I built Costar because I kept missing films I genuinely wanted to see. I had friends. They just increasingly had demanding jobs, partners, children, family plans and calendars that rarely lined up at short notice.
At the same time, I wanted to meet more people. What I did not want was another experience built around weeks of swiping and messaging before either person had decided to do anything in the real world.
The cinema already solves the awkward part
If two people independently want to see the same film, at the same cinema, at the same time, something useful has already happened. You have a public place to go, a fixed time and a subject you both chose.
That changes the starting point. Instead of asking whether two profile cards can invent a plan together, Costar asks whether two real plans already overlap.
A match is an option, not an obligation
When an exact screening overlaps, each person sees one profile and decides privately. A pass means no introduction fee. A mutual yes leads to the £7 Costar introduction, and phone numbers are shared only after both payments succeed.
Maybe it becomes a date. Maybe you make a friend. Maybe you simply see a brilliant film with somebody interesting. Costar does not need to force one interpretation onto the evening.
The goal
The goal is not to make people feel that going to the cinema alone is a failure. It is to make one additional option possible when you would like company and the people you already know are not free.
Stop waiting for everybody else's calendar to line up before you do something you wanted to do anyway.