Just a few years ago, the movie theatre industry was rocked by something that would dramatically affect attendance. That thing was the rise of cable TV, pay cable, home video, DVD, video rental stores, Netflix by mail, streaming services, and the pandemic. Through all of those trials, we’ve always had Nicole Kidman to bring us back to the theatres. But, when moviePass pounced, it was the thing no one saw coming (except everyone did).

As you learn the history of MoviePass, you learn that it was pitched in early concept stage, to the industry, and they saw no value in it. If you go to the theatres now, you might be going with your Stubs card, or your Regal Unlimited card. The reason for that, is that subscription plans for theatres are actually a great idea. MoviePass just went at it the wrong way.

Empty seats in theatres can’t offer hot takes to their potentially paying friends and family. They can’t buy concessions.Empty seats in theatres make films look like they are underperforming. But, if you could fill those seats… and not go broke, you might just have something there. That is what MoviePass struggled with, but the fact that we see the effect MoviePass had on the industry. And in grand fashion, we also get to watch it fail miserably and listen to all the hot goss from the people who worked there.

Even better, this MAX documentary has audio description! Three play Media is behind the track. When it comes to documentaries, the big things I look for is:

1) Do I know who is talking?

2) Do I know why they’ve been asked to talk? Sometimes films use experts whoa ren’t directly tied to the main story to offer context, expertise, or color.

3) How much of the imagery other than talking were you able to fit in?

All three of those things are sometimes impossible to do, because they rely heavily on a film being designed to have breaks for audio description. Some documentaries just have people who seemingly never stop, and that can be a problem for the narrators. There is audio description here, but like most documentaries, it will always feel lacking, even though there is nothing that could possibly be changed.

Overall, this was a decent documentary about something that happened in the film industry. It’s not going to win awards, but I have a much better understanding now. I’m so glad I never joined MoviePass to begin with. When I first heard about it, it always felt too good to be true.

Final Grade: B