AMC comes for MoviePass with $20/month Stubs membership

AMC is adding a monthly subscription service that allows customers to see more films at lower cost – you know, like MoviePass. The new program will cost $19.95/month for up to three films a week along with AMC Stubs membership benefits.

AMC denounced MoviePass in 2017 after its unprecedented $9.95/month unlimited subscription, which allows users to see up to one movie per calendar day.

AMC A-List, launching June 26, is sufficiently different from MoviePass and may prove to be steep competition. Even though it limits users to three films a week (no rollover), there’s no calendar day restriction, and they can see the same movie more than once, which MoviePass users can’t. 

A-List also allows advance purchase instead of MoviePass’s buy-at-the-theater model (a nightmare for popular films without reserved seating), as well as IMAX and 3-D tickets. However, since it’s only AMC theaters, users won’t have access to a lot of the independent cinema that has been thriving with MoviePass.

“We believe that our current and future loyal guests will be interested in this type of program, as AMC Stubs A-List rewards guests with something that no one else offers: the very best of AMC, including IMAX, Dolby Cinema and RealD 3D up to 3 times per week, for one simple, sustainable price,” Adam Aron, CEO and President, AMC Theatres said in a press release, per Deadline.

MoviePass recently crossed three million subscribers, but the business model – in which the company pays the ticket difference for every user – still has many skeptical, especially with plummeting stock prices. It is still accepted at all AMC theaters, but the AMC has been looking to sever ties with them for almost a year.