The Criterion Channel Will Stream Over 1,000 Art House Films

Naomi Watts and Laura Harring in “Mulholland Drive” (image courtesy The Criterion Collection)

Good news for movie buffs distraught over the recent demise of FilmStruck: on April 8th, the Criterion Collection will launch a new streaming service, called the Criterion Channel, featuring over 1,000 classic and contemporary art house films from around the world.

The Criterion Channel is the result of a new partnership between WarnerMedia and Criterion, a film distribution company that licenses classic, world, and independent cinema.

Previously, FilmStruck, a partnership between the Criterion Collection and Turner Classic Movies, was the exclusive US streaming platform for Criterion’s catalog. After FilmStruck announced in October 2018 that it would shutter, a petition to save it was signed by 40,000 people, including Barbra Streisand and Guillermo del Toro. Several directors and actors, including Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, asked Warner’s chairman, Toby Emmerich, to bring the platform back.  

“The Criterion Channel will be picking up where the old service left off, programming director spotlights and actor retrospectives featuring major Hollywood and international classics and hard-to-find discoveries from around the world, complete with special features like commentaries, behind-the-scenes footage, and original documentaries,” reads a blog post on Criterion’s website.

Criterion Collection’s vast catalog includes Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove, Charles Laughton’s The Night of the Hunter, Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love, Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, and Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai.

Criterion hasn’t yet specified which films will stream on the service, which will be priced at $10.99 a month or $99.99 for an annual subscription. It will be available on computers, Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku, iOS, and Android devices.