Important Update from August 2018: Due to some disappointing changes in MoviePass, we cancelled our subscription. Read why here.
Have you heard of MoviePass? It’s a movie subscription service that costs $10 per month and you get access to one movie per day at participating theaters!
Yes, you read that right. $10 per month for basically unlimited movies! (Well, 30 to 31 movies — or 28 or 29, if it’s February — to be exact. Depending upon how many days there are in any given month! ;))
We love going to movies, but we rarely go because of the price tag. So when I read about MoviePass in the fall, I was all WHAT?? And I immediately started looking into it because I wanted to surprise Jesse with a membership for Christmas.
However, being the skeptic I am, I figured there had to be a catch.
Is MoviePass Really Legit?
So I researched and read reviews, I Googled high and low looking for people who were complaining about the service or who were saying it wasn’t legit or that it was a scam.
To my surprise, all I found out online was that it was really and truly a legitimate deal.
It really is only $10 per month (well, actually $9.95 per month — and Costco is currently offering an even better deal). And there are no blackout dates. As a MoviePass member, you can see up to one standard 2D film per calendar day.
And I found a few friends who had signed up for it and they could only rave about it. So I took the plunge and bought a MoviePass membership for both Jesse and me for Christmas.
(Okay, I admit, I may have sort of really wanted it myself, too. So it was kind of like me buying myself a Christmas present! ;))
Jesse thought it was a really great idea and was thrilled with the gift, mostly because it would mean that we’d be much more excited and motivated to regularly go to movies together! (Something we love doing but rarely make happen, mostly because of the cost involved.)
But he was also a little cynical. As was everyone else we talked to about it.
I’m here to happily report that, a few weeks and multiple movies later, we are S-O-L-D on this MoviePass thing. It is basically a frugal movie and theater lovers dream come true!
If you haven’t jumped on the MoviePass bandwagon yet and you’ve been the skeptic on the sidelines, too, I wanted to do a full-fledged review of the service in this post to help answer many of the questions we had about how this service actually works.
(Please note: MoviePass is not sponsoring this post. We paid out of pocket for our membership and we have no affiliation with them. Though if they wanted to affiliate themselves with me, I’d be all over that because we have become raving fans of this service! ;))
How to Get MoviePass Set Up
1. Head MoviePass.com and type in your zipcode to see if there are theaters in your area that accept the MoviePass cards. (There are over 4,000 theaters currently accepting the cards. I am guessing they will continue to add new theaters as their service grows.)
2. If there are theaters close to you, sign up for the MoviePass subscription. It’s $9.95 per month. OR, you can purchase an annual subscription at a discounted rate through Costco.
3. Your MoviePass cards will arrive in the mail within 8-10 business days. Please note that your account will be charged when you purchase the subscription, but your subscription dates will be adjusted to reflect the date you actually activate your card (so you’re not paying for a subscription for the 8-10 days while you wait for your card to arrive).
4. Once your card arrives, download the MoviePass app to your phone and connect it to your MoviePass card. (This just basically involves signing in with MoviePass login info and typing in the last 4 digits of your card.)
5. You can then start using your card to get in to a movie every single day! That’s it!
When I posted about MoviePass on Instagram and Facebook last week, there were a LOT of questions about how it works when you go to see a movie. We had the same questions when we signed up and had to figure out a lot of things by trial and error. So I wanted to give you a thorough tutorial on how it works. (Note: They also have video tutorials on their site that are pretty helpful, too.)
How to Use Your MoviePass Card to See a Movie
1. Go to the movie theater and pull up the MoviePass app. (You have to be within 100 yards of the theater to check-in.)
2. Select the theater you’re at and then find the movie you want to watch. Click on the showing time you want to buy a ticket for and check-in. (This does not guarantee your ticket, this just gives your MoviePass card the ability to be used at that theater within the next 30 minutes to buy a ticket.)
3. Go into the theater and go to the self-serve kiosk or the ticketing desk. Ask to purchase a ticket for the movie you checked in for. (Your tickets are not reserved; you need to go in and buy your ticket just like you would usually buy a movie ticket.)
4. Pay for the ticket with your MoviePass card. So long as you buy the ticket within 30 minutes of checking in at the theater, your MoviePass card should work and should cover the entire cost of the movie ticket. (It’s a MasterCard.)
5. Go enjoy your movie and then repeat this same scenario above as many days per month as you would like! 😉
A Few Drawbacks of MoviePass
You cannot reserve your tickets ahead of time. Well, you could go to the theater earlier in the day of and check-in and purchase the tickets and then use them later in the day (we have friends who live close to the theater who do this). But otherwise, unless your theater offers e-ticketing, you can’t login online and reserve your ticket. This means that sometimes, you could show up to the theater and a movie is sold out.
You can’t reserve your seat ahead of time. If your theater has reserved seating and other movie-goers can reserve tickets/seats online ahead of time, you’ll be left with whatever seats are left when you go to get your tickets.
