HBO Documentary Films has debuted a look at their upcoming documentary Moviepass, Moviecrash, a new movie looking at the implosion of the U.S. cinema subscription service.
In a span of eight years, MoviePass went from being the fastest growing subscription service since Spotify to total bankruptcy, losing over $150 million in 2017 alone. Moviepass, Moviecrash chronicles the company’s beginnings as an innovative movie ticketing model beloved by cinema goers, exploring the visionary mission of its entrepreneur co-founders, its impressive early successes, and its precipitous downfall caused by mismanagement and corporate greed.
MoviePass was a movie lover’s dream, offering access to movie theater tickets at a discounted monthly subscription rate. In 2017, with a “too good to be true” promotional deal of $9.95 a month, subscriptions exploded, the company’s stock soared, and investors rushed to get in on the venture. However, the co-founders, who had built the pop culture phenomenon from scratch, were cast aside and forced to watch from the sidelines as new executives seized control. A combination of extravagant and fraudulent spending with lavish parties at the Sundance Film Festival, Coachella, and the Cannes Film Festival, and a fundamentally unsustainable business model, led the company to shutter abruptly in 2019.
The film hits Max stateside on 29th May with a UK debut TBC.
Here’s the trailer.
