New Criterion Channel Unveils Initial Programming Lineup

The new service, which steps into the void that was created when WarnerMedia shut down FilmStruck, launches April 8.


The Criterion Channel, the new streaming service built around the Criterion Collection of classic and contemporary films that launches April 8, unveiled its initial lineup today. The new service steps into the void that was left behind when WarnerMedia shut down FilmStruck, which also featured the Criterion Collection of films, Nov. 27.


While it is centered on the library of films that constitutes the Criterion Collection and Janus Films, the new streaming services is also licensing studio and indie films from an array of suppliers, including Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Metro Goldwyn Mayer, Lionsgate, IFC Films, Kino Lorber, Cohen Media, Milestone Film and Video, Oscilloscope, Cinema Guild, Strand Releasing, Shout Factory, Film Movement and Grasshopper Films.


The service, which will be available on desktop browsers and through apps for Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku, iOS and Android and Android TV devices, is offering subscribers who sign up by April 7 an extended, 30-day free trial starting April 8; a prelaunch members-only Movie of the Week every Wednesday between now and April 8; and a charter-subscriber rate of $9.99 a month ($89.99 annually). Once the service launches, the rate will be $10.99 a month ($99.99 annually).


The April lineup will kick off with a spotlight on Columbia Noir, featuring 11 film noir classics from Columbia Pictures, including films by Fritz Lang, Jacques Tourneur, Don Siegel and Blake Edwards; Directed by David Lynch, with four features, including Eraserhead and The Elephant Man and a selection of shorts; Screenwriter: Suso Cecchi d’Amico, a seven-film tribute to the Italian screenwriter that includes Bicycle Thieves and Rocco and His Brothers; and another seven-film series on the extraordinary French actress Simone Signoret.


The new Criterion Channel will also include the original Criterion programming that debuted on FilmStruck, such as Adventures in Moviegoing, in which filmmakers like Guillermo del Toro, Barry Jenkins and Mira Nair share their favorite films, and Meet the Filmmakers.