Sky to offer new streaming movies on their cinema release day
It’s all about making self isolation that bit more tolerable
What do you do when you’ve been following government advice to self isolate for a while, and you’ve exhausted the myriad contents of Netflix, iPlayer and Amazon Prime Video? Sky has the answer, and will be streaming new releases on the same day they appear in the cinema.
Starting with Dreamworks Animation’s Trolls World Tour on 6 April, NBCUniversal films will be abvailable to rent from Sky at the same time they’ll be appearing on the big screen – assuming all big screens aren’t shut down by that point, of course.
Although Trolls World Tour is the first film to get the same-day treatment, a number of other new releases will be available to rent from Friday – well ahead of the usual schedule. They are The Hunt, The Invisible Man and Emma, and will all be available on demand from the Sky Store.
“We’re working hard at Sky to make sure we continue to look after our customers,” said Sky UK and Europe CEO Stephen van Rooyen. “We’re also introducing some things to help make life a little easier for anyone at home trying to work, stay connected to loved ones, or keep the family entertained.”
Although Sky hasn’t mentioned any costs, at the moment a new releases seem to cost £5.49 to rent in standard definition. You can start playing them at any time 30 days from purchase, but they must be finished within 48 hours of pressing ‘play’. That’s quite a lot of toilet breaks.
For those struggling to keep children entertained in this homebound times, Sky has a bit more good news: Both YouTube Kids and Disney Plus will be coming to Sky Q “in the coming weeks”. Between that and all the box sets on demand, you have to say that this is probably one of the better eras to be trapped at home…