In another expansion of the traditional movie theatre business model, AMC Theatres launches AMC Theatres on Demand, a digital movie service for the home. Starting this fall, AMC Stubs members can rent or buy from a selection of about 2,000 digital movies from major studios to watch at home or on the go on mobile devices, connected devices and SmartTV applications. Movies can be rented or purchased through the AMC Theatres mobile app, Roku and Smart TVs at launch, with other services and devices added soon. AMC Theatres is the first theatre chain to offer such a service.

The addition of AMC Theatres On Demand, which extends our movie offerings for AMC Stubs members into their homes, makes perfect sense for AMC Theatres, for our studio partners and for our millions of movie-loving guests, said Adam Aron, AMC Theatres president and CEO, in a news release.

With more than 20 million AMC Stubs households, and with our web site and smartphone apps already being visited hundreds of millions of times annually by movie fans, AMC Theatres is in a unique position to promote specific movies with greater personalization than has ever been possible before. Through the launch of AMC Theatres On Demand, we can reach movie lovers directly and make it easy for them to access films digitally, added Aron.

AMC Theatres On Demand service will feature new releases and popular movies in the movie studios catalogues. To kick off the launch, AMC Stubs members who rent or buy a film from Lionsgate or Paramount Pictures can select an additional three movies from those movie studios films. New films will be released during a traditional window, as determined by the movie studio, but they will be made available to AMC Theatres On Demand at the same time they are made available digitally on other services.

Through a partnership with AMC Networks, AMC Stubs members can also access AMC Networks IFC Films and RLJE Films catalogues later this year. As part of the partnership, AMC Theatres will promote AMC Networks streaming services including Acorn TV, Shudder, Sundance Now and UMC to its moviegoers.

This is a great opportunity for us to both make our film titles available to movie customers and also increase awareness of our growing streaming services, which are all focused on specific genres and content categories fans are passionate about, said Ed Carroll, chief operating officer of AMC Networks.

If you are a fan of horror, or British drama, that interest translates to the television screen, the movie theatre, the phone or anywhere anyone can consume content today. We look forward to working with AMC Theatres to make their new in-home movie service even more appealing to fans through access to our film libraries and also raise awareness of our hyper-focused streaming services among their millions of customers, Carroll added.

The new OTT on-demand service is only available to AMC Stubs members, who earn points for their rentals or movie purchases. AMC Stubs is the theatre chains loyalty program which has three different tiers:

AMC Stubs Insider: Free program that allows moviegoers to get discounts, points and rewards for purchases. (needed to rent or buy movies)

AMC Stubs Premier: For $15 a year, this loyalty program gives members additional incentives including upsizing of popcorn and fountain drinks, online reservations and additional points, perks and discounts.

AMC Stubs A-List: For $19.95 to $23.95 per month, AMC Stubs A-List members can watch up to three movies per week including films in IMAX, RealD 3D, PRIME and Dolby Cinema, make free online reservations, enjoy premier perks and more.

Insider Take:

This is a great opportunity for AMC Theatres to diversify its revenue sources, adding another line of business to its products and services. In June 2018, AMC Theatres launched its movie subscription service – AMC Stubs A-List – which is doing well, growing to 750,000 members in 16 months. The theatre chain built its subscription service, learning from MoviePasss mistakes and likely capturing some of the now-defunct movie subscription services members.

Now AMC Theatres is getting in on the streaming game and letting AMC Stubs members earn points through its free loyalty program for renting or buying movies. This is particularly important as attendance at movie theatres diminishes and people opt to watch films at home instead. It is also important to built and keep those loyal customers as competition for entertainment and attention grows. With Disney+ and Apple TV+ set to launch in November, their timing couldnt be better.