Original Mad Max, Seven Samurai and more coming to new Criterion streaming service

Criterion and Turner Classic Movies (TCM) are collaborating on a new streaming platform called FilmStruck, the companies announced today.

The service, which will provide thousands of art house, indie and foreign movies to cinephiles in the United States, will be competitively priced with other streaming platforms, including Netflix ($9.99) and Hulu ($11.99). While Netflix does offer a collection of similarly themed films, its number has dwindled over the past year, and the remainder have been dispersed into niche subcategories. It's Criterion and TCM's goal to bring some of the restored classics to film buffs for a reasonable price for those who want to watch certain titles but don't want to spend upwards of $30 on a DVD or Blu-ray copy.

Some of the titles that will be streaming include the original Mad Max, Seven Samurai, A Room With A View and the Beatles' classic A Hard Day's Night. There are currently only a couple of ways to watch movies found within the Criterion collection, including purchasing physical copies of specific titles or going through Hulu. Unlike Netflix and Amazon, Hulu has had the exclusive rights to streaming Criterion titles since 2011.

One of the biggest competitors Criterion and TCM will have going forward is Fandor, the streaming startup that tailors its collection to the indie and art house cinema community. Unlike FilmStruck, Fandor is also available to those who live outside of the U.S.

TCM and Criterion are set to debut their new service later this fall.