MoviePass just bought their first movie, and there's a lot that could mean

We still haven’t even figured out how MoviePass can support their business model, and now this. Just five days after MoviePass announced that they were looking to purchase films through their new subsidiary — MoviePass Ventures — the company has bought their first film.

Through partnering with The Orchard, MoviePass Ventures has paid $3 million to obtain the rights to American Animals — a film that premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

MoviePass initially made the announcement that they were hoping to partner with a traditional distribution company.

The idea comes from the fact that MoviePass has significantly been helping raise attendance in theaters. Since they announced their new business plan — that they would charge less than $10 a month to allow users to see up to one movie a day, every single day — they’ve seen a dramatic increase in their product. While experts are trying to figure out if MoviePass can sustain this business model (essentially, while movie tickets cost far more than this, the company can reach some sort of break-even point if they continue to get subscribers), it’s done nothing but help the box office.

And by partnering with a distribution company, they can capitalize even more on some of those box offices receipts. Basically, when you really boil it down, MoviePass is allowing customers to go see their own movies.

“We’re open for business and look forward to supporting our other distributor partners in acquiring great content, utilizing efficient P&A spends, and ensuring strong performance in the theatrical window and participating in downstream revenues as a result of strong box office performance,” MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe said via IndieWire.

At least theoretically. American Animals is the first film that MoviePass Ventures has purchased, and we’ll have to wait to see if they continue shopping in this market.

American Animals stars Chas Allen, Eric Borsuk, Warren Lipka and Spencer Reinhard as a group of four buddies who are trying to steal some birdwatching books from Kentucky’s Transylvania University. The film debuted to positive reviews at Sundance, with Vanity Fair describing it as “one part Ocean’s 11, one part Harold & Kumar.”

“The film is a perfect example of the type of amazing films that need the spotlight and is precisely the reason we are bringing data intelligence to the marketplace, so that movie lovers will come to theaters and see the great work of independent filmmakers,” CEO of MoviePass’s primary owner — Helios and Matheson Analytics — Ted Farnsworth said via IndieWire.

What do you think of the news? Is MoviePass going to start producing original content like Hulu and Netflix? Can the business model possibly last (we sure hope so, because, boy, is it a lifesaver!)? Let us know in the comments below.