Has Hollywood transformed more over the course of its 100-year history than from 2010 to 2020?  Perhaps the last time there was such fundamental change was when television reshaped America in the 1950s.  Maybe the cultural events of the 1960s witnessed across all media were just as impactful.  That being said, neither the advent of VHS in the 80s or DVDs and the explosion of the internet in the 90s prompted as much change in the film and television industries as they have over the past ten years.

Continue reading Biggest Entertainment Stories Of The Decade [2010s] at The Playlist.

Like a cockroach that’s still kicking weeks after its head is cut off, MoviePass is somehow still managing to create headlines, weeks after its demise. The New York Post reports that the movie-watching membership program is still charging its former customers’ cards.

READ MORE: MoviePass “Temporarily” Shuts Down To Update Its App, Leaving Many Shocked The Service Still Exists

Two women told the New York paper that they were actually charged twice in September.

Continue reading MoviePass is Making Headlines Again, Because It Just Won’t Die at The Playlist.

Just when you think MoviePass couldn’t sink to any new lows, the company goes and proves you wrong. For the last year and a half, we have written about blunder after blunder, issue after issue, showing that MoviePass is not only a terrible company, in a business sense, but also one with questionable ethics. Well, if a new report is to be believed, MoviePass isn’t just a morally gray antihero disrupting the movie ticket business, but might actually be the villain of its own story.

Continue reading MoviePass CEO Allegedly Asked Employees To Change Power Users’ Passwords To Lock Them Out Of The Service at The Playlist.

The story of MoviePass is far from an inspiring story of an upstart company set to disrupt the film industry (as the company would like you to believe) and more of a farce. However, unlike a comedy that leaves you in stitches and with a smile on your face, the MoviePass Saga leaves you feeling like a bully for laughing at someone that just never stood a chance. It’s funny to watch MoviePass slip on a banana peel, but it’s sad when you realize the company was blind, to begin with.

Continue reading MoviePass “Temporarily” Shuts Down To Update Its App, Leaving Many Shocked The Service Still Exists at The Playlist.

For a while now, we’ve known that things over at MoviePass were bad. We just didn’t know how bad. Well, thanks to a new report from Business Insider, the truth of how things are at MoviePass is now common knowledge, and even we didn’t think it was this bad.

According to leaked internal numbers, MoviePass has lost more than 90% of its user base since June 2018. Last summer, MoviePass started to experience its problems that have led to this catastrophic fall from grace, but at the time, the service could tout that it had 3,000,000 subscribers.

Continue reading New Report Shows MoviePass Has Lost Over 90% Of Its Subscribers In Less Than A Year at The Playlist.

If you don’t mind me being a bit crude for a second, the best way to describe MoviePass is to compare it to a  certain illness spread amongst sexually active folks that a surprising number of people have but only shows up for brief periods before disappearing again. And try as you might, no amount of medication can get rid of it. It just sticks around, lurking under the surface. So, here we are, three months into 2019, MoviePass has reappeared and flared up, just to tell everyone that the unlimited movie plan that made people (like me) stupidly fall for back in early 2018 is back, albeit with a couple of key differences.

Continue reading MoviePass Comes Full Circle With Its New “Uncapped” Movie Plans After A Terrible Start To 2019 at The Playlist.

We are over half-way through with the first month of 2019, and to my surprise, MoviePass is still alive and kicking. Though it must be said, I’m using the most basic definition of alive in describing the subscription service, as it continues to struggle to find its footing and could implode at any moment. Alas, to the company’s credit, MoviePass is still here and with the new year, there comes new pricing and a divorce (of sorts) from the much-maligned parent company.

Continue reading MoviePass Debuts Confusing Three-Tier Pricing Structure As Parent Company Distances Itself From Service at The Playlist.

Here, we are, living the last day of 2018, and for many, it’s good riddance to this year. 2018, which went on for approximately, 1,324 days, seemed to have a ton of ups, but perhaps even more downs, especially outside of the entertainment industry (let’s not go there, however). That said, we have spent a fair amount of time breaking down the very best the year had to offer, from a variety of different angles.

Continue reading Our 12 New Year’s Wishes & Resolutions For The Film/TV Industry In 2019 at The Playlist.

Hollywood is in a protracted period of change.  Consolidation amongst the old guard and the rising influence of the streaming services has somehow made this town less corporate, more creative, but also somehow more cautious at the same time.  Throw in the facts the #MeToo movement has led to significant change (at least for the moment) and talent keeps somehow screwing up on social media, and it was quite a year.

READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2019

Disney officially secures 20th Century Fox
It was proposed in 2017, but after Comcast got into a bidding war in May, there was some concern in the Mouse House the acquisition wouldn’t occur.

Continue reading The Biggest Movie & TV News Stories Of 2018 at The Playlist.

First bit of news we have to get out of the way before we talk about Bruce Willis is that MoviePass is still a thing. That’s right, despite all signs pointing to a certain demise, MoviePass is still chugging along, attempting to become profitable before it’s too late. Which leads us to the news of the day – Bruce Willis has signed a three-film deal with MoviePass Films.

Continue reading Bruce Willis Signs A Three-Film Deal With MoviePass Films, Which Is Still A Thing at The Playlist.

It’s a bit of a broken record at this point, but yet again, as Helios & Matheson continues to release financial data, it’s even more apparent that the grand experiment that was MoviePass is about to hit an iceberg and sink to the bottom of the sea. It appears that hiring a dog as an executive probably isn’t going to cure all the company’s ills.

According to a third-quarter earnings report (via Variety), the losses suffered by Helios & Matheson (parent company to MoviePass) has grown to $137.2 million.

Continue reading MoviePass’ Attempt To Avoid Its Inevitable Demise By Hiring A Dog Doesn’t Seem To Be Working Out at The Playlist.

Many have said that MoviePass is a dying brand that is soon to be bankrupt. And apparently, given the most recent news, the subscriptions service’s parent company, Helios and Matheson, seems to think the same thing.

Helios and Matheson have announced its intention to take the MoviePass assets and spin them off into their own publicly traded company that would be only a subsidiary to the parent. Why would they do this?

Continue reading MoviePass’ Parent Company To Spin Off Subscription Service Into Separate Company To Avoid Bankruptcy at The Playlist.

Just when you thought the long, national crisis known as MoviePass was set to implode in a couple months, Helios & Matheson (MoviePass parent company) CEO Ted Farnsworth assures us that the subscription service is not only succeeding right now but also just secured a massive amount of funding to stay afloat.

In a Q&A with The Wrap, Farnsworth was positively radiating with good news. Not only did Helios & Matheson secure $68 million in new funding (though the CEO refused to name the source of the money and the conditions), but he has good news to report about the subscriber base of MoviePass — they’re barely using the service!

Continue reading MoviePass Exec Gloats Paying Subscribers Are Only Using The Service 1 Time Per Month at The Playlist.

After writing dozens of articles chronicling the rise and fall of MoviePass, I find each bit of news surrounding the company to just be exhausting. The subscription service made a name for itself by offering a too-good-to-be-true service (which I stupidly bought into) and then proceeded to do everything wrong (normally by deceiving its customer base) and is on the verge of doom. But even still, as the company flounders, MoviePass has stooped to yet another low.

Continue reading PSA: MoviePass Is Re-Enrolling Lapsed Former Members Automatically In Latest Scheme To Avoid Inevitability at The Playlist.

As MoviePass continues its inevitable spiral down in the toilet bowl of business, its competitors seem to have learned from the company’s mistakes and are prospering. We’ve already covered multiple MoviePass competitors, including AMC and Alamo Drafthouse, who feel they have figured out the trick to the movie ticket subscription service game. However, now we have Sinemia to add to the list, who just announced a major change to its service.

Continue reading Sinemia Announces $30 “Unlimited” Movie Ticket Service As MoviePass Attempts Last-Ditch Effort To Stay Afloat at The Playlist.

The book that will be written about the amazing rise and fall of MoviePass will read like a how-to-run-a-business-into-the-ground-guide-meets-trashy-romance-novel. Seriously, who knew that a massive tech/subscription service company could be filled with this much alleged drama and deceit?

In the latest chapter of the “RIP MoviePass” saga, we get word, via Deadline, that one of the board members for the company, Carl Schramm, has resigned from his post, effective immediately.

Continue reading MoviePass Board Member Quits In Blaze Of Glory As Company Offers New Contest For A One Year Subscription at The Playlist.

Oh, what a difference four months can make!

Back in March, THR and survey service National Research Group (NRG) conducted a survey of MoviePass subscribers. In that survey, NRG found that 84% of MoviePass subscribers were “very likely to recommend MoviePass,” and a whopping 83% were “very satisfied” with the subscription service. Hell, there were 62% of subscribers saying they planned on sticking with the movie ticket service “for a long time.”

Fast forward several months, and the results are night and day.

