The Wall Street Journal: A MoviePass sequel? Former CEO may relaunch failed service in 2022
The co-founder and former chief of MoviePass Inc. is getting ready to test whether the popular — though failed — theater subscription service can return for a sequel with a new business model.
Stacy Spikes, now helming a company called PreTechnology Inc., intends to test a revised business strategy during the busy holiday season between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day in hopes of relaunching MoviePass by the third or fourth fiscal quarters of 2022, court records show.
Spikes served as MoviePass’s chief executive and chief operating officer between 2012 and 2017, according to court papers filed in a New York bankruptcy court.
The parent company of MoviePass filed bankruptcy in January 2020, felled by a business model that offered movie lovers unlimited visits to theaters for less than $10 a month.
But a possible second act drew closer this week when a bankruptcy judge approved the sale of the service’s brand to PreTechnology, which agreed to pay $140,000 for it, court papers say. Spikes outlined plans for a relaunch of MoviePass in a sworn declaration last month in support of the sale.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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