Now you can watch your Disney movie on any non-Windows mobile device!
In February, Disney released their Disney Movies Anywhere app exclusively to Apple devices. The app account connected to your iTunes accounts so you could watch movies on their app without having to use iTunes.I think you can also buy movies directly through the app, and the app (along with iTunes) also take codes delivered with physical discs. To reward you for helping them with their consumer tracking, Disney has included some exclusive bonus features if you watch the movies within the app.
Today, Disney announced that they’re extending the digital portable pacifier to Android devices because Android as the lion’s share of the digital market now. As long as you aren’t using a Windows Phone, you too can watch gigantic spectacle movies on your tiny screen. I’m curious if this is a thing.
The thing that interests me about this is that this isn’t a subscription service like Warner Archive, Netflix, Hulu, or the new Lionsgate/Tribeca service. DMA requires you to purchase the movie instead of providing all the movies for $15/mth (or something). Ostensibly, if you’re buying the movie, then you care about the movie. Which leads me to wonder who watches these films on their mobile and why.
I’ve seen people using mobile devices as digital pacifiers for their kids, which I understand. But, I can’t imagine wanting to watch The Avengers (Marvel is part of the app) on a tiny screen.
Do you watch movies on your mobile devices? What do you watch if you do? I’m genuinely curious. I tried streaming HBO Go, but found myself gravitating toward visually unambitious comedies like Doctor Detroit. What does this say about the future of film consumption? And, what could this say about our consumption habits.
I think this ties in to yesterday’s The Dissolve article about The Cheapening of Independent Film. If we’re willing to consume The Avengers on our tablet, why would we make exceptions for a flat indie film like Clerks (which I love, by the way)? Also, is this training the next generation to consume things on a smaller scale?
Similarly, the record industry is dying. Reports that ticket sales were down this year paralleled reports that Taylor Swift’s latest album, 1989 is the first artist album this entire year to go Platinum. 1989 is the Guardians of the Galaxy of album sales. In 2007, Radiohead released In Rainbows exclusively online, with an honesty box. But, records have a replayability that most movies don’t. More people are willing to rent a movie than rent an album, and to buy an album than buy a movie. Where does this lead for the movie industry? Is the app going to kill the theater? Time will tell.