Continue reading Survey Suggests That ‘MoviePass’ Could Lose Almost 50% Of Its Subscribers Due To Recent Changes at The Playlist.

Yet another reason why we need more feminine filmmaking voices…

On this episode of Adjust Your Tracking, Joe and I come of age (yet again) and put ourselves into a female perspective with indie releases ‘Madeline’s Madeline‘ and “Skate Kitchen.” Those films are slowly rolling out to arthouse theaters this month and soon after on VOD. And you should really pay attention to them and watch!

Continue reading ‘Madeline’s Madeline’ & ‘Skate Kitchen’ Are Two Damn Good Indie Films From Female Directors [Adjust Your Tracking] at The Playlist.

Wow, I almost made it a full day without having to report about something dumb MoviePass is doing now. Almost.

Today, a day after relaunching the movie theater subscription service with the new $9.95 per month for three movies plan, MoviePass has now begun the practice of limiting what movies you can each day. For those thinking I’m just rehashing old news, I promise that’s not the case. After attempting a plan where customers could pick between two films and subsequently “ending” that practice, the company has found that the best way to stay in business is continue to limit when, where, and what films they can see each day.

Continue reading MoviePass Now Limiting Customers To Six Pre-Selected Movies Per Day As AMC Shares More Good News at The Playlist.

Ugh, this is just getting exhausting.

If you’ve been following the saga that is MoviePass’ inevitable doom, then you are probably on the edge of your seat waiting for the company to implode in fantastic fashion. Unfortunately, what we’ve been getting is the continuous drawn out beating of a company that just won’t quit. MoviePas is a boxer getting pummeled round after round, but never giving up, even though his face is mush and he’s almost certainly got irreparable brain damage.

Continue reading MoviePass Posts 2nd Quarter Loss Of $126.6M, As Stockholders File Lawsuits at The Playlist.

For those lucky enough to live near any of the 29 Alamo Drafthouse cinemas in the US, we have some good news for you. In the future, it looks like Drafthouse is going to have a MoviePass-esque subscription service for you to purchase, and unlike the aforementioned dumpster fire, it sounds like the folks at Drafthouse know what they’re doing.

In a new Business Insider report about the company’s current beta testing for the subscription service, all signs point to the Alamo Season Pass being a hugely popular service that could help the small theater chain, best known for its food and drink options, special screenings, and pro-filmgoer theater rules.

Continue reading Alamo Drafthouse Has 40,000 Names On It’s Season Pass Subscription Service Waitlist at The Playlist.

“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”

No, I’m not feeling nostalgic for the lesser of “The Godfather” sequels. I’m talking about MoviePass. And it’s not because its offering some incredible deal and changing the way the company does business. Actually, the subscription service that has had a history of ripping off customers and deceiving paying subscribers is sinking to a new low and it might affect all of us that canceled our subscriptions.

Continue reading MoviePass Reinstating Canceled Accounts Without Permission Ahead Of New Plan Rollout at The Playlist.

Another weekend, another outage and unannounced change to service from MoviePass, and its parent company Helios and Matheson.

After two weeks of horrible press, with numerous changes to its popular $10 per month service, the subscription company strikes again, with another reported outage and news that the service will be making another major change to how customers can access films. After another brief service outage, MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe said that they were instituting a new two movie plan, which means that each day the service will give customers two films to choose from, instead of the normal selection of any film at the theater.

Continue reading MoviePass Has Lied, Misled, Cheated, & Failed Customers Repeatedly And F*ck It, I’m Out at The Playlist.

Despite being on the edge of apparent doom, MoviePass is still moving ahead with their film venture, MoviePass Films, and the company has lined up a pretty big star for its next project.

According to Deadline, Bruce Willis has signed on to star in a film titled “10 Minutes Gone.” In the film, a man loses 10 minutes of his memory after being hit by a stray bullet during a failed bank heist.

Continue reading Bruce Willis To Star In ’10 Minutes Gone’ From Not-Dead-Yet MoviePass Films at The Playlist.

MoviePass subscribers are going to get whiplash with the amount of back and forth changes the service has been announcing over the last week. Seriously, after outages put the subscription service on an apparent doomsday countdown, MoviePass has been spending the last week-plus to try to figure out what changes need to be made to become profitable. And guess what? All that news from last week is thrown out the window, as the subscription service announces yet another plan.

Continue reading MoviePass Backtracks On Previous Bad Ideas With A New Horrible Idea To Get Rid Of The Movie-A-Day Perk at The Playlist.