MoviePass, the influential but money-losing cinema subscription service, is officially bankrupt.
The beleaguered firm, which rocketed to stardom with its offer of unlimited movie tickets for less than $10 a month, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in U.S. bankruptcy court in New York this week, according to a Tuesday regulatory filing.
According to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, MoviePass' New York parent company Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc. filed "after considering strategic alternatives."
The New York-based company's bankruptcy was long expected. MoviePass shut down its once-popular service in September after failing to raise much-needed capital to keep it afloat.
Hollywood has been predicting the eventual demise of MoviePass since 2017, when Helios and Matheson bought a majority stake in the firm and introduced the groundbreaking price of $9.95 a month to see as many as one movie a day in theaters. Previously, MoviePass had charged subscribers $30 to $50 a month.
The service quickly grew to 3 million subscribers from 20,000, sending Helios and Matheson's stock soaring above $30 a share. But its business model of heavily discounted moviegoing proved unsustainable and the company scrambled to find ways to stop hemorrhaging money.
The regulatory filing was short on details, but said four board members have tendered their resignations as a result of the filing. Helios and Matheson's interim Chief Executive Parthasarathy Krishnan also resigned, as did interim Chief Financial Officer Robert Damon.
