Is AMC's A-List Better Than MoviePass? Ticket Subscription Rises as MoviePass Declines

MoviePass continues to decline as the quickly deteriorating company's stocks are now trading at 5 cents amid posting a $126.6 million loss during its last quarter. AMC Theatres' ticket subscription plan—AMC Stubs A-List—appears to be fairing much better in comparison.

AMC Theatres unveiled its service seven weeks ago. The movie chain's rivaling program currently makes up five percent of its attendance. This, however, accounts for more than 1 million in attendance courtesy of its 260,000 members. AMC is the country's largest theater chain, which makes its respective service's growth impressive. Despite this, it begs the question: Is AMC Stubs A-List better than MoviePass?

Members of AMC's service can see up to three movies weekly in IMAX, Dolby Cinema, RealD 3D, digital and more for only $19.95 a month. These screenings can be used throughout the week, or a moviegoer can partake in a triple feature and use them up in one day. Subscribers, unlike MoviePass, have the option to see the same movie repeatedly and it guarantees that there are no blackout dates. Members will receive complimentary discounts on food and drinks at AMC's theaters as well.

Subscribers will have to agree to a minimum three-month commitment. This commitment, however, comes with a 12-month price guarantee.

"We remain immensely satisfied by the initial consumer response to AMC Stubs A-List," Adam Aron, AMC's CEO and president, said in a statement. "With more than 260,000 members enrolled and over 1 million in attendance in just seven weeks, A-List in its early going is already demonstrating that it encourages moviegoers of all ages, locations and backgrounds to come to movie theatres more often, and they bring family and friends along with them."

AMC acknowledged concerns of its steady growth declining, saying: "While one would think that the rate of signups will inevitably have to slow down at some point, enrollments now are continuing at quite a brisk pace, getting AMC to scale much sooner than we initially anticipated. This is very good for AMC and very good for our movie studio partners as well."

MoviePass, on the other hand, has subjected its members to several changes since its 2011 debut. In 2016, the once-promising company first offered its services of unlimited screenings in bigger cities nationwide for $15 per month and it ran up to a whopping $50. These prices lowered, however, to a modest $10 in April 2017. It's monthly price later dropped to $9.95 in August 2017. By December 2017, MoviePass managed to accumulate 1 million subscribers. As it hit 3 million members in June, the company began to encounter multiple problems.

The company's respective app faced two outages. This caused the app's screen to appear blank, and the following message would show in its place: "There are no more screenings at this theater today."

Outages aside, MoviePass pulled major titles—including Christopher Robin and Mission: Impossible—Fallout—from its app in July. On Thursday, the app reduced its available films to six to seven movies a day. The app has modified its membership price multiple times throughout the summer blockbuster season as well.

Since MoviePass has enforced multiple changes in an attempt to save itself, many subscribers have opted to cancel their subscription. MoviePass, however, was accused of resubscribing ex-members. The company simply referred to this issue as "bugs."

At this time, MoviePass offers its service at $9.95 a month. If MoviePass and AMC Stubs A-List aren't of interest, moviegoers can subscribe to fellow rivaling plans with Sinemia or Cinemark Movie Club.