After the highly publicized failures of both MoviePass and Sinemia, the incompatibility between theater chains and subscription services continues to put moviegoers at a disadvantage.

Movie-going in 2019 looks a lot different than it did 20, 10, or even five years ago. Not only are seats assigned, trailers longer, and popcorn bigger, but movie-going is much more expensive. In certain metropolitan cities, movie tickets easily cost upwards of $15 to $20. Throw in the cost of parking and concessions, and it’s no surprise that people are more inclined to stay in than go out to the movies.

The cost increase of a single trip to the theater also helps explain the rise of subscription services like MoviePass and Sinemia, services intended to allow subscribers a flat monthly rate to cover multiple visits to the megaplex.

The rise of such movie ticketing subscription services coincides with the popularization of subscription services throughout all facets of modern life. From toothbrushes to groceries, clothing to candy, there’s a subscription service for everything. It’s not hard to understand the allure of such services; they allow you to pay a flat rate and guarantee a new product for you to use each month. Unfortunately for moviegoers, this model has continually struggled when it comes to ticketing subscription services.

Two separate subscription services — MoviePass and Sinemia — set out to make movie-going more accessible by making it less expensive. The two services operated under the same general concept: allow subscribers to visit the movie theater multiple times at the price of a single monthly fee. Unfortunately, what might sound simple in theory proved to be far more complicated in reality.

Plagued by problems, including malfunctioning apps, abrupt changes in service conditions, and poor customer service, MoviePass and Sinemia quickly squandered much, if not all, of the good will they began with. What started as a great idea devolved into a far less desirable product that presented logistical difficulties and obstacles which quickly outweighed the benefits the service provided in the first place.

However, while MoviePass and Sinemia take their failures on the chin, the question of who is to blame is not as simple as it may seem. While the subscription services are surely at fault, they aren’t solely at fault. At the heart of their collapse is their incompatibility with theater chains. These chains, especially large national chains like AMC, don’t have much to gain by partnering with these subscription services. Services like MoviePass and Sinemia threaten these companies’ bottom lines by cutting into their revenue.

MoviePass tried to get on the good side of theater chains by making the case that by making tickets cheaper, patrons would spend more on concessions. Despite the evidence supporting their point, it wasn’t enough to make chains more amenable to working with MoviePass. As such, the service started implementing increasingly harebrained rules and restrictions that undermined the integrity of the service. MoviePass continues to operate today, but its monthly plan is a far cry from what it used to be.

Theater chains have always had rewards programs, but on the whole, they tend to make concessions, not tickets, cheaper. In response to the popularity of MoviePass and Sinemia, some chains have implemented more enticing rewards programs to help draw in audiences. Most popular among these is the AMC Stubs A-List; for approximately $20 a month (depending on your location), AMC will allow you to see up to three movies a week in any format with no blackout dates. This is a pretty stellar deal, but it’s limited to AMC theaters — a chain that rarely gets limited releases and usually has upwards of 25 minutes of trailers, as opposed to other chains that tend to keep trailers under 15 minutes.

If the failed attempts made by MoviePass and Sinemia ultimately help usher in subscription services sponsored by the theater chains themselves, then maybe all the headaches will have been worth it. However, what’s obvious is that theater chains aren’t all that interested in making it cheaper to go to the movies. As such, moviegoers continue to get the short end of the stick; higher prices, lower quality of service, and limited options.

The inherent incompatibility between theater chains and third-party ticketing services combined with the inflated authority theater chains have over their pricing means audiences are rarely, if ever, the real priority.

It remains to be seen whether other chains will follow AMC’s decision to implement an internal subscription service. I, for one, hope that MoviePass and Sinemia find ways to keep fighting for moviegoers instead of theater chains. Despite everything they did wrong or poorly, these services operated under a fairly benevolent goal of reclaiming the movie-going experience for audiences.