Let me slip out of these wet things and into a dry martini

You could say I’m a movie head.  I own over 1,500 DVD’s and have written about how I’ve consolidated them to take up less space.

The frugal side of me did this to avoid re-paying for digital versions of these films. I already made a significant investment.  (quick back of the envelope 1,500 x $12 (avg price) = $18,000)

However, my buying habits have admittedly shifted over the past 5 years.  Nothing specific, but more of a mix.  Some Redbox, some streaming rentals and/or purchases and some physical DVD purchases.

All in all, they still have to be factored into my entertainment budget.

The content creation industry has been under fire, ever since Steve Jobs revolutionized the music industry by allowing users to purchase a single song, instead of the full album.

He had help from the renegade “ripping” services like Napster, and others, but Steve Jobs was the one that figured out how to leverage that technology into a legal format that radically changed how people consumed their music.

For me, movies still aren’t at a reasonable price point to unleash or increase my desire to purchase more content.

Getting access to new content is really part of the digital “have and have-nots” era that we’re living in.  It was years after the show “Girls” had become popular that I first watched a season. I must admit it helped me understand how that demographic was shifting in taste and style.

Today it seems like your choice boils down to this: Pay a higher price for newer content, or be relegated to streaming (and probably re-watching) old episodes of Friends and The Office.

Movie Pass is an affordable option that can keep you in the conversation at your next cocktail party.

Size matters

I have a fairly decent “home theater” system installed in our apartment. However, I’m  limited in how much I can “crank it up” (neighbors) and when I can do that (wife works from home from 9 to 5).

Movie Pass basically extends my “man-cave” outside the home.

I’ve read several articles in the past how New York City residents might try to extend their tiny apartments by co-opting the space of other areas.  Like, using the nicer bathrooms of their expensive gyms.

Let’s face it, so movies are just meant to be seen on a larger screen, and most movies just have a different feel and sensory effect with quality picture and sound.

Movie Pass makes it practical to extend your home theater to a different location. That location is obviously much better equipped to handle the job.  And it does it pretty cheaply.  I know find myself quickly scanning ALL movie reviews for the top picks, and watching the trailers on my AppleTV with more than a longing glance and then trying to remember the movie when it comes out on Redbox in 6 months.

How it works

At the current price of $6.95 per month, billed up front, that’s only $83.40 for the full year. You can watch most movies, at most theaters, one time per day.  You can only watch 2D movies and not special 3D or 4D movies.

There are also some restrictions with the show times and theaters, but in New York City and Brooklyn, most of the theaters seem to be on their map.  Basically, they send you a Visa credit card in the mail.  This card must be used in conjunction with the app.  You need to check in on your phone using the app first, and yes, it uses your GPS data to make sure you are physically near that theater.  After you check in with the app, you can then use the credit card to pay for the ticket.  The app is instantly updated with your “history” and shows you all of the movies that you’ve watched so far.  It’s pretty darn cool.

I’ve noticed a lot of older couples in the theater and I believe that they are using the app as they are almost giddy at getting out.  I sooooo would love to do a side-hustle and be the guy with the trench coat selling milk duds and goobers as they hang from the interior of my coat.  I’m going to be watching out for more of who is actually using it.

Savings add up

I’m going to document my own use and the ins and outs of how it has worked for me so far in a future post. I’ve already used it two days in a row at a cost savings of 17.40 each day, or a total of 34.80

At this rate, I will have recouped my cost in about a week.  When I made my purchase 2 weeks ago, the price was slightly higher about 8.95 per month.  Now that it has dropped again to only $6.95 at the time of this writing, I think it makes sense for us to get one for my wife too, even if she can only attend on weekends. You can check out more info about MoviePass here.

I guess it really comes down to how frequently you think you might use it.  Since I’m currently taking some time off, I can easily go during the week. Who knows what we’ll be offered in the future, but right now, this just works.

Recent changes to the plan

As of this update (5/2/2018) MoviePass has changed their “all you can eat” plan.  New subscribers can now only get 4 movies per month.  That makes it quite a bit less valuable.  In addition, yesterday, I needed to download an update to the app, which says that you can only see the same movie one time.  That’s a bummer for Star Wars type freaks that like to see the same movie over and over and over. You must also now take a photo of your ticket stub and upload it for verification.  It’s still a really decent deal, but less attractive with some of these changes.