Like it or not, MoviePass is growing at a huge rate, faster than previous media disruptors like Netflix and Spotify. Currently, with 2 million subscribers, the movie theater subscription service claims they’ll have 5 million subscribers and account for almost 10% of all tickets sold in the U.S., by the end of the year. These are numbers that just can’t be ignored, and various film industry folks are now speaking out about the service.
READ MORE: AMC Theatres Not Cool With $9.99 MoviePass Plan
In a new feature from Variety, the controversial company is being discussed as the future of the theater-going experience. This is all great news for consumers, but terrifying news for theater chains, studios, and other executives that fear for the future of the film industry.
According to one anonymous studio distribution executive, MoviePass is described as a “cancer on the industry.” Those are harsh words for a company that claims to only want to bring more people to the theater and make more money for everyone involved.
Tom Bernard, co-founder of Sony Pictures Classics, says, “Everyone is happy to take their money right now, but I don’t see that as something that’s going to continue. I’m concerned that to recoup their cash they’re going to try to work some type of deal with the theaters where my [cut of the] box office is going to be diminished.”
But it’s not just studios that aren’t happy with the new disruptor that seems to be getting tons of headlines since offering the opportunity for members to see a movie a day in theaters for the low, low price of $9.95.
Jeff Logan, president and CEO of Logan Luxury Theatres, a South Dakota-based chain with three locations, doesn’t work with MoviePass because he believes that, while the theater-going experience needs to be adjusted, slashing prices isn’t the way to go. “It’s a chain-saw approach when a surgical scalpel is needed,” says Logan.
READ MORE: MoviePass Disables Location Tracking After Subscriber Outrage
“Smart businesspeople offer discounts when it’s advantageous for them to discount,” continues Logan. “I’m not above discounting on midweek nights or on matinees. But MoviePass is offering an across-the-board discount even to movies that are popular and on nights when the theater is full. It makes no sense at all. This takes power away from exhibitors to control their own prices.”
Overall, many MoviePass critics are hoping the company folds, and things can go back to normal, even though many worry that this new discounted pricing is here to stay. Variety also caught up with MoviePass executive Ted Farnsworth, who said that the company is here to stay and is sitting on “hundreds of millions of dollars of dry powder, and I’ve got bankers and debt-financing companies calling me all the time.”
So, it appears the debate over the future of movie theaters isn’t over yet, and the schism between MoviePass and its detractors keeps growing wider and wider.