Apple TV’s Surprise Movie Perk Returns — Here’s What You Can Stream
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In what’s starting to feel like a tradition, Apple is once again adding a batch of free classic movies for Apple TV subscribers to enjoy.
It’s become an unusual pivot from the company’s longstanding focus on original content, and while we’ve heard rumors of Apple exploring deals to host its own permanent back catalog of movies and TV shows, nothing has ever really come of that in the traditional sense.
While Apple signed high-profile deals to acquire the rights to Peanuts and Fraggle Rock, those were more about producing new content for those franchises than simply hosting the previous episodes. Since Apple aims to make Apple TV the home for all things related to Snoopy and the Fraggles, it’s simply added all the older content to its library to complement the new.
There’s still no sign of a long-term content deal on the horizon for movies, but it seems Apple manages to secure the rights to stream a handful of older hits for limited runs, which seem to drop somewhat randomly.
It started two years ago, when we saw 51 classic movies show up, ranging from The Accountant to Zoolander. There didn’t seem to be any real rhyme or reason to the selections, although some had obvious connections to Apple projects. Saving Private Ryan was linked to HBO’s Band of Brothers, which led to Apple’s Masters of the Air, and several others featured actors from Apple TV hit shows and movies, like Ryan Reynolds, Will Ferrell, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Will Smith.
Since then, the frequency of these drops has gradually been increasing, although they still vary between countries. In August, US subscribers got 19 titles, while Canada and the UK only got 6 (and not the same six).
Now, Apple has added as many as 13 new movies available to stream as part of your Apple TV subscription, joining some of the titles that remain available from August.
For US subscribers, the new titles include 28 Days Later, American Gangster, Black Hawk Down, Blood Diamond, Fallen, Fury, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Going the Distance, Good Will Hunting, Insomnia, Jurassic World, Taxi Driver, and Tropic Thunder. Meanwhile, A Beautiful Mind, A League of Their Own, Definitely, Maybe, I, Robot, Master and Commander, The Rookie, and The Sixth Sense still remain on deck from August.
Canada gets a few more this time around. That’s Godzilla, Inception, Jurassic World, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Spider-Man: Homecoming, The Martian, The Social Network, The Town, War of the Worlds, plus all of those added to the free list in August: Catch Me If You Can, Ford v Ferrari, Jurassic Park, Little Miss Sunshine, Rocketman, and The Proposal.
Apple TV subscribers in the UK get most of the same titles as Canada: Godzilla, Inception, Jurassic World, The Martian, The Social Network, Spider-Man: Far From Home, The Town, and War of the Worlds.
With Apple TV recently hiking prices to $14.99 monthly, it’s nice to see the company offering a few extra perks. Still, we really wish it was more consistent in its approach; as usual, there’s no word on how long these will last, so if there’s anything on this list that you’re itching to see, it’s best to act fast.
