and entertainment company, today announced it will not participate in the beta test of MoviePass, an initiative launching this weekend in the San Francisco area.

"As MoviePass was created without AMC's input and testing, we cannot confidently say the guest experience would be positive for our guests and specifically our AMC Stubs members"
"Plans for this program were developed without AMC's knowledge or input," said Stephen Colanero, chief marketing officer at AMC Theatres. "As MoviePass is currently designed, it does not integrate well into our programs and could create significant guest experience issues."

Some concerns with the program include AMC Stubs members' ability to receive credit when purchasing a MoviePass. AMC Stubs, the company's rewards program, was rolled out in April 2011 and rewards participants for ticket and concessions purchases.

"As MoviePass was created without AMC's input and testing, we cannot confidently say the guest experience would be positive for our guests and specifically our AMC Stubs members," said Colanero. "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 theatres they are not to accept MoviePass."