GatorDeb

I wasn't asked to take a screenshot of the ticket. Is that now a thing of the past?

You activate the card the first time you check in. You check in and it asks for the last four digits of the card.

GatorDeb

May be most of all were/used to be members

stingermck

Wife and I got our cards. Using it today at AMC

fujishig

When did you order it, if you don't mind me asking?

I feel like the people who ordered on the afternoon of the 15th and 16th, when the rush was on, are getting screwed here. USPS sent my notification of what mail is coming today and nothing. People who ordered on the 21st/22nd are now getting theirs. I've only seen people post that they got it if they ordered the morning of the 15th or after the 16th. I think they made a mistake on their email:

Should be:

I mean Monday is a holiday, so the 5th is already the next mailing day. Unless there's some delay to the West Coast I don't know about. Trying not to be impatient but it sucks being skipped in line. My fault for debating until the night of the 15th, I guess.

stingermck

Well that didn't work for shit. Went to the theater. Checked in and picked the movie. The app asked for the last 4 of our cards and did that. Got a check mark and said we had 30 mins to get the tickets.

Went inside but there is no kiosk at the theater we picked (catching the re release of Baby Driver) tickets and concessions are at the same place. So we gave our cards to pickup the tickets but it didn't work. Nothing in their system.

The people working just kept saying movie pass doesn't work with AMC. Eventually the manager just let us in got free.

So not sure if we did something wrong or AMC did. Gonna try it at another theater soon.

BTW signed up on the 18th and 19th

Dan

Not sure I totally follow your story.
After checking in on the app, you have to go and pay, like you normally would when buying a ticket in person, but just use the movie pass card to pay. Just like any other debit card or credit card.
Not sure what you mean by "nothing in their system" though...

DJariya

Yeah sounds like you misunderstood the directions. The ticket wasn't paid for yet. You have to use the card to buy the ticket at the box office.

stingermck

I thought it was like ordering tickets online, and you just use the card to pick up the tickets, like they are already paid for.

Obi-Wanma

No, checking in just loads funds on the debit card, then you have to buy the tickets.

Abob Teff

So, I have just been kind of skimming this thread since listening to the recent Slash Filmcast podcast ...

The catch here is that the company which purchased Movie Pass is a data mining company, not an entertainment company. Their intent is to harness Movie Pass to capture "big data" which can be used to "improve theater operations" (i.e., be sold to theater companies and advertisers/marketers).

I'm not exactly sure what they can capture besides the types of movies you go to and what time of day. Oh, and your credit card data. I suppose the app may give them more unrelated data.

Their other (potential) intent is to quickly grow subscriber base so they can flip the company for (fun and) profit.

What is a little more tricky is figuring out the theater chains objections since they still receive the full ticket price and (presumably) benefit from more trips to the concession stand. AMC claims their objection is that it devalues ticket prices. A more apropos theory would be that theater chains want you using their programs, not somebody else's.

fujishig

The rumor is that AMC had their own all you can eat program ready to go to test in some markets but not at this price point.

But I can completely understand their objections even outside of that.

1. Theaters make pennies off of ticket prices, since most of that goes to the movie companies. If you get a large base used to paying 10 bucks a month for movies, and then moviepass goes under, well, it's tough to go back to paying over 10 bucks per ticket. The average person doesn't care that moviepass was just bleeding money over this.

2. They are also afraid that moviepass will achieve their goal and grow so big that they get enough influence to barter with theaters. In other words, give us a cut of concessions or we'll direct our huge base of users elsewhere. I know they are already trying to cut them off, but I think that's to scare people into not signing up. Even though they're not "really" blocking anyone from buying tickets, people will see the articles and think hey, my local theaters can opt out and then I'll be stuck with a worthless subscription.

So if moviepass fails, they get screwed. If they somehow succeed, they also get screwed. In the short term they're getting full price for tickets, so what do they care, but, like all industries, they're resistant to change.

mhg83

This movie pass work in other states? If I ever take a trip out of state will the card still be valid?

Dan

Yes.

skywalker8

A bit less than half of ticket price is not pennies. But it's a common misconception that the theater industry is in no rush to dispel, as it guilts some people into spending money on concessions.

whotony

I signed up on the 16th and signed my wife up a few days later.
MP charged us $10 on the 20th.

She received her card, still nothing for my card.

TomOpus

Must be you, dude. Sorry.

whotony

fujishig

I said it before but if you ordered on the afternoon of the 15th or the 16th you were most likely delayed. People who ordered after are getting their cards already, lots of people who ordered during the rush have not, and they refuse to say anything about it.

Dan

I wouldn't be surprised if there was a significant amount of lost data when their servers crashed that day. I remember one time DVDTalk crashed and we lost a few previous hours of posts; hundreds of posts just outright disappeared.

Not sure how MP can/will fix that... but yeah... that's my guess.

GatorDeb

I ordered after the crash and it was already waiting when I checked my mail Friday.

fujishig

Yeah, that's BS. Not that you got in on it, I'm happy you did, I think the first time I ever heard about this was from your thread way back when. But the fact they can't communicate that there's a clear problem with the people who ordered during the rush is unfathomable to me. They even had the gall to say that we could expect ours earlier than their estimates.

jjcool

I ordered well after the crash. The 24th I think. Card shows in the app as shipped but havent received it yet. I'm fine with waiting my turn. But the app has been acting weird for me. Sometimes it shows all the local theaters with the showtimes, sometimes it shows none, and says I need to order a card, even though I am logged in. Anyone else's app acting weird like that?

Dan

^ It did that for me up to about a day or two before I got my card. The app is just weird. I read the company has NINE employees. NINE. So things are going to change VERY slowly...


I've used my MP card twice now. Both times went without a hitch (unless you consider the Drafthouse kiosk having trouble reading the mag strip a hitch). One tip: If you don't have a membership with your local theater's rewards system... sign up. Your ticket purchases with MP are just like any other, so you can rack up points/visits/etc. which will be good if you're going much more frequently than before MP.

Obi-Wanma

To add to what you just said Dan, you also want to make sure that any theater employee ringing your rewards card doesn't automatically apply your rewards to your theater admission, because MoviePass is paying for that. I always tell them up front that I don't want to use any rewards, so that I can save those for concessions.

Also, for rewards, it's better if your theater does not have e-ticketing via MoviePass, as you won't be able to apply those purchases to you rewards card. I've pretty much stopped going to chains that offer e-ticketing because of this.

Dan

Good tip. I didn't think of that. It's why I prefer to do everything by kiosk any time I can, as it means not having an employee try to help in the wrong way. They mean well, of course, as they're just doing what they normally do, but yeah... you want the rewards/savings to go to something that you're actually paying for, not the ticket that MP is paying for.