AMC's New Subscription Service Sounds Like a More Expensive MoviePass

Maybe the best thing about using MoviePass—besides the actual movie part—is feeling like the whole thing is somehow too good to be true. A movie ticket every day for roughly $10 a month? How is that even possible? Will the whole business just completely implode soon, or is it just totally chill with hemorrhaging money so we can all see Hereditary? Where's the catch?

At the moment, it actually seems like there isn't one. The guy who owns the company says that spending a shit-ton of money was part of the business plan all along, so MoviePass is likely here to stay. Now, in order to compete with the company, the largest theater chain in the country, AMC, has decided to roll out its own subscription service—but it just sounds like a worse, more expensive version of MoviePass.

According to Variety, AMC's service, the AMC Stubs A-List, will cost $19.95 a month and only allow subscribers to see three movies a week. That's more than double what MoviePass currently charges, for less than half the viewings. Another obvious but significant difference between AMC's A-List and MoviePass is the fact that the $20 service would only give you access to movies at AMC theaters, as opposed to MoviePass, which is accepted at over 90 percent of theaters worldwide.

On the plus side, the A-List does offer some perks that MoviePass doesn't. For one, it allows you to buy tickets to the same movie multiple times, and see movies back-to-back on the same day, unlike MoviePass. Even better, it will allow users to go to Real-D and IMAX movies, whereas MoviePass will currently only treat you to standard, 2D screenings.

AMC will also let you reserve tickets ahead of time, so you don't have to pull the MoviePass maneuver of racing to the theater two hours early to get tickets and then just sitting around to wait until showtime.

"We believe that our current and future loyal guests will be interested in this type of program, as AMC Stubs A-List rewards guests with something that no one else offers: the very best of AMC, including IMAX, Dolby Cinema, and RealD 3D up to three times per week, for one simple, sustainable price," AMC head Adam Aron said in a statement.

Still, though, AMC's new deal doesn't seem like it'll cause anyone to jump ship from MoviePass, unless you happen to live next to an AMC theater and go apeshit for IMAX. Regardless, the news again proves just how monumentally MoviePass has shaken up the theater industry. May we never have to suffer the shame of paying $17 for a ticket to Geostorm again.

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