MoviePass Wraps Up Its Theater Subscription Service
MoviePass Wraps Up Its Theater Subscription Service
DJ MoviePass Wraps Up Its Theater Subscription Service
DJ MoviePass結束其影院訂閲服務
By Ethan Millman and R.T. Watson
作者：伊桑·米爾曼(Ethan Millman)和R.T.沃森
MoviePass is finally fading out.
MoviePass終於淡出了。
The service, which made a splash with a too-good-to-be true subscription service that let customers watch up to a movie a day in theaters for less than $10 a month, said it planned to shut down as of Saturday. MoviePass's parent, Helios & Matheson Analytics Inc., said Friday it was exploring all options, including a sale of the entire company.
該服務曾因一項令人難以置信的訂閲服務而引起轟動，該服務允許客户以每月不到10美元的價格每天在電影院觀看一部電影。該服務表示，計劃從週六起關閉。MoviePass的母公司Helios&Matheon Analytics Inc.週五表示，正在探索所有選擇，包括出售整個公司。
MoviePass gained popularity and attention for attempting to bring a Netflix-style subscription approach to out-of-home entertainment. But it rapidly became a massive disappointment for shareholders as it burned through cash trying to prop up its costly business model. Its shares were nearly worthless when the market closed Friday, after hovering around a penny a share for much of the year.
MoviePass因嘗試將Netflix式的訂閲方式引入户外娛樂而廣受歡迎和關注。但它很快就讓股東們大失所望，因為它試圖支撐其代價高昂的商業模式，耗費了大量現金。該公司股票在今年大部分時間徘徊在每股1便士左右後，週五收盤時幾乎一文不值。
Starting in 2017, MoviePass let subscribers see a movie a day for a flat fee of $9.99. That low price proved unsustainable, since the company reimbursed theaters for the full ticket price, hoping it could make up the difference by selling user data. That plan never gained traction, however, and the company was forced to tweak its offering a year later.
從2017年開始，MoviePass允許訂閲者每天觀看一部電影，固定費用為9.99美元。事實證明，這樣的低價是不可持續的，因為該公司向影院報銷了全額票價，希望能通過出售用户數據來彌補差額。然而，這一計劃從未獲得吸引力，一年後，該公司被迫調整了發行計劃。
In the summer of 2018, with a monthly cash deficit of $45 million, MoviePass hiked its price to $14.95 a month and borrowed at steep interest rates to try to plug leaks in its balance sheet. Then it restricted the number of movies users could see to three a month -- a roughly 90% cut from the theoretical maximum of 30 or 31. Eventually the company allowed its customers to use the service to see only a limited number of titles at any given time.
2018年夏天，MoviePass每月現金赤字4500萬美元，將價格上調至每月14.95美元，並以高昂的利率借款，試圖堵住資產負債表中的漏洞。然後，它將用户每月可以觀看的電影數量限制在3部--與理論上最多30或31部相比，大約減少了90%。最終，該公司允許其客户使用這項服務，在任何給定的時間只能看到有限數量的圖書。
Those changes did little to stanch the red ink, but confused and angered users who had been promised a seamless, digital-age moviegoing experience.
這些變化幾乎沒有止住赤字，反而讓原本承諾提供無縫數字時代觀影體驗的用户感到困惑和憤怒。
Helios said it is "unable to predict if or when" MoviePass might return, saying efforts to recapitalize the company have been unsuccessful to date.
Helios表示，“無法預測”MoviePass是否或何時可能迴歸，並稱迄今為止，對公司進行資本重組的努力尚未成功.
The company's brief history was riddled with awkward moments. In August 2018 Helios performed the first of many reverse stock splits in an attempt to keep its share price above $1 and avoid being delisted from the Nasdaq. Unable to clear even that low bar, it was delisted in February, trading over-the-counter since.
該公司短暫的歷史充滿了尷尬的時刻。2018年8月，Helios進行了許多反向股票拆分中的第一次，試圖將其股價保持在1美元以上，並避免從納斯達克退市。甚至連這麼低的門檻都無法清除，該公司在2月份被摘牌，此後在場外交易。
In July, MoviePass said it would temporarily interrupt its operations as it improved its mobile app. In August, the company experienced a massive data breach, according to TechCrunch, exposing the credit- and debit-card details of thousands of customers.
今年7月，MoviePass表示，在改進其移動應用程序時，將暫時中斷運營。根據TechCrunch的數據，8月份，該公司經歷了一次大規模的數據泄露，暴露了數千名客户的信用卡和借記卡詳細信息。
The company acknowledged "a potential security vulnerability" but said the servers were immediately secured and reported no customer data being compromised.
該公司承認存在“一個潛在的安全漏洞”，但表示這些服務器立即得到了保護，沒有報告客户數據被泄露。
While MoviePass appears to be dead, the concept it popularized continues. Movie-theater operator AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., for instance, last year launched a subscription service. AMC's offering was much more conservative, however, at $19.99 for three movies a month -- and it works only at AMC's own theaters.
雖然MoviePass似乎已經消亡，但它普及的概念仍在繼續。例如，電影院運營商AMC娛樂控股公司(AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.)去年推出了一項訂閲服務。然而，AMC提供的電影要保守得多，每月三部電影的票價為19.99美元--而且它只在AMC自己的影院有效。
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
(完)道瓊通訊社
September 14, 2019 09:00 ET (13:00 GMT)
2019年9月14日東部時間09：00(格林尼治標準時間13：00)
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