MoviePass Peak Pricing Is Here; Read About Their New Surge Fees And How You'll Be Able To Combat Them

MoviePass is still clinging to life, but the movie ticket subscription service certainly isn't making things easy on themselves. After threatening to implement surge pricing a couple of weeks ago, MoviePass Peak Pricing has arrived. Translation: if you have a monthly MoviePass subscription and want to see a popular movie on opening weekend, there's a very good chance you'll have to pay an additional fee. Read more about the new charges below, and find out what you'll be able to do to offset one of them in the coming weeks.

Variety reports that MoviePass has followed through on their promise to implement surge pricing, and now users will see a red lightning bolt on their app and an alert telling them how much extra they'll be charged for certain screenings at certain times. Screenings that are in danger of soon earning Peak Pricing fee will have a grey lightning bolt icon over them. Users have the option of selecting a different showtime without the Peak Pricing, or committing to the Peak Pricing screening and having their credit card charged the additional fee – which is dependent on the movie's demand and popularity. You can read more about the details on their official website.

MoviePass has subsidiaries like MoviePass Films and MoviePass Ventures that have made them a player in production and distribution in addition to just exhibition. That means that they have a financial interest in certain movies performing better than others. Considering how they've been known to push audiences toward certain films through the app based on marketing deals they've struck with certain companies, and how they've made it impossible for some users in select markets to use the service to see certain movies, I would not be remotely surprised to see them implement Peak Pricing on certain rival films in an effort to drive traffic to MoviePass-approved films instead.

But have no fear, MoviePass is here with a solution to their own problem! They're introducing something called "Peak Pass" that "will allow [users] to waive one peak fee per month." You know how in cheesy action movies, the villain will introduce a disease just so they can get rich by selling the cure? This kind of reminds me of that. Here's an idea: just scrap the surge pricing altogether instead of trying to make it seem not quite as bad as it actually is.