MoviePass, an app that lets subscribers see up to a movie a day in theaters for a flat monthly fee, has angered the largest theater chain in the U.S. AMC Theaters is considering legal action against the app after it dropped its monthly subscription rate Tuesday from $50 per month to just $9.95 per month.
In 2016, movie tickets across the U.S. cost $8.86 on average, meaning that with MoviePass' new discount deal, avid moviegoers could potentially see 30 movies for the price of one. Theaters themselves would not see a direct loss in revenue if the app fails, because MoviePass buys its tickets from theaters at full price. Even so, AMC Theaters issued a statement Tuesday calling the price drop "unsustainable" and warned that it "sets up consumers for ultimate disappointment down the road, if or when the product can no longer be fulfilled."
MoviePass will likely rely on advertising to sustain its low subscription cost. The app's website was unprepared for the flood of new subscribers it received after announcing the price drop, and had trouble loading or failed to load altogether after its traffic jumped from 10,000 unique views per day to over 500,000 unique views.
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