The New Year brings lots of things, and one of those things this year is (yet another) change to the terms of the movie ticket subscription service MoviePass. As members will discover this month, the plan’s new tiered and location-based pricing is set to go into effect on January 1. And as it does, some members may decide that now is finally the time to leave the service. For those of you looking at the various alternatives to MoviePass, we’ve run them down for you from worst to best. (Note – The Alamo Drafthouse’s Season Pass program is still in its Beta Testing, so we couldn’t consider it here.)
Cinemark Movie Club
Cost: $8.99/month
Pros: Unused tickets rollover to the next month. The plan’s 20% off at the theater’s snack bar is the most aggressive discount there is for concessions out of any plan.
Cons: Good only at Cinemark theaters, so no portability. Of the options currently available, Cinemark’s Movie Club is actually the worse value. With the average ticket price being just $9.14 you are really just getting a very slightly discounted ticket price and that’s it. If you don’t generally spend money on concessions, this plan has next to nothing to offer.
AMC Stubs A-List
Cost: $19.99 a month
Pros: Three movie tickets a week with no restrictions on titles, repeating films or even how many times you use it on a single day during that week long period. You also get the benefits of AMC’s Stubs Premier rewards program – 10% of concessions, popcorn and soda size upgrades – for free. If you are maxing your card usage, you are seeing 12 movies a month for twenty bucks, which is a nice savings. And unlike MoviePass, A List has no restrictions on titles and can also be used for 3D and IMAX films.
Cons: Good only at AMC Theaters. If you have one or more near you, great! If not, well…
Sinemia
Cost: Up to $29.99 a month
What You Get:
Pros: For Sinemia, the biggest feature it has in its favor is, like MoviePass, its portability. Not being tied to any one theater chain, you can use it wherever you travel in the US.
Cons: While many of the features of Sinemia hearken back to how MoviePass used to operate, its price does come in at three times what MoviePass cost, so you would need to go to the theater at least three times a month to get your money’s worth. Also, Sinemia offers the option to bill you annually for the service or monthly though the monthly plans comes with what they call a “membership initiation” fee. Members have complained of other hidden fees being charged while using Sinemia including charges for ordering tickets online and a charge for a debit card to pay for your ticket at the box office to avoid the online ticketing charge.
