Ladies and Gentlemen, I have seen the future of going to the movie theater, and it is the subscription service.

As avid readers of this blog know, I was a strong voice for the Part 1, Part 2) here at blast-o-rama.

That said, while I’ve been a happy MoviePass customer since, there have been some issues which had been eating at me:

• The lack of being able to purchase tickets in advance.
• The inability to “upgrade" to IMAX, Dolby Cinema or other premium screenings.
• The difficulties of getting a good seat, since you’re buying right before showtime and many theaters I go to had reserved seating.
• The difficulties of using the service when out with my wife.
• MoviePass’s gloomy financial future.
• MoviePass’s threat - then walk back - of using user location data.
• The new need to take photos of the tickets after purchase, which when mixed with the sketchy nature of the app, leads to some serious issues.
• The looming threat of “Surge Pricing", or extra charges for popular films - sort of reducing your chances of being able to see specifically what you want.

In the wee hours of Tuesday morning, things changed.

As long rumored - AMC Theatres revealed their “MoviePass Killer" - AMC Stubs A-List. Being an avid movie fan, and doing it “for the blog", I immediately signed up. My most commonly visited movie theater is an AMC anyway, so what could it hurt?

While the cost is higher - $19.99/month, versus the $9.99/month I was paying to MoviePass - A-List is a glorious glimpse of what MoviePass could’ve been.

Sign-Up & Usage

Sign-up was quick and easy. As an existing Stubs member, I just had to open up the AMC app, tap the big “Join Now" banner, and upgrade.

It took all of two minutes (confirming my credit card for payment, and photo ID info), and I could immediately go about “reserving" my movies.

Unlike MoviePass, A-List has a limit to it - 3 movies per week, with the week resetting every Friday. Don’t use all three that week? Too bad, no storing them.

Reserving the movies is just like buying a ticket. Point by point, step by step, the same. You pick your screening, pick your ticket, pick your seat, and check out.

The key difference, of course, is that your ticket is “Free".

What’s really great about this process is that if you are going with - for my example, my wife - or a group of friends, or any other outing beyond solo, you can buy your tickets together. You just have to pay for the overage.

To add additional screenings, just Make a Reservation. Need to change up your selections for the week? Awesome, just cancel your reservation prior to showtime. And even better - you can go to ANY screening. 2D, 3D, IMAX, Dolby - if they’ve got it, you can see it. In turn, to get the most bang for my buck, my first choice was a Dolby Cinema screening of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

All this can be done in-app, or as I’ve shown above, they’re accessible via the AMCTheaters.com website.

These reservations work exactly like e-tickets from the existing AMC app, so you can even add them to your Apple Wallet if you’re an iOS user like me. (And if you’re super OCD like me, you can even add the calendar invite too, which will show you when exactly your screening will get out.)

In-Theater Experience

Upon getting to the theater this evening for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, this was the big moment - got my pass for the 7pm show, let’s get in there and see what happens…

…and honestly, it couldn’t be easier.

You go to the ticket taker, you show them the ticket barcode, they scan it, and you’re good, just like any other e-ticket system.

Sure, my ticket taker should’ve asked for my photo ID to confirm, but this was a busy night, so that was that. The exact experience you’d want.

Pros & Cons

I know, this has been pretty damn glowing for A-List so far, so let’s get down to brass tacks:

Pros

• Easy reservation of tickets, even in advance.
• Get to reserve your seat early.
• Can easily pick up tickets for friends and family.
• See ANY type of screening, not just 2D.
• Much smoother app experience.
• No need for photos of ticket stubs.

Cons

• Twice as costly as MoviePass.
• Can only be used in AMC Theaters.
• “Just" 3 movies a week.

All and all, I’m pretty stoked on AMC Stubs A-List - but if you’re not near an AMC, your mileage versus MoviePass may vary.

We can now safely say this - with AMC going all in on A-List, Alamo Drafthouse exploring a subscription product, and Cinemark having a much worse version of it, MoviePass has changed the way we see movies.

Their gloomy future notwithstanding, MoviePass disrupted theatrical exhibition the way Napster changed the way we got music - and one hopes that the future accessibility of film will match the accessibility of music.

At the very least - it’s a great time to go to the movies.