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MoviePass brings the $10 unlimited plan back with new twists, restrictions

New subscribers to the movie theater subscription service will pay for a year in advance using their bank account.

Mike Sorrentino Senior Editor

Mike Sorrentino is a Senior Editor for Mobile, covering phones, texting apps and smartwatches -- obsessing about how we can make the most of them. Mike also keeps an eye out on the movie and toy industry, and outside of work enjoys biking and pizza making.

Expertise Phones, texting apps, iOS, Android, smartwatches, fitness trackers, mobile accessories, gaming phones, budget phones, toys, Star Wars, Marvel, Power Rangers, DC, mobile accessibility, iMessage, WhatsApp, Signal, RCS

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Mike Sorrentino

March 20, 2019 7:00 a.m. PT

2 min read

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MoviePass has brought back the $9.95 unlimited movie plan with new restrictions and a different way to pay.

The movie theater subscription service relaunched the unlimited plan with restrictions on movie and theater choice based on "excessive individual usage." The plan was first reported by Business Insider's sources and a staging URL Monday, but it's since gone live Tuesday.

MoviePass' ability to restrict what films and theaters subscribers can choose from has been well-documented, most notably last summer when subscribers were unable to see Mission: Impossible - Fallout. MoviePass eventually transitioned customers on its $9.95 per month unlimited plan to a three-movie-per-month plan, which uses a schedule to determine eligible movies.

The plan also ditches using credit or debt cards in favor of annual billing by ACH/eCheck, meaning customers would pay for a year of the service upfront using their bank information. Though such a move likely cuts down on processing fees for MoviePass, the service has been known to change its terms rapidly. The plan is currently listed to be available for a limited time, alongside a monthly plan with similar restrictions for $14.95 a month.

These two plans, which are labeled as "uncapped," appear to have replaced MoviePass' three previous plans for now: the previously mentioned $9.95 plan for three movies with limited availability that's now named "Select," an "All Access" plan starting at $14.95 ($17.95 or $19.95 in some regions) that allows for picking any three 2D movies in a month and a "Red Carpet" plan for $19.95 a month ($21.95 or $24.95 in certain regions) that allows for one Imax or RealD 3D film.

If you plan to see a movie using the unlimited service, you have to reserve your ticket "no more than three hours prior to the selected showtime." MoviePass can also suspend or cancel your subscription if you fail to show up for movie after reserving a ticket more than once in a 30-day period, or don't watch a movie "in its entirety."

MoviePass didn't respond to a request for comment.

-- Sean Keane contributed to this report.

Originally published March 18, 9:41 a.m. PT.
Update, March 20, 7 a.m. PT: Adds more detail on the restrictions.