Moviepass’ Shadiness And Treachery Were Worse Than We Thought
Vložit
- čas přidán 13. 06. 2021
- Watch John's new documentary, "Movie Trailers: A Love Story" available now worldwide at www.vimeo.com/ondemand/movietr... and also available in the US and UK on Amazon Video.
Watch the full episode this clip is from here:
• Moviepass: FTC Investi...
Support or submit your question for the current or next show 24/7 here:
streamelements.com/movieblogt...
Viewer Question: Val - In the latest news, the FTC, apparently, taken exception at some of MoviePass (them again!) business practices, which might have been illegal. According to the FTC, MoviePass, among other questionable practices, changed passwords to lock customers out of the service, the use of “trip wires” to restrict users, and a purposely-clunky “ticket-validation” process; all and other questionable practices, were known by the CEO Mike Lowe and Chairman Ted Farnsworth.
Leave a question when you tip at streamelements.com/movieblogt... and it will be answered on the show, or the next show we do. (Remember, you are submitting a TIP to support the channel. You are not "buying" a question to be on the show. We're happy to answer the questions or comments you submit with your tips, but we reserve the right to not air any question or comment if we consider it inappropriate, unconstructive or disruptive to the flow of the show).
Support John on Patreon! / johncampea
JOHN’S GEAR LINKS
Main Cameras
Sony A6400 - amzn.to/2VsMMyx
Sony A6600 - amzn.to/3bbfivl
Canon XC15 - amzn.to/3abgZY8
Mic pre-amps
Cloudlifter - amzn.to/3ckgvRa
Good Cheaper Cameras John Uses
Canon Vixia R800 - amzn.to/2yfa8zI
Logitech c920 Webcam - amzn.to/3eiul8m
Main Microphones
Rode Procaster - amzn.to/3cum1AT
Good Cheaper Mics John Uses Sometimes
Audio-Technica ATR2100x (usb and xlr) - amzn.to/34FSIID
Blue Yeti (usb) - amzn.to/2XyVZb8
Lapel Mic
FiFine (usb) - amzn.to/2VvzocW
Shotgun Mics
Rode VideoMic GO (small on camera mic) - amzn.to/34A3YX0
Rode NTG2 (main Studio mic) - amzn.to/2REkH6d
Sennheiser MKE 600 (main Studio mic) - amzn.to/3eo5boY
Soundboard/Mixer
RODEcaster Pro (main) (usb) - amzn.to/2RzozFC
Behringer Xenyx 1204USB (backup board) - amzn.to/2yf8VZn
Streaming Software
Wirecast Pro
Wirecast Control Surface - amzn.to/34DzjrG
Lights
Nanlite Lumipad 25 (main studio lights) - amzn.to/2XAeVXd
Neewer Ring Light (secondary lights) - amzn.to/2RDRoAP
FalconEyes F7 Pocketlite (background color lights) - amzn.to/3emBgNT
Selfie Ring - (guest light) - amzn.to/3a6esOZ
Show Notes Computer
iPad Pro 2020 - amzn.to/34ALhCA
Submit your topic or question for The John Campea Show here:
www.thejohncampeashow.com/contact
Follow John on Instagram:
/ johncampea - Zábava
The Movie Pass Saga honestly has been one of the most gripping series of the last few years. Just when you think it's dying out, it hits you with another twist.
The moviepass era was so wild. Like it’s still mind blowing that it happened
For real. What a time to be alive. I knew there was no way it would last forever.
@@sorenpx but it was good while it lasted.
@@ThatBlakeCampbell Yeah, for sure. I think I got 8 months out of it before the Great Meltdown that occurred the weekend that MI: Fallout was released. I would go see a movie on Tuesday and then go again on Saturday, week after week.
I can't believe that there hasn't been a Tiger King/Fyre Fest style documentary about MoviePass yet.
I can. It’s not well-known. Not even making mainstream headlines. So if in what, less than a year, you’re still not discussed, nobody is gonna make a documentary about you. That’s pretty fast. Unwarranted. And not even enough time for thorough research. Maybe a 10 minute YT doc is more like it. But definitely not Tiger King level. Are you 7? Or just dense through the brain
@@shinobifirecracker6671 lol who hurt u
@@shinobifirecracker6671 oh my god dude... you alright? That was a bit much lol
@@shinobifirecracker6671 Yo Chillllll it's they were just asking a question my guy not that serious
@@shinobifirecracker6671 what are you talking about it was all over every mainstream news outlet for the entire year of its existence maybe it wasn't on your radar but it was definitely on other people's
All my memories of Moviepass are great because I jumped ship as soon as they dropped the "One Movie a Day" feature.
