Industry News

MoviePass parent reports 3,700% revenue rise

Helios and Matheson, the owner of controversial unlimited cinema subscription MoviePass, has reported its biggest ever quarter for revenue.

The company posted quarterly revenues of more than $49m for 2018, while its numbers in 2017 year-on-year were at $1.3m. These numbers mark an increase of more than 3,700 per cent.

“We are excited to report our biggest quarter in Helios and Matheson and MoviePass combined history. This growth surpassed our expectations,” said Ted Farnsworth, chairman and chief executive of Helios.

MoviePass added 1.1 million net new subscribers in the first quarter and its subscriber base recently surpassed 2.7 million.

Earlier this month, MoviePass reinstated its unlimited $9.95-a-month subscription after testing a new restrictive plan in mid-April. The firm limited members to four movie tickets per month on a temporary basis, with the chief executive hinting at the time that the unlimited plan may never return.

The cutback on the number of films was accompanied with a special promotion in which subscribers were given a three-month free trial of iHeartRadio’s All Access.

However, this week MoviePass returned to its fan-favourite unlimited subscription model, but has continued to restrict its users to viewing a film once under their account.

Image: Helios and Matheson