MoviePass announced that it has exceeded 3 million paying subscribers and expects to hit 5 million subscribers by the end of the year.
According to Variety, the subscription service, which allows customers to watch a movie a day for less than $10 a month, said it currently represents more than 5 percent of U.S. box office receipts, with its peak weeks around 8 percent of box office.
This is good news considering the company has been struggling. Last month, its parent company, Helios & Matheson, saw its stock hit an all-time low, losing nearly nearly half of its remaining value after the company disclosed in a regulatory filing that it has been losing an average of $21.7 million in cash on a monthly basis between September and April. In April, the company announced it was looking into selling as much as $150 million in stock.
But Ted Farnsworth, head of Helios & Matheson, said the subscription service has enough cash to survive and thrive, saying it has around $300 million in an equity line of credit.
“There’s been a feeding frenzy of negativity, but it’s not going to slow us down,” said Farnsworth in an interview. “I’m not worried at all. You’re going to see. We’re doing more acquisitions of movies and companies.”
With that in mind, Helios and Matheson recently acquired the exclusive option to buy the production slate and library of Emmett Furla Oasis Films, and also acquired Moviefone and its subsidiary, MoviePass Ventures. In addition, the company has economic interests in films such as “Gotti” and “American Animals.”
“With MoviePass Films and MoviePass Ventures under the Helios umbrella, we are continuously adding more perks and services for our MoviePass subscribers,” said Helios chairman and CEO Ted Farnsworth. “Consistent growth in MoviePass subscribers means we can utilize our media companies in ways no one has seen before. With its considerable market share of moviegoers, MoviePass expects to influence its subscribers to engage with our other revenue channels throughout the entire film industry ecosystem.”