Dealflicks
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Dealflicks was a US mobile app for discounted movie tickets, founded in 2012 by Sean Wycliffe and Zachary Cancio. Pitched as a Priceline for movie tickets, it partnered with theater chains - including B&B Theatres, Bow Tie Cinemas and Carmike Cinemas - to sell unsold seats and concession deals at a discount, helping theaters fill the roughly 88% of seats that typically went empty. By 2016 it was live in more than 400 theater locations and partnered with 13 of the top 50 US theater chains, and it had raised $1.7 million in seed funding from investors including 500 Startups, Siemer Ventures and Warner Bros Media Camp.
02 / Dealflicks FAILURE REASONS
Failure factors supported by the current evidence
LA Times 14 Aug 2018 (opened): company email said it could not continue based on its financial situation after years of struggling to gain traction; Carmike/AMC loss cut ~250 theaters and 2017 revenue fell to about $2m from $3.7m; coupon model faced MoviePass/AMC subscriptions.
Customer email (quoted by LAT/Deadline): unable to continue to operate based on our financial situation.
LAT: largest partner Carmike acquired by AMC in 2016, leaving 250 fewer theaters; available on only 3,000 of ~40,000 North American screens.
LAT: coupon-based model probably suffered from explosion in subscription services led by MoviePass and AMC's plan.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Product or service closed
Deadline 14 Aug 2018 (opened): Dealflicks Inc. emailed users that it is stopping service effective immediately due to its financial situation. LA Times same day (opened): service has ended, effective immediately.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Dealflicks was founded in 2012 by Sean Wycliffe and Zachary Cancio; Wycliffe got the idea in 2011 after noticing a nearly empty theater at a showing of The King's Speech.
- 02
In July 2014, the company raised $1.7 million in seed funding from 500 Startups, Siemer Ventures, Warner Bros Media Camp and angels, and the app went live in hundreds of theater locations.
- 03
In March 2016, Dealflicks expanded with a Carmike Cinemas alliance, projecting roughly $7 million in revenue for the year, more than double 2015 sales; in February 2018 it launched a deal across B&B Theatres' 391 screens and 49 theatres.
- 04
On August 14, 2018, Dealflicks announced to customers by email that it was ending service the same day. No bankruptcy filing was reported. No reliable loss figure was disclosed, so no loss amount is recorded.