MoviePass may soon be coming back. Stacy Spikes, the ticketing company’s cofounder, told Insider Thursday that he’s acquired the company out of bankruptcy and now hopes to relaunch MoviePass as soon as next year.
“I can confirm that we acquired MoviePass out of bankruptcy on Wednesday,” Spikes said in a statement to Insider. “We are thrilled to have it back and are exploring the possibility of relaunching soon. Our pursuit to reclaim the brand was encouraged by the continued interest from the moviegoing community. We believe, if done properly, theatrical subscription can play an instrumental role in lifting moviegoing attendance to new heights.”
MoviePass enjoyed a wave of success for a brief period in 2017 but ultimately flamed out, with parent company Helios and Matheson Analytics declaring bankruptcy in January 2020.
But Spikes on Monday was granted ownership of MoviePass in an undisclosed bid to the trustee handling the bankruptcy of Helios and Matheson by a New York bankruptcy court judge. The financial transaction took place on Wednesday, and Spikes confirmed the news to Insider along with his plans to relaunch MoviePass as early as next year.
Spikes even relaunched a preliminary MoviePass website (iwantmoviepass.com) and logo with white lettering on a black background, rather than the red lettering of the previous brand.
Reps for Spikes did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
MoviePass was one of the assets in the bankruptcy auction at the time, but no competitive bids were received before the auction ended. The trustees had set the minimum bid at $250,000, and Spikes told Insider that although he would not disclose the amount of the transaction, it was below the $250,000 minimum bid and the deal did not include customer data or email addresses as part of the sale.
Spikes launched MoviePass alongside Hamet Watt in 2011, offering a subscription-based service to see several movies a month in theaters for one monthly price. The company struggled and was then acquired by Helios and Matheson in 2017, installing Helios and Matheson CEO Ted Farnsworth and MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe in leadership roles.
After slashing the price of a subscription to $10 a month from as much as $50 in August 2017, MoviePass enjoyed a period of rapid subscriber growth — more than expected — and newfound popularity. But the expansion proved economically unsustainable.
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