Gotti made headlines for all the wrong reasons leading up to its release when it achieved the rare feat of earning a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes (Even Gigli registered some good reviews with a 6%). Trying to find a bright spot in all this mess has been tough but MoviePass, which took a low-seven-figure stake in the reported $10 million budget, can at least brag that their service was used quite a bit by moviegoers who decided to give Gotti a chance.
MoviePass accounted for 40% of Gotti’s opening weekend of $1.67 million ($668,000). Many media outlets are debating whether this is entirely good news. Some weren’t impressed with the film’s start at 503 locations but that is a significant chunk of the film’s opening weekend so it basically comes down to if it will be financially beneficial for the app in the long run. The app did market the film heavily to its 3 million subscribers but a lot of rivals are suggesting they promoted it so heavily to their subscribers that they essentially bought tickets for their own movie.
Gotti performed the best in New York, Los Angeles and the five cities that John Travolta and Kelly Preston heavily toured to promote the film (Phoenix, Dallas, Chicago, Miami, and Philadelphia). It’s being reported that the film could expand in those cities and despite the 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, the audience score is much higher at 80% which suggest those who are seeing it, are liking it more than critics. Have to find a silver lining somewhere.
That’s why their rivals are calling them out. They think they essentially are buying tickets to their own movie. They did a similar thing with the movie American Animals. That movie is well reviewed and Moviepass accounted for 35% of its opening. No one knows if Moviepass is even profiting much from doing this
also makes sense that more people went to see it in the promoted cities but also i think theyre just trying to get most of their money bought from the stake they bought in it
see i wonder if moviepass bought out certain showings bc in our screener in NY Friday night – Row 2 was taken when we checked online but no one was sitting in it.