Bruce Willis to Star in MoviePass Film Amid App's Price Increase

The CEOs and co-founders of MoviePass Films have recruited A-list movie star Bruce Willis to star in its first-ever feature-length picture amid the company's financial woes.

MoviePass Films was created by Randall Emmett, Ted Farnsworth and George Furla. The company formed in May after MoviePass' parent company Helios & Matheson Analytics obtained Emmett Furla Oasis Films. It aims to develop "studio-driven content and new film production for theatrical release and other distribution channels," Forbes reported at the time.

The film, which is produced by MoviePass Films and Diamond Films Productions, is titled 10 Minutes Gone. It reportedly follows a man who was hit with a bullet during a failed bank robbery. As a result, he loses ten minutes of his memory. He's subsequently forced to try and reflect on his memory to figure out who tampered with the heist. This task occurs while he's being chased by a crime boss, played by Willis. The Die Hard actor, 63, said he's "excited to be working with producers Randall Emmett and George Furla again with their new venture MoviePass Films," according to a statement obtained by Deadline.

MoviePass has struggled to keep its business afloat as of late. The ticket subscription app had a promising start, but it has continued to subject its members to multiple changes as it stock continues to plummet. As of Friday, MoviePass was trading below $0.07, Business Insider reported.

Bruce Willis Stars in Flick for MoviePass Films
Actor Bruce Willis to star in motion picture for MoviePass Films amid company's financial troubles. Here, Willis is pictured attending the Comedy Central Roast of Bruce Willis at Hollywood Palladium on July 14, 2018, in... Rich Fury/Getty Images

The company announced Monday it would limit its subscribers to viewing no more than three film screenings a month. MoviePass said this modified benefit would replace its initial plan to increase the membership price to $14.95 a month. The company will, however, only offer one membership price of $9.95.

"Beginning Monday, August 15 we will be rolling out a new subscription plan that allows monthly subscribers to see up to three movies per month for $9.95," the company's website reads. "Members will be able to see up to three standard movies a month for $9.95 and be given between a $2.00 to $5.00 discount to any additional movie tickets purchased within the billing cycle. This will be the only monthly subscription available."

Peak pricing was introduced in July as a way to provide "additional flexibility for us and our users around popular movies and times for which there is limited inventory," according to the app's website. The company issued an apology to subscribers after the app suffered from two outages in July as well.

"We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused from the temporary outage in the app over the past day. We have handled the issues on the back-end, and our app is now up-and-running with stability at 100 percent," CEO Mitch Lowe said in a July service update. "We thank you for your patience and your ongoing support."

The most controversial change, however, stemmed from the company's decision to block users from seeing major releases. High-profile titles like Christopher Robin, Darkest Minds, The Meg and Mission: Impossible—Fallout are among a growing list of films the application has made unavailable to its subscribers. According to Business Insider, Lowe first announced the alteration in an "all-hands meeting." Since MoviePass paid for more than 1.15 million tickets in mid-July, pulling films of this caliber from the app would allow for MoviePass to save millions of dollars.

Representatives for MoviePass and Willis did not immediately return Newsweek's request for comment.

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About the writer


Dory Jackson is a New York-based entertainment journalist from Maryland. She graduated from Randolph-Macon College—in May 2016—with a focus in Communication ... Read more

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