You have to have two separate devices. Your card is device specific, so you cannot use one device to check-in on multiple accounts.
They currently do not issue cards to kids under the age of 18 (because the MoviePass card is a MasterCard). They are supposedly working on a family pass and I hope they offer that in the not-too-distant future!
You can’t see non 2D movies. Per their site, “MoviePass cannot support (in part or entirety) any enhanced or special screenings that involve an upcharge at the theater. Examples of those would include 3D, IMAX, Fathom Events, DBOX, ETX/RPX, film festival screenings, etc.”
As you can see above, it’s a little bit more complicated to use MoviePass than it would be to just buy tickets online or at the theater. But considering the price point, if you see even 2-3 movies per month, it’s totally worth a little extra hassle.
And if you really love movies and have the wiggle room in your schedule, you could see up to 31 movies in a month — making the price per movie ridiculously inexpensive! 🙂
Jesse and I are planning to go to a movie every Wednesday on my offline day. And we also might hit a movie a few times per month in the evenings, too. At the price of $10 per person per month, that makes for some very inexpensive dates! We also convinced some of our friends to get their own MoviePass so we can do some double dates to the movies.
(Note: We rarely ever buy any food/drinks at the theater because it’s just so pricey and it kind of ruins the frugal aspect of a MoviePass date! We did discover that AMC sometimes prints out a survey with the tickets at the self-serve kiosk and if you fill it out, you get a coupon for a free popcorn! So we’ll definitely be doing that whenever that prints out!)
Important Update from August 2018: Due to some disappointing changes in MoviePass, we cancelled our subscription. Read why here.
Another good thing to do is join the rewards program at each theater you visit. The movie pass is the same as using a credit card and you will get points for every movie you see using it, and can earn free popcorn and more!
I know that MoviePass says you can’t do this with AMC. I’m not sure about other theaters, though.
My daughter and I just signed up.
One thing I haven’t read on here, so I’ll mention it just in case. Yes, you can see one movie per day. You can watch each movie only one time. So, once you are caught up on all the available movies, you will be limited to only the latest movies put out each week.
Still a GREAT deal though! I love movies and will definitely benefit using this pass.
Yes… they recently changed it. I wrote an update post that I linked to at the top of this post.
How do you know if they offer eticketing?
My 18 year old son just got it because a friend of his told him about it and I’d like to get this for each of us and have a 14 and 11 year old as well. Can I purchase them for the kids as well using my credit card? They have phones so could have the app on it to use when we get there . . .
Also, can we pay month to month? it looks like I have to enter my credit info & agree to the yearly price rather than choose an option first.
SO stoked if I can figure these things out!
Hi,
Did u get a response for your question yet? I have a 12 year old and the passes are for 18 and over only. Can I buy 2 movie passes under my name and then load one subscription to my phone and one to his phone- so we both can see a movie ? Technically there’s two paid subscriptions? Is this ok?
I put in my zip code and it listed a theatre that has been closed for over two years. That makes me skeptical that they actually check if the theatre is accepting the card. Anyone know if AMC in Clifton NJ takes it? They are on the Moviepass Map, but have heard that eople had trouble using it there.
I got one from Costco and I love it. I activated it at the beginning of the year and have already gotten my moneys worth…probably twice what I paid for the year. As of right now it’s $6.95 per month, but you have to pay for the whole year up front, which makes it even cheaper than Costco’s price. I love it. Happy movie going to all.
We use our MP a lot! The catch: Not many at all and a great deal. But nowhere did we see ‘limited to one ticket a day’ (no biggy though). The one thing we don’t like is that when looking at the movie selection screen and picking a movie, it often does not show that movie being at our local theatre even though it is. So we have to go to the location screen and click on our theatre, then it shows up. Took a bit to figure that out. When the time comes to use it for reserving the ticket, Easy Peazy!! (Michigan)
It won’t let me sign up. It lets me enter my street address, but won’t let me fill in the rest. I tried multiple times. I even tried just going straight to the site instead of through the link and had the same issue. : (
I’m having the same issue…I was hoping someone would have responded to you by now.
I went to sign up and it said along with the $7.95 price monthly there is a yearly fee of $19.95 charges anually!! Did no one see this!?
They used to charge $9.99/month. They’ve dropped the price, but even with the $19.95 annual fee, you are still saving $4 over the $9.99 monthly price for a year. You can buy it through Costco too…$89.95/year.
When use pay using the card, what do you say when they ask if it’s credit or debit? What do you say when they ask to enter your zip code? Or is that not a question asked?
Does it work with Stubs cards too?
We read online that it doesn’t.
Alright, Crystal. I just signed up. It seems too good to be true, but I will give it a go. Thanks!
