In what is an unprecedented move by the collective home entertainment industry in the U.S., some of the biggest studios, cable companies and streaming retailers have gotten together to launch what they are now calling the “Ultimate Movie Weekend.”
The Ultimate Movie Weekend takes place this weekend and is basically designed to offer consumers the chance to rent a movie online at a greatly discounted price.
The promotion is now live and will remain ongoing through June 3.
During this time consumers will be able to rent newer movies at the knockdown $2.99 rate, while other movies can be rented for as low as 99 cents.
For example, on the newer release front, A Star Is Born, Aquaman, Bumblebee, Escape Room, First Man, Robin Hood, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse are all included in the $2.99 sale. While titles including Wonder Woman, Suicide Squad, and Spider-man: Homecoming can be rented for even cheaper.
What’s interesting here is the sheer scale of companies involved and throughout the chain as Lionsgate Entertainment, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, and Warner Bros. are all taking part at the studio level.
Then there are the cable and satellite TV companies and this list includes Comcast’s Xfinity TV, Cox, DIRECTV, DISH, and U-verse. For reference, this is just a selection and not the full list.
Completing the support chain is the retailers which involves a vast number of options, such as Amazon Prime Video, FandangoNOW, Google Play, Microsoft Movies & TV, PlayStation Store, Redbox On Demand, and Vudu. Again, that’s not the entire list, but simply a selection of those that might be more commonly accessed by Android device owners, including Android TV users.
It should be noted that although this is a coordinated effort and all of these retailers are taking part in the sale, that’s not to say all of the retailers are charging exactly the same for a title, or even offering the same movies to begin with. Instead, each retailer is choosing which movies they are including and at what price. Therefore, you may find you need to shop around to get an exact movie at an exact price.
The effort has been coordinated by the non-profit Entertainment Merchants Association and in a press release the Association made it clear the promotion is designed to attract new digital renters, while also reminding “infrequent” digital renders of the benefits of renting in this way.
At the same time, the promotion also seems to be a way to remind everyone that you do not have to wait for a new movie to come to a streaming service near you. As a number of the newer movies are specifically touted as ones “that are not yet available on subscription video services.” This point is likely why so many companies are taking part as they look to battle the ever-growing importance of subscription-based streaming services.
For those interested in taking advantage of the promotion this weekend, simply head over to your preferred retailer of choice and look for the promotional section titled “Ultimate Movie Weekend” where you’ll see the full list of movies included by that retailer – remember, they do vary from each other. For example, click here for the Google Play Store list and click here for Vudu’s.
Alternatively, you can see more of an overview of all of those who are taking part by checking out the now live dedicated Ultimate Movie Weekend website.