Movie ticket subscription services had a massive impact on the film business, but just as quickly as they reshaped the way people used theaters, they are beginning to go away. This week Sinemia, a competitor to the popular MoviePass app, announced it was shutting down effectively immediately, stating that “efforts to cover the cost of unexpected legal proceedings and raise the funds required to continue operations have not been sufficient” and adding that “competition in the US market and the core economics of what it costs to deliver Sinemia’s end-to-end experience ultimately lead us to the decision of discontinuing our US operations.”

If you go to the Sinemia website, you can read their message to customers:

We are all witnessing that the future of moviegoing is evolving through movie ticket subscriptions. However, we didn’t see a path to sustainability as an independent movie ticket subscription service in the face of competition from movie theaters as they build their own subscriptions. Thanks to the cost advantage and cross-sell opportunities, movie theaters will be prominent in the movie ticket subscription economy.

Like MoviePass, Sinemia customers could get movie tickets at theaters around the country for a flat monthly fee. The service had some unique features like rollover, where unused tickets could be carried forward from month to month. But recently, users have experienced increasing issues with the service and their app. There were reports that customers were having their accounts canceled suddenly, with no warning, and for no reason. Just a few weeks ago the company’s CEO was still giving interviews claiming Sinemia was a “growing company ... committed to fixing its problems.” Less than a month later, the service is dead.

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