It seems every company dealing in
media that could afford to do it, are now entering the digital domain and the
expanding arena of online content-on-demand platforms. And sometimes the names
of the businesses that are doing so can make people double-take. One major
example recently is AMC Theatres, the multinational movie theater chain and
arguably the biggest in the world. Many a moviegoer has gone to their cinemas
to catch the newest and latest big-screen blockbusters. At first blush one
might think AMC is too far from actually having business opening a digital
service. But they are planning to.
The Verge tells us that AMC is getting ready to open its own spin
on digital content. Rather than the direct to consumer model that the
soon-to-launch Disney+ platform is going to have, this will be more on-demand
similar to Amazon Prime Video or, much older, Apple iTunes Store. That much is
reflected in the planned service’s name, AMC Theaters on Demand, and it is
actually starting operations on Tuesday, October 15. Customers on AMC-TOD will
be able to rent or by films that have shown in their real-world theaters, with
an initial library of 2,000 films to be offered.
For even better news, Theaters on
Demand might be picking up on the new licensed content that Netflix has been
seeing whittled down in its own platform. Several big-name film studios are
entering partnerships with AMC to either sell or rent their latest and more
recent box-office entries. New movies will start joining the TOD library as
soon as their original cinema run on AMC and theaters in general comes to an
end. Renting a movie on demand from AMC’s new service will cost $3 to $5.99
depending on how recent they are; the same goes for digital sales of films,
ranging $9.99 to $19.99.
As for which studios are on board
with having their new cinema stuff on AMC Theaters on Demand, they only include
Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, Paramount, Sony and – drumroll – Disney,
which will have plenty of fairly recent movies to share on the platform before
they get store on Disney+ as exclusives. AMC hopes that the new TOD service
will help to further boost actual attendance on their cinema chain from
moviegoers, seeing as they plan to offer free digital versions of films to
customers on their AMC Stubs membership program.
For instance, AMC plans to dazzle
the 6 million-plus customers who watched the “Lion King” live-action Disney
remake on their theaters, by now offering the same in digital format via
Theaters on Demand. The general digital availability of the film also happens
to be October 15, making for great synergy.
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