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Is Apple
considering a play
for a Day And Date
Movie Service to
add to iTunes?
SCP
Apple Considers Day
And Date Movie Service
Screening Room, the movie streaming service that was unveiled earlier
this year, promising movie fans the ability to watch films currently in the
cinema without ever leaving the comfort of their living room or home
theatre, could have a deep pocketed competitor, with Apple reportedly
mulling a move into the day and date movie market. Reportedly, the
company is already in talks with major movie studios.
Not much has been heard of Screening Room since the huge
debate erupted just before the annual CinemaCon in Las Vegas.
The debate dragged in big names such as James Cameron and
Steven Spielberg, both whom are said to be on opposite sides of
the argument. What would these two big directors think of Apple’s
approach to the technology?
According to sources speaking on condition of anonymity to
Bloomberg, Apple has been talking to 21st Century Fox, Warner Bros
and Universal Pictures about a day and date movie rental service
that will be hosted on iTunes. The report suggests that movies
won’t launch at the same time on iTunes as they will in the theatres
however, with a short gap between cinema availability and digital
rental – reportedly as soon as two weeks after release.
Movie studios have been mulling a change in release dates
for home entertainment for the last few years. Each attempt by
the studios to shorten the time span between cinema release
and general release has received huge backlash from the theatre
companies themselves however. In 2010 Disney made plans to
release Alice In Wonderland on DVD just 12 weeks after appearing in
cinema, down from the standard 17 weeks. In response both Odeon
and Vue threatened to boycott the film unless Disney backed down,
in the end an agreement was struck leading to Alice In Wonderland
being released on DVD 13 weeks after its theatrical release.
Apple is reportedly looking at ways to refresh iTunes and one
solution is to offer newer content that isn’t available anywhere else.
It’s not known what benefit the movie studios would get by
restricting themselves to Apple’s platform, but the industry has
already signalled its willingness to take the movie screening
monopoly from the cinema chains. US exhibitors are already willing
to move forward with the times too; AMC was linked with Sean
Parker’s Screening Room, while Cinemark, the US’ number three
exhibitor, believes that a premium service could satisfy all parties.
The security of Apple’s platform may not endear it to the film
studios however.
More Information: Apple www.apple.com/uk
December 2016 | 5
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14/12/2016 16:56