MoviePass is back and this time its crypto, because of course it’s

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MoviePass Inc., the technology platform enhancing cinema exploration and the cinematic experience, today announced that it has raised seed funding led by Animoca Brands with participation from Claritas Capital, Emerald Plus, Gaingels, Harlem Capital, PKO VC and Sandhill Angels. Animoca Brands Executive Chairman and Co-Founder Yat Siu will join the MoviePass Board of Directors.

MoviePass will use the new funding to accelerate the beta relaunch of its cinema subscription service, and to develop and implement the company’s Web3 strategy, including virtual reality cinema experiences and the use of technology to drive traffic to cinemas.

MoviePass is also in discussions with studios to share key learnings on increasing attendance and promoting better engagement through technology.

MoviePass has a strong vision for technology in entertainment and our investment demonstrates our commitment to maximizing the value MoviePass can bring to the entire film industry, said Yat Siu, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of Animoca Brands. . With its initiatives to increase traffic to theaters, engage audiences with enhanced cinematic experiences, connect studios and their franchise characters to moviegoers, and make funding more accessible to aspiring filmmakers, we believe MoviePass will help to define the future of cinema.

In the roll call of terrible business ideas, MoviePass ranks alongside Sinclair C5, Juicero, and The Soup Tube.

Starting in 2017, MoviePass sold subscriptions for unlimited movie tickets that cost $9.95 per month. He then bought each movie ticket at the full retail price, which was usually over $9.95, meaning that as soon as a customer watched just one movie a month, they were losing money.

Over 2 million people signed up for MoviePlus in the first year and went to the movies fairly regularly, so for every $9.95 monthly subscription, it was buying about $22 worth of tickets. In January 2020, after several changes to the proposal, MoviePlus was bankrupt.

Last November, the Justice Department filed fraud charges against its former chief executive and the chairman of its parent company Helios & Matheson Analytics (HMNY). He alleges the pair, Ted Farnsworth and Mitch Lowe, misrepresented his flash scaling strategy as a proven and enduring business plan. Also, according to the DoJ, they…

… allegedly made false claims that HMNY owned and used technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence platforms to generate revenue by analyzing and monetizing data collected by MoviePass from subscribers. However, the indictment alleges that Farnsworth and Lowe knew that HMNY did not possess such technologies or capabilities to monetize MoviePass subscriber data or incorporate such technologies into the MoviePass app.

The complaint registers in full moment Lowes Gerald Ratner.

On March 2, 2018, Lowe spoke at the Entertainment Finance Forum, delivering a speech titled Data is the New Oil: How Will MoviePass Monetize It? Even though MoviePass does not collect basic demographic information for all of its subscribers, Lowe wrongly stated that MoviePass collects an enormous amount of information regarding its subscribers and even tracks its subscribers through their phones. The following week, on March 12, 2018, Lowe issued an apology via email to MoviePasss subscribers, partners and employees, saying that through a mixture of exuberance about our future and banter, he misinterpreted the way which MoviePass located [its] members and explaining that MoviePass does not track its subscribers. On March 13, 2018, Farnsworth texted Lowe that HMNY shares were crashing and investors were saying exactly what I was afraid of, which was that we’re not a big data company and we’re just l ‘admit. . . . While Lowes’ apology acknowledged that MoviePass had collected a more limited universe of data than he had led the public to believe, the March 12 apology did nothing to correct the false impression that MoviePass was using the technology and HMNY’s capabilities to analyze subscriber data in possession of MoviePass.

Oops.

MoviePass founder Stacy Spikes bought out the bankruptcy assets in late 2021 and last year relaunched the service in closed beta with a minimalist website. Spikes had sold a majority stake in Moviepass to HMNY in 2017, then left the company in early 2018 after apparently disagreeing with the new owners over pricing.

Animoca Brands, a Hong Kong-based crypto speculator who arrived early in the NFT bubble via an investment in developer CryptoKitties, is leading the first round of funding for its reboot. Animoca is perhaps best known for leading The Sandbox, an Ethereum-powered metaverse world whose apparent underpopulation hasn’t stopped it from attracting major tenants, including HSBC.

Sandbox’s value, measured by the market capitalization of its native token, traced a familiar shape:

Animoca thinks there’s an overlap between cinema customers and metaverse and blockchain fans, Spikes told Variety. We both think about things like, what’s the future of cinema. We share the same ideas.

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