MovieItaly, a streaming service aimed at Italian film lovers, has launched in North America.
The subscription video-on-demand channel from Italy’s Minerva Pictures is dedicated to Italian cinema and will cost $7.99 a month, $19.99 quarterly and $67.99 for the year. “It’s a price that’s affordable for a large part of our audience. It’s not too big, it’s too little,” Minerva Pictures CEO Gianluca Curti told The Hollywood Reporter.
MovieItaly will also launch with 250 classic and contemporary films with English subtitles, and a monthly refresh of 15 new titles. The streaming platform was launching initially in the U.S. and Canada as both countries have sizable Italian communities and cinema lovers eager to embrace Italian titles, Rome-based Curti during a launch in Toronto.
“There are lots of cinema lovers in North America. We want to target people who like world cinema,” he added.
MovieItaly enters an increasingly crowded streaming landscape for movies as digital is increasingly the present and the future for indie film, thanks to the pandemic. Rival classic and contemporary movie streaming services also looking to be a Netflix complement include The Criterion Channel at $10.99 monthly, IFC Films Limited at $5.99 a month, Magnolia Selects at $4.99 and the genre film service Shudder for $5.99 per month.
Curti argued his streamer will complement bigger subscription video on-demand services like Netflix and Amazon Prime with voluminous libraries and buzzy content by allowing subscribers to cherry-pick the best Italian movies from all periods and genres and a curated collection.
MovieItaly will launch with film classics from directors like Luchino Visconti, Bernardo Bertolucci and Lina Wertmuller, spaghetti westerns, festival movies that debuted at Venice, Berlin and Cannes, and contemporary dramas, action, romantic comedies and comedy pics.
Minerva will source movie titles from partners Movietime, Compass, Filmexport Group, Intramovies, Rewind Film and Film Distribution.
