Two threads regarding the recent feud between AMC Theaters and MoviePass have been quite popular in the news cycle: (i) the impending bankruptcy of MoviePass and (ii) the Twitter war between the two players. In this paper, we seek to evaluate if such developments are mere aberrations or if there is any economic rationale behind them. We develop a parsimonious microeconomic model for this purpose that sheds light on the competition/cooperation responses of a theater chain towards the entry of a

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... on-essential intermediary. Our results have important implications for management and policy. 1 The entire MoviePass model is administered through a smartphone making use of its internet and GPS connections. At the time of signing up, every subscriber is issued a debit card. When a subscriber is in close proximity of a particular theater, he can find out which movies are available at that theater at that time. Now, if he chooses to view one from this