Criterion Collection To Launch Classic Film Streaming Service In April

The Criterion Collection, which was left homeless in October after WarnerMedia shuttered its exclusive streaming partner FilmStruck, has announced a launch date for its own streaming service.

Film buffs in the U.S. and Canada will have access to more than 1,000 contemporary and classic films beginning April 8, Variety reports. A subscription to the service, called Criterion Channel, is regularly priced at $10.99 per month or $99.99 per year. The service is currently offering pre-launch subscribers a free 30-day trial as well as locked-in pricing of $9.99 per month or $89.99 per year.

This service marks the first time the Criterion Collection’s content has been available to stream in a standalone capacity. As mentioned above, Criterion was previously partnered with FilmStruck, a former Time Warner service that offered foreign films, classic cinema, and indie features on demand. After AT&T

acquired Time Warner for $85 billion, it formed WarnerMedia and streamlined the entity’s assets by shutting down Time Warner brands FilmStruck, DramaFever, and Super Deluxe.

Criterion Collection’s displacement didn’t sit well with Hollywood, though. And after impassioned pleas from people like Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and Guillermo del Toro, WarnerMedia signed a new deal to both launch Criterion Channel and to include Criterion Collection’s films in its own forthcoming streaming service.

The Criterion Channel will offer “constantly refreshed selections” of Hollywood, international, art-house, and independent movies, the company told Variety. The current roster includes The Silence of the Lambs, The Graduate, del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, and Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove.