One of the biggest problems with instant streaming services is that they have impossibly crappy selections, which emphasize recent releases (which are sometimes alright) and bottom of the barrel releases that usually come as a package deal with the high-quality stuff. Meanwhile, the genuine great films are often hard to find, and the “Classics” section on services like Netflix are sparsely populated compared to similar sections in just about any of the brick-and-mortar video stores the company drove out of business.
Which is why the news that The Criterion Collection and Turner Classic Movies (TCM) are teaming up for a new instant streaming service seems like such a big deal, even in an era increasingly inundated with one new streaming service after another, most of which never get watched. (Oh Crackle, you can just stop trying now. Nobody will be mad.)
Also: Criterion Collection Review | Barcelona
The new subscription service FilmStruck will launch in the fall of 2016, and offer “a deep roster of films from such celebrated indie studios as Janus Films, Flicker Alley, Icarus, Kino, Milestone and Zeitgeist, along with movies from Hollywood’s major movie studios including Warner Bros.”
More than that, FilmStruck will also be the new, exclusive home of The Criterion Collection, which previously had a deal with Hulu to distribute their high-quality, art house content. That deal appears to be at an end, but the new subscription service will offer more content than Hulu had, including “a steady stream of exclusive original content and archival discoveries, plus continual access to more than 1,000 films from the Janus Films library, many unavailable on disc or anywhere else.”
There are still some x-factors involved here. There’s no word yet on how much FilmStruck will cost or which platforms will be supported. Right now there is only a promise of a really kick-ass instant streaming service for people who really, really love movies. We’ll keep you informed if there’s any reason to doubt whether or not FilmStruck will be worth your money.
Top Photo: Warner Bros.
William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon, and watch him on the weekly YouTube series Most Craved, Rapid Reviews and What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
