The Independent Cinema Alliance (ICA) announced this week that it had formed a strategic alliance with MoviePass with the potential to extend the reach of subscription services to hundreds of independent theatres. MoviePass Founder Stacey Spikes stated that ICA represents 180 member theatres with 5,000 movie theatre screens across the U.S., adding up to the third largest collection of theatres after the top two chains AMC and Regal. ICA’s member theatres account for $1 billion in annual domestic box office, which is roughly 15% of the total gross taken in by exhibitors.
Through the partnership, ICA theatres can use the MoviePass platform to offer their customers a monthly movie subscription package, with the ability to reserve seats in either standard or Premium Large Format auditoriums. Frank Rash, recently hired by the ICA as its first Executive Director, pointed to the MoviePass partnership as one example of a “practical and scalable” way the association can support independent theatres. With many ICA members lacking the capital to develop their own subscription platform, the MoviePass partnership offers an easy way to bring on this new way of appealing to frequent moviegoers.
