Elon Musk is trying to solve the problem of traveling in space, change the car business, and go to Mars. But he won’t try to fix MoviePass.
Buzzfeed writer Samir Mezrahi on Tuesday tweeted to Musk to ask him if he could fix MoviePass. His response was concise: “no.” Mezrahi’s tweet was followed by a slew of others that asked Musk if he could fix other problems. People also asked the Tesla CEO if there was a way to do something else with MoviePass — like send it into space.
MoviePass came onto the scene years ago in hopes of revolutionizing how we go to the movies. In order to do that, the company charged a monthly subscription fee that gave customers unlimited access to theaters in their areas to see the movies they wanted. MoviePass has argued that the concessions theaters make from its subscribers more than make up for the savings on a per-ticket basis.
Still, it was always unclear how MoviePass could actually make money when its monthly subscriptions were less than the cost of one movie ticket. And after the company, which is in dire financial straits, recently announced plans to raise prices and limit when customers could see new movies, it’s becoming increasingly clear that its days are numbered.
Musk has become somewhat synonymous with working on ways to fix problems. But it appears with MoviePass, he’s met his match.
