Movie fans wondering when and where they will be able to stream recent high-profile movies like Nicolas Cage’s The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and Karen Gillan’s Dual are getting some answers. Both movies, as well as a slew of other recently released and upcoming movies have found streaming homes thanks to two separate deals featuring The Roku Channel and AMC Plus.
Let’s start first with The Roku Channel. The free, ad-supported service that is available on all Roku devices and smart TVs, has made a multiyear deal with Lionsgate that will bring all of the studio’s theatrical releases to The Roku Channel, where they will be available for free for the first time.
The deal starts with the studio’s 2022 releases. That means that The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent as well as upcoming movies like John Wick: Chapter Four, Expendables 4, Eli Roth’s Borderlands, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret and White Bird: A Wonder Story will all play on The Roku Channel. The movies will appear on the streaming service immediately following their first run on the Starz cable network. No time table was given as to when that will be.
"We are pleased to expand our relationship with our long standing partner Lionsgate to provide our audience with exclusive first-time, free access to Lionsgate’s theatrical slate," said Rob Holmes, vice president of programming at Roku.
Dual, meanwhile, falls under the AMC Plus deal that covers IFC Films. The deal, according to Variety, makes AMC Plus the exclusive streaming home for movies from IFC Films, IFC Midnight and RLJE Films after their exclusive theatrical and digital distribution periods, which will typically be 90 days after releases in movie theaters. The plan is to debut a new movie on AMC Plus every week.
Things will start on May 6 with the Adrien Brody-led action movie Clean. Already announced movies include Catch the Fair One on May 13, Dual on May 20 and A Banquet on May 27.
AMC Plus is a subscription service available exclusively in the US, with packages starting at $6.99 per month.
These new deals are just another example of the ongoing "streaming wars" that have consumers looking to keep their monthly streaming budget at certain levels pick and choose between services. This is in part why free streaming services like The Roku Channel have been gaining in popularity a bit and Netflix took a rare hit recently in subscriber loss.
