TAMPA, Fla. — It's a deal that sounds too good to be true: $10 per month gets you near unlimited access to the movies.
The online service, called Moviepass, has surpassed 1.5 million subscribers and is being called the "Netflix for the theaters."
But there's a catch. Actually, there's a few:
- You can't buy three or four seats at once to a showing
- No 3D or IMAX movies
- Will use your personal data to track your purchases
And now, there's a new catch: one of the biggest theaters in the Tampa Bay Area has been blacklisted!
The reason? Moviepass is in tense negotiations with AMC Theatres, which owns hundreds of movie theaters across the country. Moviepass is reportedly asking for a cut of ticket sales from AMC, and to prove their worth to the movie chain, Moviepass pulled their service from AMC's 10 largest theaters across the country, which includes the AMC Veterans 24 in Tampa.
In a sense, it means Moviepass is using Tampa area moviegoers as a bargaining tool.
"Of all the theaters, why does it have to be my theater!" said Michael Reyes of Tampa. "Like, why does it have to be AMC Veterans?"
Reyes says the AMC Veterans 24 in Tampa was his favorite because of its size and selection of movies, and proximity to his home in the Carrollwood area.
He was very disappointed when he got an email this past weekend telling him his favorite spot was suddenly unavailable.
"I just paid 10 dollars and I saw 5 movies! It's crazy" Reyes tells ABC Action News. It was really awesome because then the money we weren’t spending on tickets we could spend on concessions."
Reyes says he plans to continue using Moviepass at other local movie theaters until AMC and Moviepass resolve their dispute.
