The long and winding saga of MoviePass has officially come to an end. The subscription service that allowed members to watch a movie a day in theaters filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection Tuesday, CNN reports. NBC News says the move came as "a surprise to no one." Movie lovers were understandably excited when the service launched in 2017 for just $9.95 a month, though there were, not surprisingly, concerns its uber-cheap model wasn't sustainable. By 2018, there were big problems, including popular movies not being made available to subscribers; MoviePass responded by limiting movies to three per month and limiting the movie options available to subscribers. Even so, by September of last year, the service had shut down, though at the time the company said it was possible it would be back.
MoviePass subscribers quickly surged to 3 million after the service launched, but members "fled in droves" after the service started faltering and changing the rules, ScreenRant reports. In its bankruptcy protection filing, the company named every single one of about 12,000 subscribers it lists as creditors, as well as how much MoviePass owes each one. (Some subscribers say they were still being billed even after the September shutdown.) MoviePass' parent company, Helios and Matheson, also filed for bankruptcy protection; its stock price is currently zero. Both companies will liquidate their assets and dissolve entirely, rather than attempting to restructure under a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, per Engadget. A silver lining for movie lovers: The subscription service may have inspired theater chains including AMC and Cinemark to offer their own subscription services. (More MoviePass stories.)
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