MoviePass has signed a deal with Landmark Theaters which will see the movie ticket subscription service become integrated with the art house cinema theater chain’s online ticketing system. This will allow MoviePass users to by pass the service’s usual half-hour-before-showtime purchasing window. Access to Landmark’s online ticketing would also allow MoviePass users to reserve seats at time of purchase.
The deal is the biggest arrangement of its kind for Movie Pass’s history. Landmark owns and operates 53 theaters with a total of 255 screens around the country. MoviePass already has deals set with smaller chains Studio Movie Grill, now entering its third year, and the Arena Cinelounge and Main Street chains.
Some exhibitor executives have attacked the service as having an unsustainable business model. For just ten dollars a month users can see a movie day for which MoviePass pays the theater full ticket price. MoviePass states that they will be able to monetize the data it is collecting about subscribers’ movie-going habits for distributors and advertisers.
But the financial freedom MoviePass gives subscribers to sample films that they might not have normally spent the money to see in a theater. It has been reported that MoviePass has contributed towards a higher percentage of tickets purchased for smaller films like Lady Bird or The Shape Of Water than for big blockbuster films like Star Wars: The Last Jedi or Justice League. Through this deal, Landmark is putting themselves in a position to be better available to the MoviePass customer interested in checking out the more art house and indie fare that Landmark specializes in.
