Cinephiles and filmmakers alike have been freaking out since WarnerMedia announced it would be closing FilmStruck on November 29. The streaming service offered more classic and independent films than Parker Posey’s IMDb, as well as curated offerings from the Criterion Collection. Well, Criterion isn’t going down without a fight, and announced today that it will start its own damn streaming service! “The Criterion Channel will be picking up where the old service left off,†it said, “programming director spotlights and actor retrospectives featuring major Hollywood and international classics and hard-to-find discoveries from around the world, complete with special features like commentaries, behind-the-scenes footage, and original documentaries.â€
The Criterion Channel is set to launch in spring 2019, scooping WarnerMedia’s FilmStruck facsimile by several months. The Criterion Collection library will still be available through that service. This means cineastes only have one lonely winter to endure without classic films. May they do it stoically and with dramatic lighting, like Ingmar Bergman would want.