NATIONWIDE — The all-you-can-watch subscription service MoviePass plans to return over Labor Day weekend. The company emailed former subscribers Monday announcing, “We are beginning our launch sequence to bring MoviePass back.”
MoviePass was sold to a private equity company in 2017 and subsequently shut down its operations, but one of the original founders, Stacy Spikes, bought the company back last year.
The company plans to resume its service on or around Labor Day, Sept. 5, but only to individuals who have first signed up for its waitlist. New subscribers can sign up for the waitlist starting Aug. 25 at 9 a.m. EST. The waitlist will be open for five days before closing on Monday, Aug. 29, at 11:59 p.m.
According to the email, the waitlist is free, but space will be limited and on a first-come, first-served basis.
“Engagement from the waitlist will help us to determine which markets we will open first and thereafter,” the email said. The company will open in waves, launching markets based on the level of interest in each area and the locations of its theatre partners.
People who join the waitlist will get invitations for 10 friends to join them once the service is activated and they also sign up. “If you do not make it on the waitlist, the only way you will be able to join in the future is to receive an invite from someone,” the email said.
MoviePass launched in San Francisco in 2011, offering three in-theater movie viewings per month to subscribers who paid a monthly fee. In 2016, it was a national service with different price tiers that offered some users unlimited movies per month.
The reincarnated MoviePass will be offered at three price points depending on the market where it is operating. The company website says “the general prices will be $10, $20 and $30. Each level will get a certain amount of credits to be able to use towards movies each month.”
All major theaters accepting major credits cards in the U.S. will be part of the new service, the company says. In MoviePass’s previous incarnation, AMC Theatres withdrew from participating.