Summary
HBO Max’s documentaryMoviePass, MovieCrashrecounts all the shocking twists and turns of the rise and fall ofMoviePass, the subscription app that allows users to go to as many movie showings as they want for a monthly fee. The documentary calls MoviePass the"fastest growing company ever in the history of media,“and repeatedly compares the app to Netflix for wanting to achieve a similar cultural transformation. Indeed, the idea behind MoviePass was based on noble intentions of reinvigorating the movie-going business in the age of streaming giants. Following the company’s financial struggles,MoviePass relaunched in 2022.
MoviePass, MovieCrash,showcases the conflicts and mismanagement that went on behind the scenes that led toMoviePass officially shutting down. This included the co-founders Stacy Spikes and Hamet Watt, both Black men, being phased out as the faces of MoviePass in favor of white businessmen, namely CEO Mitch Lowe and investor Ted Farnsworth. As MoviePass grew,Spikes and Hamet were demoted and eventually fired from their own company.This and more are among the shocking reveals in Max’sMoviePass, MovieCrash.
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10AMC Sent A Cease And Desist To MoviePass
MoviePass faced opposition from major movie theaters in its early days.
Spikes built the MoviePass company from the ground up, with crucial help from Watt in fundraising enough money to launch it. Spikes originally envisioned it as a kind of subscription service version of Urbanworld, the film festival he created.When MoviePass first launched in 2011, it faced major opposition from movie theater chains,primarily AMC. This led to the establishment of the MoviePass card, which held prepaid funds for movie tickets.
However, AMC still proved to be a difficult partnership to establish. Spikes and Watt had almost secured a deal until an abrupt change in leadership at AMC set them back.This is when they started to connect with former Netflix and Redbox executive Lowe,who believed he could use his connections in the industry to move MoviePass forward. Despite their concerns about Lowe and changing their board structure, Spikes and Watt decided it was a necessary change for the company’s future.
9To Get Subscribers, MoviePass Dropped Its Subscription Price to $9.95
To secure subscribers and funding, MoviePass offered a shocking subscription deal.
8Stacy Spikes & Hamet Watt Were Fired By Mitch Lowe
The founders' opposition to MoviePass' new strategy led to them being fired from their company.
Lowe said that he did not believe Spikes and Watt were cut out for such a large business.
Spikes and Watt were informed that MoviePass' board was being restructured and that they were both being removed as board members. Spikes reached out to board member Chris Kelly about the issue, who didn’t respond. Shortly after this,Spikes was fired from the company in an email from Lowe,less than a year after HMNY came on board. Many other employees were devastated by this, but as of 2018, Spikes' termination was still largely kept under wraps.
7MoviePass' Spending & PR Campaigns Increased In 2018
After the founders were fired, MoviePass continued to spend staggering amounts of money.
WhileMoviePass, MovieCrashhighlights Spikes being fired more than Watt, it is implied that they received notices of employment termination around the same time. Meanwhile,in 2018, MoviePass was spending absurd amounts of money on parties and other PR stunts,all overseen by Lowe and Farnsworth. They also began to discuss producing their own movies, as streaming services did. From the outside, Spikes and Watt were unable to sell their still highly-valued shares for a certain amount of time, and could only hope that they maintained their value until they were able to sell out.
The current executives gave many interviews, saying that MoviePass would soon become self-sufficient, but Spikes said in his interview that he was skeptical of their confidence. However,MoviePass parties continued to be the hottest events in the businesswhile the company’s employees were superstars. Everyone was certain MoviePass would be the next Netflix, but it would all come crashing down.
6MoviePass' Gotti Starring John Travolta Got 0% On Rotten Tomatoes
MoviePass’s exorbitant spending included producing a movie that failed spectacularly.
MoviePass hoped to be the next Netflix, in every way imaginable. However, spending money on an original movie was decidedly not the right move in 2018 when the executives were spending on every other thing they could imagine.A biographical crime drama starring John Travolta sounds like something that would succeed,in theory. MoviePass produced this movie in the hopes of establishing a new source of revenue.
Gottiis a biopic about crime boss John Gotti, and its reviews are astoundingly bad. Its Rotten Tomatoes score remains at 0%, while its Audience score is 44% and Metacritic is 24%. The event was a clear testament that Lowe and Farnsworth had too much confidence in their own ability to succeed at just about everything when they had no idea what they were doing.Gottionly added to the pile of mounting losses,and MoviePass employees were more worried than ever.