Just a wonderful year of seeing dozens and dozens of movies.
Netflix should make a documentary about this. That would be the biggest slap against MoviePass: their greatest nemesis snobbing them with a documentary.
Towards the end, Moviepass required me to be in proximity of the theater to even check what movies were being offered on the app that day, but by the time I would walk to the ticket sales booth all movies were labeled “no more availability today”. You couldn’t know if the theater you were driving to would work with moviepass on any given day.
I realized this was a complete farce one day when I got to the theater before it opened and it had all movies listed as “available” on the app. But the minute that theaters operational hours began, all movies switched to “unavailable”.
Somewhere, there is a customer service recording with one of their representatives frustratingly admitting this to me on the phone. I am still shocked by this.
MoviePass was shady but at the very least it got the theaters like REGAL,AMC to somewhat copy the model but make it better and more ethical. It made theaters make their own “MoviePass”
Yelp is shady too. My dad's company was at 4.5 stars, a rep from Yelp called and asked if he wanted to be sponsored by Yelp for a monthly fee to get more views. Dad declined, and all of a sudden, the majority of his positive reviews were hidden and he dropped to 2.5 stars. The reasoning was the reviewers werent consistent reviewers. I looked at the negative reviews, and those reviewers only had like 2 or 3 reviews, less than the positive reviews.
All these companies hella shady
I remember a friend telling me about Moviepass, way back when it started. I called BS. But this person told me she had one and it worked. I couldn't wrap my head around it, but I said 'alright, I'll take a chance.' But I also recall telling my friend that it would not last.
Well, at first it was great. But I noticed after a week or two that certain movies were not covered by it. I thought 'ok, they just opened, that's probably what it is.' And then I got the message that I had to photograph my ticket, and I thought 'what a pain in the ass' (I fumbled with it for a bit trying to figure out how to do that, but I did it). And then I realized that almost nothing at AMC was covered (my main theater of choice was an AMC theater). So I tried Regal (the only other theater, other than an old landmark theater we have here from the 1920s or so -- beautiful theater, huge screen, but not a great place to go to see a modern blockbuster movie). And I had the same problem with Regal. So I quit Moviepass, and got an AMC pass as soon as I could, and then of course, I went with AMC A List and never looked back.
So I did get out before the other problems with passwords, etc. I tell people this all the time: If something looks too good to be true, it almost certainly is. And yet, it was too enticing to not give it a try. Fortunately, I didn't lose anything on the deal.
Yeah it was a hassle but worth seeing movies especially ones that weren’t paying full price. No one believed me about the price and the movie everyday
I was one of those people who was accused of suspicious activities. To be fair I was living in the movie theater thanks to MP
I know I'm headed to the Campea Classroom when the video is over 20 mins long. Keep up the great content!
I remember I had to change my debit card by reporting a stolen card to my bank just so movie pass could stop taking money out of my account because they wouldn’t let me unsubscribe.
Moviepass: you will never find a more wretched Hive of scum and villainy
They got regular folk basically free movies and screwed over venture capitalists
I can find several wretched hives of scum and villainy. Or maybe I just love to write wretched hive of scum and villainy because it’s a fantastic expression.
I love the smell of class action law suits in the morning.
Well done
Oh. Sorry, boss. That’s me. I skipped the showers today.
I knew it wasn't sustainable but I still got it to take advantage of it cause you'd be a fool not to. Cancelled before it got too crazy thanks to John's videos
John is perfectly describing my experience with MoviePass. I don't remember the movie it was but they said it wasn't available for movie pass and very shortly after that the "password didn't work" and we cut the cord shortly after that. Sad because I only had it for like 2-3 months
But was it still a net positive for you in that big business interests paid for your movie tickets?
@@venicebeachsportsnetwork6677 yeah I benefited for sure. I'm just sad it was so shady and something that could have been cool had such a terrible business model that went under. AMC has a much better model
@@AndrewIGoode totally agree. All these disrupting technology is "shady"(Uber getting around taxi licensing regulations). And in the end AMC a list of awesome
10:50 Moviepass changing your password IS the suspicious activity, not a reaction to suspicious activity
I remember when Moviepass came out and my friend told ne to get it but I couldn't comprehend the idea as a viable business. I thought it was a scam so I never got it. Turns out I was right.
