Super Bowl weekend is historically bad for the box office. According to the Hollywood Reporter, 2024 was the worst weekend in over three decades, outside of 2021.
Stacy Spikes, MoviePass Co-Founder and CEO, joins Yahoo Finance to discuss the disappointing weekend for the box office and how it impacts his company.
When asked about how to boost users to platform when there are not a lineup of movies getting people to theaters, Spikes replies: "The major tentpoles aren't the drivers in people wanting a subscription platform where they're going to experiment more. We find they're actually more interested in the independent titles, and that's where the experimentation happens... With the Dunes and the Spider-Mans and the IMAX titles, that really wouldn't change our business. It's just not enough of those titles, but it's all of the smaller ones like we saw with Origin, we saw with Poor Things a lot of the Oscar nominees. That's where, you know 75% of our members are under the age of 35 and they like to experiment."
When it comes to profitability, Spikes notes the company has benefiting from both the use of AI and its new credit system.
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Editor's note: This article was written by Nicholas Jacobino
Video Transcript
- The box office experiencing its worst weekend since the pandemic last weekend competing with Super Bowl 58, this coming against the backdrop of an industry struggling to find success outside of sequels and already existing IP. For more on the movie landscape in 2024, we're talking to MoviePass Co-founder and CEO Stacy Spikes. Stacy, thanks so much for joining us. And, look, your business relies on people going to the movies. So what do you make of a disappointing weekend like we just saw? And are there any concerns if we continue to see that underperformance for your business?
STACY SPIKES: Yeah. Actually, January is always a soft period. I think you're seeing some restocking going on, where you had a lot of content move out, and it's starting to move back in. But you're seeing titles like "Dune," which is coming in March, which is normally someone who's going to sit in the fourth quarter or, say, the summer coming out in March. So I think that that's normal. And I-- but I don't see any big concern over it.
- And, Stacy, your company MoviePass just achieved its first year of profitability. And it wasn't too long ago that you bought this company out of bankruptcy. How were you able to get to that profitability? And what were the lessons learned along the way?
STACY SPIKES: Yeah. Well, the amazing thing about it was back when the company was sold and went through its issues, we actually had the ability to benefit from a lot of AI and machine learning upgrades that we just didn't have back then. That was a big difference. And then our new credit system that we introduced also really made a big change in the business model and the capability of being able to perform properly. So that's the two major updates that we were able to do that really helped everything.
- And how can you sustain this profitability especially, when you're in an industry where we're seeing a lot of turmoil, especially with the influx of streaming services?
STACY SPIKES: Yeah, maybe we're bullish and long on it. But the reality is we're seeing that the studios who were creating content for the streamers have seen the benefit, where you see them repurposing titles. We've had last year a commitment from Apple with more than $1 billion and Amazon, and even Netflix committing to the theatrical experience. So I think you've got a pipeline lag that you're looking at.
But all in all, people are coming back. You saw a lot of young people starting to use theaters as concert venues with the Taylor Swift concert and Beyoncé. So we're seeing it become more of a live event. You're seeing more IMAX releases. So all in all, I actually feel really positive about it.
- And I want to pick up on that point with the pipeline lag. Because in terms of consumer demand, I'm assuming you see more sign-ups when there's actually a lot of movies in the theater, right? Like this past summer with Barbenheimer. You mentioned the lulls that we've had post-COVID, post-Hollywood strikes. So is there a way that you could attract users to your platform when you perhaps don't have a ton of movies? I know you mentioned some of those examples. But what other ways could you boost that demand?
STACY SPIKES: Yeah. For us as a business model, the major tent poles aren't the drivers and people wanting a subscription platform where they're going to experiment more. We find that they're actually more interested in the independent titles. And that's where the experimentation happens.
So just with the "Dunes" and the "Spider-Mans" and the IMAX titles, that really wouldn't change our business. It's just not enough of those titles. But it's all the smaller ones like we saw with "Origin," we saw with "Poor Things," a lot of the ones that are the Oscar nominees. That's where 75% of our members are under the age of 35. And they like to experiment. So if you're going to end up on our platform, there's a lot of inventory sitting there.
- Yeah, that's interesting, especially since we've seen sequels and that known IP really driving some of the box office there. But in terms of competition, we've seen things like AMC Stubs, other types of reward programs. How are you looking to combat those types of competitors out there and really stay on top of the game?
STACY SPIKES: Yeah, great question. So the difference between MoviePass is you can go to literally any theater. So as long as it accepts major credit cards, that theater is open to your system. And with AMC, you can only go to an AMC. So that is a loyalty program just for them. But on average, in our system, the average customer goes to 2.4 different theater locations. So they want the ability last minute to make a decision and say, maybe I go over here. Maybe I go over there. They're deciding that day based on what times the different movies will start. And it gives them that flexibility.
And then the other benefit with MoviePass is you still can have a loyalty program at those theaters and get your reward points for going there as well. So it's kind of a double win with MoviePass versus being locked into only one theater circuit that you can get benefits from.
- All right. Stacy Spikes, thank you so much. I'm planning to watch "Poor Things" tonight. So I'm excited. I need to watch all my Oscar movies because we're heading into award season very, very quickly with the Oscars coming up. So thank you again.
STACY SPIKES: You got it. Enjoy.
