AMC’s MoviePass-Like Service A-List Tops 400,000 Subscribers

(Bloomberg) -- AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. has now attracted more than 400,000 subscribers to its Stubs A-List subscription service, putting more pressure on the already-embattled MoviePass Inc.

AMC, the biggest cinema chain in the U.S., launched the program 14 weeks ago, letting users see three movies a week for a monthly fee of $19.95. The new subscriber total is “an enormous milestone” and means the company is 80 percent of the way toward its one-year goal, Chief Executive Officer Adam Aron said in a statement Thursday.

The service was created after MoviePass shook up the industry last year with its offer of a movie a day for $9.95 a month. The upstart quickly became enormously popular, attracting more than 3 million subscribers. But the money-losing service also drained the coffers of owner Helios & Matheson Analytics Inc., which has since scaled back the offering.

AMC and rival chain Cinemark Holdings Inc. created their own services in an attempt to replicate the MoviePass approach profitably. AMC also has credited A-List with reviving long-declining traffic. The company said last month that its attendance will grow in 2018 for the first time in three years.

Helios & Matheson shares, meanwhile, have lost almost 100 percent of their value this year, battered by concerns about MoviePass’s viability. The service now offers just three movies a month, though it’s still half the cost of A-List. It also has the advantage of letting customers see movies at multiple chains, rather than just AMC.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anousha Sakoui in Los Angeles at asakoui@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net

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