Popular digital film collection platform Movies Anywhere today announced that it will begin letting users lend their digital movies to friends, with a new feature called "Screen Pass" (via The Verge).

movies anywhere screen pass
Screen Pass will let you share up to three films each month, and your friend will have seven days to accept the offer, after which they will gain access to the film for 14 days. Once started, recipients will have three days to finish watching the film.

Both users will need a Movies Anywhere account, but there won't be a limit on how many times a film can be shared or how many people you share it with in a month. This means that you can share the same movie to two different people, for example, while still being able to watch it in your own library.

Not every movie will support Screen Pass, but Movies Anywhere said that over 6,000 titles will be eligible when the feature kicks off in beta later today. Eligible movies will be determined by studios, so it's likely that newer releases or very popular films won't see Screen Pass support.

Movies Anywhere is a digital locker service that houses all of your movies from platforms like iTunes, Amazon Video, Vudu, Google Play, Microsoft Movies & TV, Fandango Now, and more. When synced with Movies Anywhere, all of these accounts feed into the central service and let you see your entire digital collection in one place.

The closed beta will start today at 1 p.m. PT, and an open beta is planned for May. Afterwards, a wide launch of Screen Pass is slated for later in the year.

Top Rated Comments

confirmed Avatar
62 months ago
Apple should be doing this themselves. Along with Books.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
eNJayBe Avatar
62 months ago
Now if only it really was Movies Anywhere and not US only
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
julesme Avatar
62 months ago
I'd argue that the most urgent problem with Movies Anywhere is that it's still missing support from several movie studios. As a result, you can purchase 100 films on Vudu or Amazon, then find that only 60 of them are available on Apple TV.

Let's get the other studios on board, please.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DTphonehome Avatar
62 months ago
They need to roll this out ASAP. People are going to be really bored on lockdown. Maybe even raise the limit on sharing for now.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Art Mark Avatar
62 months ago
Just hints at the real issue...so you spend your life acquiring digital media. When you die ...? It's tied to YOU. Your account, yes? So can you leave the media to your kid? A spouse? Do they need to keep your email and account active? I don't believe there are any universal rules or solutions here. But a streaming service, monthly payment may be the answer vs. 'buying' anything. Weird to think about.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kylew1212 Avatar
62 months ago

This is pretty sweet actually, though you used to be able to share your whole library using UltraViolet a few years ago with something like 3-5 people. So sort of a step back, but this seems like a pretty reasonable middle ground.

Now if only TV shows had a similar digital locker.
TV shows, and the remaining studios...
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

20 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Monday December 16, 2024 8:55 am PST by
Apple released iOS 18.2 in the second week of December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. Apple has added a handful of new non-AI related feature controls as...
iphone 16 apple intelligence

Apple Drops Plans for iPhone Hardware Subscription Service

Wednesday December 18, 2024 11:39 am PST by
Apple is no longer planning to launch a hardware subscription service that would let customers "subscribe" to get a new iPhone each year, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman first shared rumors about Apple's work on a hardware subscription service back in 2022, and at the time, he said that Apple wanted to develop a simple system that would allow customers to pay a monthly fee to gain...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Rumored to Stick With 'Triangular' Camera Design

Wednesday December 18, 2024 2:36 am PST by
Contrary to recent reports, the iPhone 17 Pro will not feature a horizontal camera layout, according to the leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post on Weibo, the leaker said that a source has confirmed that while the appearance of the back of the iPhone 17 Pro has indeed changed, the layout of the three cameras is "still triangular," rather than the "horizontal bar spread on the...
elevation lab airtag battery

Your AirTag's Battery Will Last for Up to 10 Years With Elevation Lab's New TimeCapsule Enclosure

Wednesday December 18, 2024 10:05 am PST by
Elevation Lab today announced the launch of TimeCapsule, an innovative and simple solution for increasing the battery life of Apple's AirTag. Priced at $20, TimeCapsule is an AirTag enclosure that houses two AA batteries that offer 14x more battery capacity than the CR2032 battery that the AirTag runs on. It works by attaching the AirTag's upper housing to the built-in custom contact in the...
apple tv 4k yellow bg feature

New Apple TV Rumored to Launch Next Year With These Features

Tuesday December 17, 2024 9:02 am PST by
The current Apple TV 4K was released more than two years ago, so the streaming device is becoming due for a hardware upgrade soon. Fortunately, it was recently rumored that a new Apple TV will launch at some point next year. Below, we recap rumors about the next-generation Apple TV. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman last week reported that Apple has been working on its own combined Wi-Fi and...
blackmagic vision pro

Blackmagic Debuts $30K 3D Camera for Capturing Video for Vision Pro

Monday December 16, 2024 4:17 pm PST by
Blackmagic today announced that its URSA Cine Immersive camera is now available for pre-order, with deliveries set to start late in the first quarter of 2025. Blackmagic says that this is the world's first commercial camera system designed to capture 3D content for the Vision Pro. The URSA Cine Immersive camera was first introduced in June, but it has not been available for purchase until...
mac pro creativity

Apple Launched the Controversial 'Trashcan' Mac Pro 11 Years Ago Today

Thursday December 19, 2024 7:00 pm PST by
Apple launched the controversial "trashcan" Mac Pro eleven years ago today, introducing one of its most criticized designs that persisted through a period of widespread discontentment with the Mac lineup. The redesign took the Mac Pro in an entirely new direction, spearheaded by a polished aluminum cylindrical design that became unofficially dubbed the "trashcan" in the Mac community. All of ...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature

'iPhone 17 Air' With 'Major' Design Changes and 19-Inch MacBook Detailed in New Report

Sunday December 15, 2024 9:47 am PST by
Apple is planning a series of "major design" and "format changes" for iPhones over the next few years, according to The Wall Street Journal's Aaron Tilley and Yang Jie. The paywalled report published today corroborated the widely-rumored "iPhone 17 Air" with an "ultrathin" design that is thinner than current iPhone models. The report did not mention a specific measurement, but previous...