MoviePass has closed for several weeks to update its app

MoviePass, the long-time movie subscription service, has closed for " several weeks " to complete the work on an updated version of the app and to recapitalize for when the service recovers. "It's never a good time to do this," said MoviePas CEO Mitch Lowe in a statement, "but to complete the enhanced version of our app, one we think will provide a much better experience for our subscribers, it has to be done. "Lowe's statement promised" an improved technology platform, which is in the final stages of completion ", in the upcoming app.

The service shut down on July 4 at 5:00 ET, and MoviePass has not announced when it will come back online. During this period MoviePass will not accept new logins, and existing subscribers will not be charged while the service is offline. Subscribers will also be automatically credited for downtime when the service is back online.

The suspension comes less than four months after the service announced another set of price plans, following the renewed plans it announced at the end of 2018. In its last e iteration offers the service again "unlimited" movie viewing for a single monthly fee, but it reserves the right to limit the views that customers can attend based on their location and historical use, and on popular show hours and movie titles. The movements seemed designed to prevent people from actually using the service by cutting access to popular and first release movies. In April, Business Insider estimated that MoviePass had lost about 90 percent of the user base over a calendar year, even though MoviePass disputes those numbers.