A year and a half ago Warner Brothers announced the happy news that they’d be progressively releasing their entire library through an on-demand DVD publication service that allows you to order any movie you wished. While even a year and a half later this seems like a slightly antiquated way of going about things –what with all the bigger and bigger streaming deals the studios are making– it is still a hell of a thing when movies that were unattainable are suddenly made available again. Well Sony is following suit starting a “Columbia Classics On Demand” service of their very own.
Costing you $19.94 for each film, plus shipping (no Blu-rays fool), more and more titles will be released periodically, all of which can be found on the Sony “Columbia Classics” website.
As of now they’re highlighting…
The Pumpkin Eater
Footsteps in The Fog
The Executioner
The Juggler
A Study in Terror
I Never Sang For My Father
Genghis Khan
Thieves
…but there’s 100 total titles available right now.
I’d prefer to see these available at least as one-time streaming rentals in decent quality for a few bucks (though ideally they’d just be available as part of a large collective service like Instant Watch), but this is a start. I would imagine the infrastructure that makes this possible will help speed up the the release of streaming catalogs in the future, as the studios embrace the paradigm 100%.
In the meantime, if your DVD collection is sporting a hole that needs to be filled by a previously unpublished, rare Columbia gem, today is your lucky day.