After a petition with tens of thousands of digital signatures and almost every major filmmaker in the world coming out in support for the service, it appears that the streaming service FilmStruck may just live to see another day. But that’s the only good news, right now.
You see, according to Deadline, WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey has apparently heard the massive amount of outcry from filmmakers and film fans asking the company to keep FilmStruck alive. And while the report says he might just keep the FilmStruck library intact, it still doesn’t mean the subscription service is going to be saved.
The report says that Stankey is interested in allowing FilmStruck, as a concept, to survive, but in a new form. The new form isn’t completely known at this time, but it’s largely believed that the service will return under a new name and as part of the package of streaming services that WarnerMedia is putting together now that will launch in the fourth quarter of 2019. The report doesn’t mention if the Criterion Channel will be part of that package deal.
So yes, FilmStruck is still dead. However, it appears that fans of the service that have been hoping to see the large catalog of classic, indie, and foreign-language films survive might be in luck, even if they have to wait a full year to see it come back.
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Unfortunately, as it stands now, the FIlmStruck service is still scheduled to be shuttered on November 29. But as Deadline explains, the large amount of fan and Hollywood support the service has received in the last week could lead to more changes coming faster. Perhaps there could be a way that WarnerMedia keeps the service alive until the new WB streaming package goes live next year? Or maybe, Stankey will attempt to hurry the service to take advantage of fans’ loyalty.
At this point, nothing is set in stone. The moral of the story is simple — if you still want FilmStruck (and thus, it’s library of films) to survive, keep up with putting the pressure on WarnerMedia. It appears that it might be working.