Apple Wants to Let You Stream New Movies for the Same Price as the Theater

Apple, like any industry-dominating tech company, has a penchant for broadening its horizons, which is why it has plans to charge head first into territory carved out by Netflix, Amazon and other streaming giants.

According to a report in Bloomberg, the Cupertino company is pressing Hollywood studio executives for earlier access to movies. Several major studios, such as 21st Century Fox, Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures, are keen on offering iTunes customers high-priced rentals of recently released flicks.That rental could become available as quickly as two weeks after a blockbuster hits theaters, according to the report. The deal would further serve as a blow to the beleaguered movie theater industry, which is only serving up more expensive tickets and snacks, anyway. 

A partnership between major production studios and Apple would give the tech company a marked advantage in the streaming industry, being that competitors like Netflix and Amazon Prime typically have to wait two months or more for a film’s theater run to finish. Showrunners maintain that movie rentals would cost somewhere between $25 and $50 a pop on iTunes, which doesn’t sound too bad, especially if you invite over some friends.

In any case, it seems that movie theaters might be nearing their final death knell -- which makes sense when factoring in things like personal convenience and $12 popcorn -- and it's clear that Apple is twisting the knife. 

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Sam Blum is a News Staff Writer for Thrillist. He's also a martial arts and music nerd who appreciates a fine sandwich and cute dogs. Find his clips in The Guardian, Rolling Stone, The A.V. Club and Vice. He's on Twitter @Blumnessmonster.