I was gifted a MoviePass for my birthday (June 20) in 2018 (even though I had already made it clear I didn't want one because the company was awful). I received the card in July, but wasn't able to get to the theater until August. By the time I was able to use it, they were only allowing select movies to sell tickets on the app. I had to buy a ticket to see "Alpha", but I must have taken a wrong turn and accidentally wandered into the wrong auditorium, because that screening of "Alpha" looked exactly like "Ant-Man and The Wasp".
i remember for 2 months straight i went to the theater everyday. im glad i got to abuse that service before it hit the fan
I remember telling myself it was too good to be true when it first launched. Luckily I fought the temptation. Now I have an AMC moviepass
I used the hell out of Moviepass.
Extortion is the main mechanism for these Uber gig service apps
Moviepass was a necessary evil....
I smell a Class Action Lawsuit.
I was one of those very frequent users (used it over 10 times a month) and I definitely remember the password trouble, ticket verification and not being able to use it at times.
Wonder when they'll start offering afternoon showtimes at AMC theaters again? I miss being able to away to see a movie with no crowds.
In my market there are 1:00 showings on weekends.
Man. I had movie pass and I used it so much. I saw infinity war 10 times with it. All I had to do was select a different movie on the app then ask for an infinity war ticket. Good times.
MoviePass was so shady at the end, but by my calculations, I've cost them well over $2000 in 1 year and I'm sure I wasn't alone.
Sinemia was just as bad. I prepaid a year, and then shortly after they were demanding that I upload a scan of my driver's license. Um, hell no to that! Not worth having my identity stolen.
The Moviepass CEO needs to be locked up. He is a traitor to the film fan community.
Locked up?
Maybe…. But not why you said…… movie fans took advantage of it, and I have to think the theatres made some bank off them
I remember not having to worry about the whole "peak pricing" thing. 'Cause, I Remember B&B Theaters (the chain that operates my local 6-plex) got together with Moviepass, and did E-Ticketing. Although, I did have to take a picture of my ticket stub ONLY ONCE.
I’m glad I got to see Black Panther 7 times with moviepass lol
I totally used MoviePass to the fullest extent. I knew it wasn't going to last forever, but man it was a fun ride while it lasted. John you're looking pretty svelte, been using those lockdown days to their fullest.
Definitely shady business, but when all is said and done I bought the pass for $89.95 for a year during one of their deals, and even with all the photographing of tickets and other shenanigans, I saw over $500 worth of films in that year. I knew it wouldn't last, but why not ride it into the sunset?
I remember when i first heard about moviepass it was $50 bucks a month, which was steep but understandable for what they were offering. Then they switched to $10/month & I'm like hey i would've gotten this at $30 i dont know how they're doing this it wont last (so imma do monthly not yearly) so imma enjoy it while I can.
My favorite part was exploring new theaters ive never been to.
It's a bummer that Moviepass ruined the potential of these plans. AMC's pass is decent but obviously only works at their theaters. When I'm seeing movies with a friend we go to the closest one and I don't want to be the jerk that makes us go to an AMC. What I would love to see is a new version of moviepass costing $20 or $30 and if they even put a limit on the amount of movies you can see I would still buy it.
So the commission finally got off there ass and got involved!!! About damn time! Awesome!
Another thing Moviepass did was write thousands of fake IMDB reviews for movies that paid them for promotion. I remember two movies specifically, Gotti with John Travolta and a heist movie called American Animals upon release had positive review after positive review on IMDB, but they told on themselves because all the reviews were written in a similar language and each one concluded with telling people to go see it with Moviepass
Lesson of the day kids, if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is. 😂😂😂
Trust me John,Movie pass did you a favor,that Jennifer Lawrence movie wasn't that good so there's always a bright side😃
Moviepass paid for all 12 tickets of "The Last Jedi" for one screening for 10 bucks a month. So screw them!!
Like everyone else I was like, "How the hell do they actually expect to stay in business doing this?" It was good while it lasted--get ticket after ticket for $10/mo felt almost like a kind of sorcery--but it was obvious the days of such a thing were numbered. And then the weekend of MI: Fallout happened and everything went to hell.
It feels good to know that I was specifically targeted by MoviePass because I was using it once or twice a week when it cost me $89.95 for the year (cancelled the subscription before it renewed). Happy to have spent their money all while knowing they were up to something but that they were too bad at their scheme to pull it off.
Regardless of all the shaddiness I'm pretty sure most consumers got net good value out of it by far, completely funded by the execs and their investors failure of a business strategy
moviepass ultimately was a bunch of rich investors taking millions of people to the movies for free
I had moviepass and I canceled my account. And they reactivated my account without warning and started charging my credit card again. Shady stuff
I was a MoviePass user back when it was $30 a month and it was 1 movie every 24 hours. The level of shadiness they stooped to is ridiculous. I, like John and many others, knew when they launched it for $10 per month and unlimited movies, that this couldn’t possibly work out but stayed with it and used the service constantly and had many of the issues that were discussed in the article. There needs to be consequences to what they did for sure.
