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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Chelsea Ritschel

MoviePass down: Users across US experience outage on film subscription and ticketing service

MoviePass - the subscription service which lets film lovers watch a movie every day in theatres for a monthly fee of $10 - appears to be down, just days after the company ran out of money.

Users are reporting outages on Twitter, with numerous customers describing a screen that displays the message "There are no more screenings at this theatre today."

The service was briefly up-and-running after "technical" difficulties over the weekend found users unable to redeem tickets using their MoviePass cards. 

Although the company first told disgruntled customers the outage was due to card-processing issues, it was later revealed that parent company Helios and Matheson had missed a payment to one of its fulfilment processors - prompting the partner company to temporarily halt service. 

To return service to the company's more than two million users, Helios and Matheson borrowed $5m in cash. 

The current outage is affecting all MoviePass users and appears to only show titles for theatres that are e-ticket-friendly. 

In response to the repeated outages, MoviePass stock plummeted by more than 50 per cent Monday, dropping to a low of 98 cents a share, according to CNN

The technical difficulties have come as MoviePass customers become increasingly frustrated with the service, due to the seemingly-constant crashes and a new pricing model.

Rolled out last month, the company introduced "peak pricing," a surge-pricing model which meant users who wanted to see a high-demand movie would have to pay more.

Some customers reported paying as much as $8 for a movie. 

The issues with the company have prompted some subscribers to speculate that MoviePass is shutting down for good.

The company was responding to user complaints on Twitter but no longer appears to be doing so. 

The Independent has contacted Helios and Matheson for comment. 

More follows…

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