AMC is creating a VIP tier of its loyalty program, a subscription movie theater pass called AMC Stubs A-List, which will allow users to see three movies a week in AMC theaters for $20 a month, the company announced Wednesday.
Why it matters: The offering rivals that of MoviePass, a subscription movie service with longstanding tensions in negotiating pricing and theater distribution agreements with AMC.
The big picture: Tensions between AMC and MoviePass had gotten so bad that last year
that AMC said it would try to block MoviePass. MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe told Axios in an interview in January that MoviePass brought in 1 million tickets for AMC in December alone.
Details: Like MoviePass, the AMC subscription will let users see a certain number of films for a monthly flat fee, but will only be viewable in AMC theaters.
MoviePass’ parent company has been under financial stress, as the viability of MoviePass’ business model is in question. The subscription movie service is growing quickly, and anticipates hitting 5 million paid subscribers by year’s end, but the margins on those subscribers are low, making profitability difficult without scale.
Go deeper: Theaters face a power struggle as digital takes over
