The movie ticket subscription service business has become heated as new competitors enter the market while the established names look for new ways to attract customers. Major MoviePass competitor Sinemia has decided to try and do things the old-fashioned way, by cutting prices. The subscription ticket service announced today a new pricing structure that cuts every Sinemia package by a dollar a month, meaning the entry level option is now only $3.99 month, but these prices will apparently only be available for the summer.
Sinemia points out in their announcement that while MoviePass has actually increased the cost of some movies to its customers, by introducing surge pricing for popular films, Sinemia has decided to lower prices. The service has four package options to choose from. The first gives you access to one movie a month for the now discounted price of $3.99 per month. Package two gives you access to two movies in a month for $6.99. Both of these options limit the tickets to standard screen 2D films, but the next two packages include IMAX and 3D movies. The package lowered to $8.99 per month lets you see two films and the one reduced to $13.99 gives you access to three movies.
It seems that barely a week goes by where we don't see a major move in the relatively new business of subscription movie tickets. While MoviePass recently did announce the surge pricing policy, it also announced the ability to see large screen and 3D films using the service for an additional fee. In addition, AMC Theaters recently announced its own subscription service following a fairly public feud with MoviePass. Sinemia itself also recently announced that subscribers will get access to restaurant gift cards in addition to the movie tickets every month. Those gift cards will still be available to anybody who purchases at the discounted rate.
Sinemia already had cheaper options than MoviePass and AMC Stubs A-List, but now the pricing is even more attractive. While it doesn't give you the option for the (near) unlimited films that MoviePass does, it is certainly a strong value for what you get. The one caveat to the Sinemia pricing structure is that while it's priced monthly, it's actually paid on an annual basis, so you get 12 months of the service up front, but that means you'll be paying a total of $12 less per package right now.
The summer discount starts today and will be available through September 3, so while you have some time to make a decision on this, if you plan to see a movie in the next two months, you may want to look into this a lot sooner than that.
