Tech

JJ Abrams and Spielberg endorse Napster founder's film streaming service

by Jeremy Mersereau

It’s 2016, and here we are still shelling out huge amounts of money just for the privilege of sitting in a dark room full of boisterous strangers and sticky armrests just to watch an Ant-Man battle an Iron Man or whatever the incoherent plot of the next Marvel punch-a-thon is. “Where did we go wrong?!” – theatre-goers everywhere, who thought we’d be parking our AI-controlled Tesla Motor jet-cars in virtual drive-ins by now.

Enter: Screening Room, a new streaming company backed by former Napster and Facebook impresario Sean Parker that aims to be the first whiff of grapeshot that changes all that, much to the chagrin of theatre owners and exhibitors everywhere. The company plans to offer first-run theatrical movies the day they’re released for $50 a pop. Customers will be able to stream these films for 48 hours after purchase… only after purchasing a $150 piracy-secure set top box.

Screening Room, attempting to mollify exhibitors who are resistant to the first stone that spells the avalanche of their own doom for some reason, is offering to give theatre chains a huge cut of the profits: 20% of the $50 fee (that’s $10 of each rental, for those creatives currently “employed” as “Director of Dreams” or whatever). As a final incentive, Screening Room’s hefty fees also include two tickets to see your chosen film in a brick-and-mortar theatre.

To further seal the deal, Parker and co. have enlisted a group of Hollywood heavy-hitters including Steven Spielberg, JJ Abrams, and Peter Jackson as shareholders/Judas goats to further persuade unconvinced theatre companies to hop on board the treadmill to their futuristic, laser-powered industry guillotine. “Come on, guys! Untold future revenue is waiting for you, just at the top of this ramp!” – Martin Scorsese, probably.

“Screening Room will expand the audience for a movie – not shift it from cinema to living room. It does not play off studio against theatre owner. Instead it respects both and is structured to support the long-term health of both exhibitors and distributors – resulting in greater sustainability for the wider film industry itself,” Peter Jackson told Variety.

This is especially interesting coming from Jackson, who signed a letter in 2011 declaring his opposition to DirecTV planning to show movies a whole eight weeks after they hit theatres.

$50 on top of a $150 set-top box might sound like huge rip-off, but don’t worry: if this goes ahead, within a few years we’ll all be watching Batman Vs. Superman VII: Dawn of Mxyzptlk in our underwear at 2 p.m. on a Monday, like God intended.

[h/t Variety]