Good news, MoviePass fans: The subscription movie ticket company that already brought you such exciting updates as “You can only see any given movie a single time” and “We’re going to track ever so slightly less of your personal data, we promise,” is taking another bold stride forward in its mission to find ever-more creative ways to make dirt-cheap movie tickets somehow seem like a shitty deal, revealing today that it’s instituting extra fees for users who want to see a popular movie at “peak” times. The company laid out this latest innovation in inconvenience to its users in a recent email, but, per Variety, the policy appears to be going into full effect today. (Have fun at Ant Man And The Wasp, folks!)
The surcharge will reportedly add between $2 and $6 (based on film and popularity) to the price of more popular films, along with the psychic cost of growling, “Oh, Jesus Christ!” every time it pops up, and the caloric expenditure of the elaborate, aggrieved eye roll that accompanies it. The goal, presumably, is to cut some of the operating costs of the company’s “sell stuff for way less than it’s worth” business model, while also potentially encouraging annoyed moviegoers to see other, less popular films instead. (Like, say, the company’s own American Animals, still hanging on in a couple of markets.) On the other hand, given that a big part of the appeal of the original MoviePass sales pitch was the idea that your $9.99 per month—still a pretty good deal, despite the company’s best efforts—got you unlimited tickets, cash-and-worry free, it’s just one more push on its subscribers’ increasingly tested patience.