Sinemia called MoviePass unsustainable — then collapsed the same way

Sinemia, founded in 2014 by Turkish entrepreneur Rifat Oguz, sold subscription plans for movie tickets across formats — 2D, 3D, IMAX — and expanded from Turkey to the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia. It marketed itself as the sustainable alternative to MoviePass, the loss-burning movie subscription; then in 2018 it launched its own unlimited plan in four markets.

The model cracked in early 2019. In March Sinemia began mass-terminating accounts, blaming fraud — members buying tickets for non-members, unauthorized cards, multiple accounts per device — and demanding photo IDs from survivors. One subscriber community reported that up to 80% of its members had been terminated or effectively locked out; refunds often calculated to zero. A class action over hidden processing fees filed in November 2018 was amended in February 2019, and a second class action over the terminations followed on 19 April.

On 26 April 2019 Sinemia ceased US operations, citing 'unexpected legal proceedings' and a lack of funds; the next day it filed for bankruptcy, with a Federal Trade Commission investigation pending. In its final weeks it had changed its terms of service to bar class actions and collected invasive identity data from users — conduct critics described as an exit scam. The company that once mocked MoviePass's economics ended the same way, a day apart.