I purchased 3. 1 for my husband, son, and self. I did not see the age restriction before purchading. Nor did I see the “1 device per card”. We’ve had no issues logging out and back in the app as a different user. I would feel badly for doing this (since it’s against the rules), but I purchased the yearly deal.
My only complaint is finding a sitter so I can see more than cartoons, lol
I have 2 questions, if a red dot shows on the theater map, does that mean they accept these?
And if my husband wants to take our son, could he just take my phone and card to purchase the ticket for my son and they go in together? Or do they check your names and ID or something for verification?
yes
I just heard about these and was curious as well! So if your movie theatre shows up on the map you can use the card there? Just want to make sure before I sign up! If so My husband and I see movies 2-3 times a month and at $11 a ticket so this would be amazing! So happy I came across your blog!
Yes!
My son bought this for his brother (who is 19), but when we tried to use it at our local theatre, they said they didn’t accept it! Still trying to get a refund since the closest theatres who MIGHT accept it is 1-1/2 hours away!
Yes, that’s why it’s so important to check and make sure your local theaters accept it before moving forward with purchasing it.
You wouldn’t happen to know if you can download the app to a kindle? Does it have to be a smart phone?
I have heard/read from multiple sources that the app asks you to allow access to all photos , files and media on your phone. Was this an issue for you?
No, I didn’t have to allow access to anything but location.
we were exited about this when we saw a report on the news about it, but literally no theaters in upstate NY
Do you have to own a smartphone in order to use this?
Yes you do
It’s frustrating to me that more and more coupons are only available to people with smartphones. If I can’t afford a smartphone, wouldn’t you think I would especially need access to coupons?
This sounds very interesting. Would love to try this when my little one is in school full time! I love going to movies so this sounds perfect for someone like me!
It’s cheaper to go to the movies before 12 in our area. There’s an AMC theater that charges $6 per ticket before 12. If you’re a senior Tuesday’s, all day, movies are $5.
We have one theater in our area that offers $5 tickets, but they only show a few movies per week. That’s fantastic your theater offers that!
We have a theater near us that shows movies after they have had their big release in theaters, but before they are out on DVD for only $1.50!! You have to be patient to see what you want with the same theater experience but it is easy on the budget!
We have a cheap AMC near us, too… but the monthly cost is for however many movies you want to see (no more than one per day). So… go more than a couple times and it’s still a deal! ?
Very disappointed as this is only for 2 theaters that do not usually carry the newest movies near me.
Bummer — maybe they’ll add new theaters in your area soon!
If you live near a few theaters, an I registered to 1 theater? Or could I theater hop?
You can use it at ANY theater that supports MoviePass! 🙂
So we can’t buy this for our kids 8 and 9 so they can see movies with us?
According to their TOS, MoviePass cards can only be registered to people over 18. I believe this is because it’s a MasterCard.
When you bought it for your husband as a gift, did you have to provide his email address before they would mail the cards? I’d love to do this for my husband’s birthday, but would like to have the card before he finds out.
I was given a gift subcription and when it expired. They would not let me renew my subcription as my daughter was told. I could take out another membership since my email was tied to my. Old account. Be aware.b
Are the cards name specific? Or could you or Jesse take one of the kids to a movie.
The cards are registered in each of our names and are connected to our phones. So you need both phones in order to get two tickets.
They don’t address on their site (from what I can tell) whether an adult can use the card/phone in their name to purchase a ticket and then let one of your kids use it. I’m hoping that they make a Family Pass soon because we’d love to have the option to take our whole family to the movies at a deeply discounted rate!
Is there a set time you pay the $10 per month? Can you cancel at any time?
You can cancel at any time.
I can’t get it to show the theaters I can go to after entering my zip code.
It might be because there aren’t any theaters in your area? Maybe contact customer service about it?
I had the same problem, and it seemed so silly, because I live in a major metropolitan area, and when I tested my parent’s small town, the sole theater there accepted it! I live in a rather small suburb, and the way our town is laid out is odd, so it occurred to me to zoom out on the map. Boom! Five theaters near me! I am so excited, I think I’m getting this for my husband for his birthday. One question, Crystal. How many tickets do you get?
We have two passes, so we can get one pass per ticket per day.
I had to zoom out on the map to find anything. We have several theaters nearby (we live in a major metro area) but the map was zoomed in so tightly, none of them showed up initially.
Thanks for posting about this, Crystal! My hubby is an avid movie fan but I didn’t think this was for real. Now I have a fabulous idea for a present! He’ll love it and it won’t add clutter to the house. 🙂
Lea
YAY! And you’re welcome!
I live about 30 minutes from a large city. I think there should be some. ?
I will try the tips listed in other comments.
Make sure location services are on.
My husband are avid movie goers and I too was skeptical. But we have already gotten our monies worth this month. It is a great investment and besides the few “drawbacks” you listed, it is amazing.
I’m so glad you are enjoying it, too!