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5MoviePass Held A Massive Coachella Party While Customer Service Was Struggling
The worst of MoviePass' spending was an unnecessary Coachella trip.
However, it can be argued that everything came to a head in terms of MoviePass' spending, allegedly for legitimate PR purposes, with the company’s presence at Coachella.Influencer Og Bunny was flown out to attend the festival and a MoviePass party,which Dennis Rodman also inexplicably attended. Both celebrities, as well as Lowe and Farnsworth, were constantly photographed at parties wearing MoviePass merchandise. Even Og Bunny gives the impression of the whole thing being a confusing whirlwind.
Meanwhile,MoviePass office employees were baffled.They were still understaffed, overwhelmed with customer service calls, and lacked basic office supplies, while the chief executives were spending massive amounts of money at an event that was not even for the movie industry. Furthermore, it was later discovered that another MoviePass executive Khalid Itum embezzled at least $260,000 from MoviePass and HMNY in connection with the Coachella party.
4MoviePass' 10-K Revealed That It Lost $150 Million In A Year
Hard evidence of MoviePass' business problems came in the form of its tax records.
Spikes and Watt’s shares were originally worth tens of millions of dollars; by the time MoviePass filed bankruptcy, they amounted to pennies.
As a public business, MoviePass was required to release its 10-K, which revealed the true extent of the company’s losses.Within the year since Lowe and Farnsworth took over, the company lost more than $150 million,averaging around $30 million a month. Spikes said that while the young company was still in his hands, they were losing around $200,000 a month. At this point, because MoviePass' problems were public knowledge, investors were starting to worry.
Journalist Jason Guerrasio (who is also an executive producer forMoviePass, MovieCrash) highlighted the company’s losses. Predictably,MoviePass' stock plummeted with the release of the 10-Kand the subsequent media questioning the company’s executives. Spikes and Watt’s shares were originally worth tens of millions of dollars; by the time MoviePass filed bankruptcy, they amounted to pennies. This all happened within the time before the original founders were able to sell their stock.
3MoviePass Ultimately Crashed With Mission: Impossible - Fallout
When MoviePass couldn’t deliver on a blockbuster’s opening, subscribers started to retaliate.
Things came to a head whenMission: Impossible - Falloutpremiered and the app was largely defunct due to the staff being unable to keep up with demand. InMoviePass, MovieCrash, MoviePass employees recount the astounding amounts of hate mail they began to receive at the office from angry customers. Lowe knew that the problem could not be forestalled any longer and went to Farnsworth, saying they needed to raise $5 million. When Farnsworth said it was impossible,both MoviePass and HMNY were forced to declare bankruptcy.
2MoviePass Became The Center Of A Fraud Investigation
After it went bankrupt, the FBI investigated how MoviePass misled its customers and investors.
The investigation also highlighted thatLowe and Farnsworth constantly said in interviews that MoviePass would soon be very profitable to keep their investors on board.In 2022, they were both indicted on charges of securities fraud and wire fraud, and both pleaded guilty. As of May 2024, they are both still awaiting trial. Perhaps more than anything, these charges demonstrate how Lowe and Farnsworth destroyed the brand Spikes and Watt worked so hard to build.
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1Stacy Spikes Bought Back MoviePass In 2021
Spikes is working to turn MoviePass into the company it should’ve been.
After leaving MoviePass, Watt went on to establish the venture studio Share Ventures. On the other hand,Spikes heard that MoviePass was up for action in the summer of 2021, and made a bid to successfully buy back the company.He began working to relaunch MoviePass; in 2023, the company had its first profitable year since it originally launched in 2011. It is by no means as big as the streaming giants, but it has only recently been re-established — it could still become massively successful.
MoviePass, MovieCrashhighlights how Spikes and Watt have served as major inspirations to many people, especially young entrepreneurs and professionals of color. MoviePass' future is still uncertain, but 2023 was arguably its best year yet. In the age of streaming services,the concept of MoviePass is still valuable because of how it can help movie theaters.The company and its founders were done a severe injustice, but it is hopefully still possible for them to make MoviePass a legitimate pillar of the movie industry.
MoviePass, MovieCrash
Cast
Max’s documentary showcasing the rise and fall of the movie subscription app MoviePass, leading to its hopeful new beginning.
