Alamo Drafthouse's movie-ticket subscription plan will launch in all its theaters by the end of the year

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Alamo Drafthouse's movie-ticket subscription plan will launch in all its theaters by the end of the year

Season Pass Alamo Drafthouse

Alamo Drafthouse

Alamo Drafthouse.

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  • Alamo Drafthouse's movie-ticket subscription service, Alamo Season Pass, will launch nationwide at all Drafthouse theaters by the end of the year.
  • It will be an unlimited plan and cost $20 a month in most regions of the country.
  • You will also be able to reserve seats in advance and have the option to add tickets.

The wait for the Alamo Drafthouse movie-ticket subscription plan is almost over.

The popular chain will launch Alamo Season Pass by the end of the year across all its theaters, the company's founder and CEO Tim League told Business Insider.

Since July, a beta version of Season Pass has been used by patrons at Alamo's Yonkers, New York location and its Raleigh, North Carolina theater. League said he's been impressed by the data he's seeing from the beta testing and is now putting the final touches on it to make Season Pass available to his entire chain.

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"It's working for us and we love it," League said. "It's one of our biggest priorities this year, to get that rolled out."

League said Alamo Season Pass will be an unlimited plan for $20 a month in most areas of the country. He noted that in some cases the monthly price will depend on the market, so expect it to be a little more at locations like Drafthouse's downtown Los Angeles space (which will open its doors by the middle of the year), or its Brooklyn, New York theater (a Drafthouse in Lower Manhattan is scheduled to open by the end of the year, as well).

Season Pass will be available using the Alamo Drafthouse app (on iOS or Android) to reserve seats - days in advance, if you like - from anywhere. You will also have the option to add additional tickets.

Tim League Annie Ray

Annie Ray

Alamo Drafthouse founder and CEO Tim League.

In August, Business Insider reported on the Season Pass beta test at the Yonkers location, which according to the company had over 40,000 people sign up on the waitlist in less than a month. At that time, Season Pass holders were allowed to see the same movie as many times as they wanted and could order tickets to standard-format 2D or 3D movies (but not for any special Drafthouse screenings that have a higher ticket price). Those features may also be in Season Pass when it's launched. (Alamo Drafthouse is currently not giving any more specifics about the pass.)

Read more: MoviePass is bringing back an unlimited plan, but there's a catch

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Drafthouse's Season Pass will join AMC's Stubs A-List and Cinemark's Movie Club as a chain-specific subscription service. And others are beginning to crop up with the help of Sinemia Enterprise, like those from Studio Movie Grill and National Amusements.

Movie-ticket subscription services have seen a surge in popularity since MoviePass lowered its monthly price to around $10 in the summer of 2017 and gained millions of subscribers. Though MoviePass has gone through a series of changes to try and get its cash burn under control, on Monday Business Insider reported that it will bring back an unlimited plan.

"I really admire what MoviePass did to disrupt this industry," League said. "To say, 'Hey, there might be another way that actually works.'"

League has certainly bought into the subscription model and believes it will help the company introduce unique movies to its customers.

"The most exciting thing about it to me is that people are watching more movies," League said. "And they are watching a wide variety of movies and that's part of what we're trying to accomplish by becoming bigger as a company is to get more and more people to fall in love with a wide swath of amazing movies, and I see Season Pass as part of that."

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