Francisco in 2011. Lowe began advising the company in 2014 and moved into the c-suite in 2016 as CEO and continued in that role until 2020. Lowe began experimenting with different subscription models, allowing members to see movies with different frequencies based on how much they paid per month. At the end of 2016, MoviePass had 20,000 subscribers. But the subscription model proved to be inconsistent and like many technology-driven companies, MoviePass required more capital. Studio Movie Grill invested in the company in 2016, becoming an equity partner while the two companies pondered a food
Redbox’s rental kiosks were a popular way to screen DVDs after the dissolution of video stores in the 2010s. The company declared bankruptcy in 2024, driven to liquidation by streaming services.
were locked out of the system. Under Lowe, MoviePass offered a dizzying array of programs and platforms that featured different price points, offers and services for its subscribers. Behind the scenes, the company was burning capital and bleeding red. At various times, MoviePass made moves to co-acquire and distribute films, sell swag while Helios tried to sell debt and stock worth $1.2 billion. A pair of class-action lawsuits against MoviePass were filed in 2018 and 2019, alleging the company had not treated its subscribers honestly. By 2021, it was all over but the shouting as a bankruptcy judge allowed the sale of the company to its original founder, while Lowe and Farnsworth braced for visits from the DOJ lawyers. The backstory Hollywood loves an unorthodox tale, and Lowe has that in spades. He spent his teen years in Europe, smuggling goods and money. He never went to college, instead he got a master’s degree in how life works. He called Tamalpais Valley home and one of the Video Droid locations was in his own neighborhood. He sat on the Tamalpais Area Community Plan Steering Committee in 1992. He worked on behalf of Rock the Vote and, speaking of politics, he was president of the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce. He was also the president of the Video Software Dealers Association. His stint with Video Software led to his coming on board at Netflix, whose management corralled Lowe at a Video Software convention. Lowe also served on the board of Medbox Inc., a Los Angeles- based cannabis consulting company that sold vending machines known as “Medbox” devices capable of dispensing marijuana on the basis of biometric identification. Lowe joined the board in March 2014 when shares in the company were selling for almost $28 each. But the reality was that Medbox was struggling, and the only revenues were derived from illegal stock sales to a shell company controlled by the Medbox founder. The SEC rolled the company up in 2017 with the founder agreeing to pay $12 million in fines and restitution.
component. But Studio Movie Grill’s cash infusion proved too little, and a year later New York-based analytics company Helios and Matheson (HMNY) became majority owner of MoviePass. When Helios made its buy in, a new model was announced allowing subscribers to watch one film a day for $9.95 a month. At the time of the Helios investment, MoviePass said that its $9.95 monthly plan could allow for profitability or, at the very least, the company could break even. Meanwhile, lured by the low monthly rate, subscriptions grew. In October 2017, MoviePass boasted subscribers totaling 600,000. By June 2018, the company claimed 3 million paying subscribers. While Lowe was successful in building out the subscriber base, the company’s thirst for capital continued to grow as well. The parent company Helios advanced $90 million to MoviePass and eventually owned almost 92% of MoviePass. While the cut-rate subscriptions were designed to boost the user base with an eye toward using new data to target ads, a 2022 indictment of Lowe along with Helios and Matheson Chairman Ted Farnsworth told a different story. The indictment alleged the $9.95 rate was simply a marketing ploy and couldn’t cover costs. Rather it was designed to boost membership and bump Helios share price which in turn would attract investors to the public company. The Justice Department indictment also charged that Lowe and Farnsworth told investors it utilized “big data” and “Artificial Intelligence” platforms to generate revenues from MoviePass users’ data. But the company didn’t have the ability to collect that data and monetize it and the pair of execs knew it. The bottom line, according to the indictment, is MoviePass didn’t have multiple revenue streams and instead was splashing around in red ink. But Lowe and Farnsworth continued to sing the company’s praises in SEC filings, to investors via the press, and in podcast and TV interviews, presenting a rosy picture when the truth was the garden was drying up quickly and the roses were nothing but thorns. Finally, according to the indictment, MoviePass staff were instructed to throttle back the ability of some subscribers to utilize the service in an effort to cut costs, without telling their customers. Instead, passwords were secretly changed and users
May 2025
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