AMC Theaters Ends 'On-Demand,' Library Moves To Fandango's Vudu

With expected consolidation in all things streaming to come, according to analysts, AMC Theaters is ending its "On Demand" pay-per-view film service and moving its library of films to Vudu, another transactional film on-demand service owned by Fandango Media.

The change over to the new service began June 1.

AMC launched its AMC Theaters On Demand service in 2019 -- with film rentals ranging from $3 to $6 with purchases from $10 to $20.

Fandango Media, a joint venture between NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery, bought the Vudu service from WalMart in 2020. Vudu originally started up in 2004 and was sold to WalMart in 2010.

Customers of the AMC service will get a 15% discount on all Vudu purchases during the first month of service.

The new combination of the two film rental and purchase services will give Vudu's users access to more than 200,000 new and catalog releases as well as films available to watch for free.

The theatrical movie business continues its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in 2020.

AMC Theaters is still in financial recovery mode. First-quarter 2023 losses were trimmed to $235.5 million for the company from $337.4 million in the same period a year ago, with revenue climbing 21.5% to $954.4 million.

Attendance in U.S. theaters grew 26% to 32.4 million during the period.

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