Amazon Prime Video Cinema is a new service that allows you to rent movies just released in theaters. Here's how it works, how much it costs and when it will arrive in Italy
The spread of the Covid-19 epidemic has not only changed our daily habits, but it has also had a number of repercussions on an economic level. Some entertainment industries are paying the consequences, a lot of concerts and festivals have been cancelled, the same for the production of many movies and TV series. All films scheduled for release in theaters in this period have been postponed, creating incalculable economic losses.
In the United States, however, Amazon has found an alternative solution by launching Amazon Prime Video Cinema. This is a parallel service to the video streaming platform dedicated exclusively to movies being released in theaters. Users can rent a movie for 48 hours and watch it as many times as they want. In a particular period like the one we are living, it could be a help for all film companies that will have to wait a little longer to launch their new films. Here's what it is and how Amazon Prime Video works.
How Amazon Prime Video Cinema works
The new Amazon Prime Video Cinema service allows you to rent a movie that has just been released in theaters, or in conjunction with its release at the box office, directly from the online streaming service. In the catalog of Amazon Prime Video Cinema present in the United States you can already rent movies released a few days ago in theaters and that because of the lockdown will see a huge decrease in revenue from tickets. Prices? For a 48 hour rental of a movie we're talking about $18.49, a bit expensive by Italian standards, but normal for the United States. Currently, the service seems to give the hoped-for results, many film producers have agreed to make their films available for first viewing for rental on the same day of release in theaters.
Amazon Prime Video Cinema: when in Italy?
For now it is not known if the Amazon Prime Video Cinema service will be available in Italy and the rest of Europe. It seems to be mostly a kind of "experimentation". Amazon's top management has not yet clarified if and how much this new service will remain available to the American public and if, over time, it will become a "fixed" service and not used only in this period of emergency to give some breathing space to the world of cinema.