Sinemia, a rival to MoviePass in the percolating movie ticketing space, said it is ending its operations in the U.S. effective immediately. The company let users know on their website this week, just ahead of the opening of Disney/Marvels now record-breaking juggernaut Avengers: Endgame.
“While we are proud to have created a best in market service, our efforts to cover the cost of unexpected legal proceedings and raise the funds required to continue operations have not been sufficient,” the notice posted Thursday reads. “The competition in the US market and the core economics of what it costs to deliver Sinemias end-to-end experience ultimately lead us to the decision of discontinuing our US operations.
“Despite the best efforts of our team, it has been difficult for us as a start-up to continue providing our services to the moviegoers in the US without resources and enough capital to meet increased operations and legal costs.” (Read the full letter below.)
MoviePass sued Sinemia in February for patent infringement, saying that the rival “offers a movie theater subscription service that is remarkably similar” to its own. It was also the subject of a class-action lawsuit over some of its fees.
Sinemia, founded in Turkey in 2014, like MoviePass also faced more serious competition from major exhibitors like AMC and Carmike, both of which have been pushing their own subscription plans. MoviePass itself has experimented with a range of subscription schemes in recent months, most recently rolling out an “uncapped” movie-per-day plan that would be $9.95 for those who pay for 12 months in advance.
Last month, Sinenia announced a plan that offered discounted movie tickets without requiring a subscription. In the Sinemia Limitless plan, a card — either virtual or physical — would be worth $100, and could be redeemed for movie tickets. That card costs $70 in a one-time payment, with the value good for one year. Limitless users could get an additional 5% off when they bought tickets from partner movie theaters through Sinemias direct ticketing service.
Heres the letter:
Dear Customer,
Today, with a heavy heart, were announcing that Sinemia is closing its doors and ending operations in the US effective immediately.
As Sinemia, we set out our journey with the vision to help as many moviegoers as possible to enjoy an affordable and better experience at the movies by a creating a movie ticket subscription service that adds value for both the moviegoers and the movie industry. Since 2014, weve been fine-tuning our model and serving movie-goers with a slate of affordable and flexible subscription plans.
We are all witnessing that the future of moviegoing is evolving through movie ticket subscriptions. However, we didnt see a path to sustainability as an independent movie ticket subscriptioRead More – Source
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