Good news, film fans. The Criterion Channel streaming service is launching in April!
After filmmakers and cinephiles took to social media to attempt to save FilmStruck in late-2018, WarnerMedia promised to bring back a similar service, retitled The Criterion Channel. And now, we know exactly when film fans will be able to shell out their hard-earned cash for a chance to watch films from one of the greatest film libraries around.
The Criterion Channel service launches April 8, and will be available on desktop, Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV, iOS, and Android devices for the monthly fee of $10.99 (or $99.99 annually).
Charter subscribers get some additional benefits, especially if they subscribe before the April launch date, including reduced pricing for the life of their subscriptions along with other benefits, including a prelaunch Movie of the Week every Wednesday until launch, starting with the complete, newly released Criterion edition of “Mikey and Nicky,” with a new restoration supervised by Elaine May, along with all of its supplemental features.
The big selling point for the Criterion Channel streaming service is the constantly refreshed selection of Hollywood, international, art-house, and independent movies, plus continuous access to Criterion’s own streaming library of more than 1,000 important classic and contemporary films from around the world.
As for all the extras that you can expect with the Criterion Channel, the service is going to be truly unique with its own original content and filmmaker-focused exclusives including a new Sunday Spotlight, a movie marathon focusing on a different director, star, genre, or theme each week. There will also be a return of “Adventures in Moviegoing,” the guest programmer series that has featured Bill Hader, Barry Jenkins, Guillermo del Toro, and Mira Nair, “Tuesday’s Short + Feature,” “Friday Double Feature,” “Meet the Filmmakers,” “Art-House America,” and “Observations on Film Art,” the Channel’s 15-minute-a-month film school.
In addition to all that, subscribers will also have access to the Criterion Collection’s library of supplemental features, archival interviews, and original documentaries.
It looks like April 8 is the date to mark in your calendar for when you’ll finally get to check out the follow-up service to FilmStruck. And if you want it to last, this time, everyone better subscribe.