17 minutes before Rob got to talk
Nothing about this surprises me. In the before times Pre Covid I went to a bunch of movies, if 5 movies came out a weekend I would see all 5 movies that came to me. So nearly every friend that I had kept trying to pitch me MoviePass. I kept saying over and over again, "Something doesn't feel right. Every alarm bells that I have inside me is screaming." So hearing all the issues that people were having and now hearing about what the FTC found, I can scream "VINDICATION"
Why does he keep saying this is Blackmail when it's not. Theater had the right to not work with Moviepass and we all saw that it went under.
This was totally F'd up‼‼‼🤬🤬🤬 It is hard to earn money and when someone comes along and take that hard earned money from innocent people that pisses me off to great limits so I'm like Rob throw the book at them‼‼🤬
Those couple of months I was paying 10$ for moviepass were glorious . I know I took a W for the amount of movies I saw
This moviepass drama needs to be in a documentary and narrated by you john... great video senor
I am glad I never bought MoviePass! But at least we get to live in a world where the MoviePass original film “Gotti” exists!
In the Netherlands we have "Pathé Unlimited" since 2005 already. This chain has theaters all over the country and you can use your subscription for all locations. In my home city alone (Amsterdam) there's like 5 Pathé theaters.
Unlimited is really unlimited: you could go to 5 movies in one day if you'd like (some people do, my max is 3), also see the same movie more than once. I have Gold version for €29 which includes IMAX /4DX / Dolby Atmos etc.
You'd think that the United States would have a similar concept going at least as good. All this movie pass drama is making me realize to be even more grateful for my Unlimited card.
Yeah wish I could have Pathé Unlimited but the first Pathé theater is like a hour drive for me.
De tering, did not know they had unlimited card when I still lived in Netherlands. But then again I don’t think we had Pathé in Denbosch.
I had moviepass for 7 deception-free months. Cancelled it just in time. It was totally worth it.
Don't remember ever having it here in Canada. Glad we never if that's the case.
I think the main victim was their investors. There was probably a small percentage of subscribers that bought in for a yearly pass just as they were going under. But I think the majority of us realized that they were shady, got way more than our $100-120 out of it and road it until it died. I personally watched 12 movies in my fist 2 months to make sure everything on top was gravy.
They auto charge your credit card without even knowing it.....
DisneyWorld ads popping up for anyone else? It's been happening on John Campeas video's since he stated he wouldn't go to Disney Land again lol
Social security is like movie pass
What
What
Huh? How do you figure???
@@projectgraham414 promising something that does not add up based on business model
Moviepass was great. I saw so many movies that year
Rob looking pretty suave with those shades and the cut! ;)
They could've said 3 movies a month for $10 and people would've jumped at it.
Master Yoda said it best: "That Is Why You Fail" LOL
You know it's funny, all the people watching all those free movies probably bought their usual amount of concessions. And as we know, concessions are where theaters make their money. So despite their shadiness, Moviepass basically donated all their capital directly to theater chains while creating a concessions mini-boom that would otherwise not have existed. If they had just been upfront and maybe started out working directly with one chain, this could have been a real win-win for everybody.
This tripwire thing got me. I would go to the theatre and it just wouldn't work once I got there. If I waited a few weeks it would work again.
Anyone else experience similar difficulties with Sinemia?? I was a Sinemia subscriber in Canada and a lot of these stories gave me flashbacks of how much I was locked out of my account or was unable to purchase a movie... Curious if anyone else experienced this as well?
Oh Moviepass was for all theatres in America? In the UK you can get a Cineworld Unlimited Card which if you include everything comes to about £20.90 a month and the annual option which is £250.80 a year. But that can only be used at Cineworld theatres, so they definitely don’t pay theatres for your seat because it’s a Cineworld card and Cineworld theatres same company. This Moviepass thing I had heard about before from John Campea but I never realised how dumb it was…
Movie pass was scammy. So I’m considering either the AMC or the regal plan. Not sure which yet
I thought it was already known that they changed people's passwords on purpose 🤔
No movie can ever show this hole saga of movie pass through the John Campea show I saw the hole thing rose and fall and it was glorious and ver entertaining 😎
This the reason I started watching
You cant make up for a loss on each unit with volume...
