The biggest problem was only “cherry pickers” bought the service. People who were already spending $10 a month or more in movie tickets. For it to work it needed to be a “breakage” play, like gym memberships.
Also theaters started getting non-movie-goers back in occasionally they may have been perceived as more valuable “conversions” and Moviephone admissions would have been discounted.
> People who were already spending $10 a month or more in movie tickets
I don't think that's the case. I know a ton of people who went from seeing movies almost never to seeing them several times a month. They had the opposite problem of a gym - having a moviepass membership available actively changed people's moviegoing behavior on a wide scale.
Gyms also don't pay a per-visit overhead cost for a given member.
This is more or less why AMC can successfully offer A-List.
You both are saying the same thing. They needed people who paid the monthly fee but never went, but instead got people who went a lot. And gyms definitely do pay a per-visit overhead since space is a fixed and precious resource, especially in urban areas.
There's no marginal cost (effectively) on a single gym visit.
If 100 people use moviepass, moviepass loses 100*$X
If 100 people use a gym membership. The gym loses $0. And maybe a few people cancel because it's too crowded (or better yet, don't cancel but stop coming)
No, why would you? Attaching a cost to someone unable to visit the gym due to "overcrowding" wouldn't make business sense since you're unable to determine if that is actually the case or if they weren't coming for another reason.
A customer with a gym pays a monthly rate... That rate is paid even if they use it. The running cost of the gym remains the same whether or not someone comes to the gym.
This comparison, then, doesn't make sense. MoviePass is paying directly each time a customer uses the service. While both services are better off with people simply giving their money for something they don't use, only MoviePass actually LOSES money if people are using the service. The gym, on the other hand, doesn't.
Also theaters started getting non-movie-goers back in occasionally they may have been perceived as more valuable “conversions” and Moviephone admissions would have been discounted.