MoviePass is officially back, for better or worse

Here we go again.

MoviePass, the once-beautiful subscription service that offered nearly unlimited access to theatrical movies for $10/mo during its heyday a few years ago, is officially coming back, as first reported by Insider. Starting Thursday, people will be able to sign up for the new MoviePass beta on the MoviePass website. Signing up puts you on a waitlist, so there’s no guarantee you’ll get in right away.

This time, things will look a little different.

For one, it’s not a flat $10/mo fee anymore; the cost will change from market to market, but it will be either $10, $20, or $30 monthly. Beyond that, MoviePass used to let you see a movie each day, but that won’t be the case anymore. It’ll now operate on a credit-based system, so you’ll be able to see an unspecified number of movies per month. 

Mashable reached out to MoviePass to clarify how many credits subscribers will get each month, but did not immediately receive a response.

For those who don’t remember, MoviePass had quite the journey over the last decade. It was founded in 2011 and was mired in relative obscurity for several years before launching the $10/mo subscription in 2017. Per Insider, it went from 20,000 users to three million in less than a year after that new plan was introduced.

However, that business model wasn’t sustainable. The company soon ran out of money and scandals started popping up. One movie per day turned into... three movies per month. It suddenly became very difficult to cancel a subscription, and some of those who did manage to cancel MoviePass found their subscriptions renewed against their will. The company also allegedly made it difficult to redeem tickets on purpose and, by 2019, the service had ceased to exist entirely. 

Speaking from experience, the golden days of MoviePass were great. I saw so many mediocre movies I never would’ve paid full price to see just because I could. But the collapse was very real, and now that big theater chains like AMC have their own monthly subscription programs, it’s a little difficult to see how this new version can succeed where the old one failed. 

Hopefully the new MoviePass can recapture some of that magic. But as always, be skeptical.