MoviePass, the cinema subscription service that collapsed in 2020, is on the comeback trail through an investment from Comcast’s Forecast Labs.
The New York-based company announced on Thursday that it had secured backing from the fund, though didn’t reveal how much funding is coming its way.
“Today’s investment will accelerate our mission to bring new technology and innovation to the film community that will spur growth and drive higher traffic to theatres,” Stacy Spikes, chief executive and co-founder of MoviePass, said in a statement.
“We are also continuing to invest in the development of our cinematic marketplace so that studios and partner theaters can see maximum value by engaging directly with movie fans on the platform.”
The MoviePass premise was to offer subscribers admission to selected US cinemas in return for a monthly fee. The original model of charging between $30 to $50 was reduced to $9.95 following the purchase of a majority stake by Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc. This spooked the stockmarket, leading to shareholder law suits and an investigation by the New York attorney general’s office.
The timing of the investment couldn’t be better given the premiere an HBO doc about the trouble life of MoviePass last month.