I recall when it wasn't $10 a month. It was $40 a month. When it went to $10 a month, I couldn't log into my account, that must have been the password change. I had the issue with having to take a photo of my ticket and submit it through the app. I also had the issue where the app wouldn't accept my photo and I was banned for two weeks. The worst part is they allowed you to watch one movie a day using Moviepass, there weren't 30 movies released in a month and they would not allow you to watch the same movie twice, so how could you possibly watch one movie a day? So happy I left Moviepass when I did. Not sure I ever got my monies worth from the service.
It worked for almost a year at the $10 price point before they started putting obstacles in it and then became unusable. I saw 2-3 movies a week and probably saw a less than half of the movies that came out in that year.
People still won’t believe business people are dirty and want to become one. What’s it even matter. Crimes get worse with time. The next guy will do worse, and he’ll have millions and millions still fighting to fill his shoes.
Movie pass is the greatest thing ever because it made amc and other theaters create their own subscription services.
I remember when Roth on SJU interviewed Mitch.
I think it would be better if it was like $15 or $20 per month and you can go to 1 movie per week. So that would end up being like 5 movies per month, except only 4 in February. Or 59 movies per year for only $150
Was the CEO in the mafia? 😂 who the hell builds a whole company just to blackmail?
obviously, they were stealing people's Metadata and building profiles on customers.
I was thinking the same thing, but it appears they weren't smart enough to do that
We need a movie about this!
Mark Whalberg is making one.
@@thxman1138 oh wow! Totally makes sense!
And it’s now out on Max
I wonder how this scam could have even started in the first place
That explains why I was booted
So everyone is mad at people who took money from venture capitalists/1% and basically got us free movies?
Sounds like Robin Hood to me
You're not Robin Hood when people are getting locked out of their account and you card doesn't work, so you end buying a full priced ticket.
@@joesmoe8841 but it was still a huge huge net positive for movie pass members. Yeah things got sideways at the end but seems like a lot of hate for people who got us free movies
@@venicebeachsportsnetwork6677 There may have been benefits for some users taking full advantage of the scheme at the start, but you can bet that a company that has no problem treating their industry partners like trash wouldn’t bat an eye to royally screw you over too when given the chance.
I wouldn’t be surprised to find out if Moviepass sold user data without permission at this rate, as their main product wasn’t the subscription service, it was the user base.
They might seem like a Robin Hood because they tried to screw over the “1%”, but in reality they were more like the mob who would have no problem taking from the other 99.
@@DesignGeek06 that's a good and funny point about them turning 99% tho I do think those shinanigans only started after the theater concession deals went bad. But we still got hundreds of millions $ in free movie tickets
Moviepass was awesome. Only bad experience was that the service ended
I am so glad that I never got into this. Holy crap
MoviePass was like an elongated April Fools joke
How much do you pay Facebook per month? Your private info and usage data is worth a lot of money.
MoviePass was a shady shady Trash fire.
Robinhood was advertised on this video lol one crooked company to another
This sounds more like extortion than blackmail.
Throw 'em all in prison for life.
I think we have all lived under a rock the last year and some of your audience are not Americans or live in America and doesn’t know about moviepass. I’m not sure if it’s a bad thing to not have any knowledge about.
Shit. Now I know I was targeted.
Capitalism working as expected...
Not sure it’s that simple Sir. How many subscriptions do we as consumer pay for and underutilize? The average consumer watches 1-2 movies a month and I’m pretty sure they weren’t assuming 8 per in their business model. Hell I wouldn’t see 8 movies a month even if they were free… Additionally they were trying to build a robust advertising business where they would leverage all of the valuable 1st party moviegoer data collected form millions of subscribers. I believe the tickets were viewed as loss leaders which would be offset by advertising revenue, potential kick backs from concession sales and other sponsorship type deals and partnerships. I’m not defending this model or say it was a good idea but I think you’re oversimplifying a tad. We’re talking about potential multi million dollar business venture; no way there were unilateral decisions made with little research and sophisticated modeling. Sorry but I highly doubt rich businessmen much more successful than you and I got in a room, secured/invested tens of millions in financing and said “blackmail!” I’m willing to bet that they implemented the password trickery, threshold and ticket verification steps once they things started to fall apart. I doubt that was the plan from the start.
I don't think it was as simply a "black mail" scam either.
The company that bought Movie Pass was a data mining company. I always thought that the 10 dollars a month was the advertising starting rate and then they would raise it to 20 or 30 a month after a year which still would be a great rate. Then sell the data and advertising to make a profit. Or this was like get a bunch of people to sign up and get the data then shut it down after a year or two.
But based on how quickly everything collapsed I am convinced that Movie Pass was an idea in search o fa business plan.
It has happened before with the Dotcom bubble.