Watch Any Movie At Home THE DAY It Comes Out In Theaters

But there is a price. And not just monetary.

No, it’s not piracy. Red Carpet Home Theater is the quiet luxury version of movie-going. What do you need if you want to watch Dune 3 at home the day it comes out instead of going to the movies?

Step 1: Prove that your credit card has a limit of over $50,000.

Step 2: Pay the super reasonable sum of $15,000 for them to install their DRM box at your house.

Step 3: You must be referred by another member to be able to apply (like an exclusive club!).

Step 4: They’ll do a background check on you to make sure you won’t use their service for a purpose against their or the studios’s interests, such as piracy.

Step 5: For each film you want to watch, pay from $1,500 to $3,000, so just a bit over the price of a large popcorn bucket and a large Coke at the movies. This price is set by the participating studios, and you’ll have the movie at your place for 36 hours. So, you have three days to invite over to watch Dune 3 all your friends and relatives who are not rich and well-connected enough to have their own Red Carpet Home Theater.

Now, this is not the first attempt for a service to watch movies at home right when they are released. Prima Cinema, which is no longer active, offered a server that cost $35,000 and an additional $500 per movie. Whatever happened to it is a mystery.

So, who is Red Carpet for? Naturally, for rich cinephiles who don’t have early access to screenings, unlike members of the Academy, for example. Many A-List Hollywood celebrities have watched first-run films in their homes for free for years as part of the “Bel-Air Circuit”, a group of pre-approved V.I.P.s that “borrow” copies of new movies from the studios themselves, The Wall Street Journal calls it “Hollywood’s Secret Screener List”. However, this is only a small group of huge celebrities. There are many millionaires out there who can afford Red Carpet but aren’t in the Bel-Air Circuit.

Other rich people who might be highly interested in this service are those who are so famous they can’t go out in public without people recognizing and chasing them (but aren’t part of the aforementioned clubs) and that are such big cinephiles that they can’t wait for most movies to come out on streaming. Lastly, another group that would make a lot of sense to me that could be a big audience around the world is formed by rich people who live in areas where theaters don’t show many movies (or many good movies), as is the case with many countries’ theaters, even their biggest ones. Consider Greenland, for example. There’s only one theater in the entire country, and their movie list leaves much to be desired. Many developing countries (including the one where I was born and raised) have a terrible selection of movies shown even in their biggest theaters and chains (we might write an article soon on the reasons why this happens in certain countries), so you can be a millionaire, but if the new movie you want to see is not available in your country, your only option would be to catch a flight to a place that does or to just wait patiently for it, like your fellow countrypeople to arrive to a streaming service (and for that movie to be available in that streaming service in your country specifically).

Are there any options for those who can’t afford Red Carpet Films? In 2016, Sean Parker introduced Screening Room. Yes, THAT Sean Parker. The Napster guy played by Justin Timberlake who took the “The” off Facebook. This new company of his promises early-release movies for $50 apiece (rental), played on a $150 box. It’s been almost a decade, though, and we’re still waiting for updates. We do know that filmmakers such as Peter Jackson, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and JJ Abrams have since signed as shareholders. If Screening Room (now rebranded as SR Labs) works out, the landscape of film distribution and exhibition’s future might undergo a huge change.

Believe it or not, it’s been extremely hard for me to find information on these companies, starting with how to apply for a Red Carpet Home Theater, to why Prima Cinema stopped providing their services (couldn’t even find if they went bankrupt), although rumors say it was due to cinema chains not wanting competition on their negotiated monopoly (as an industry) on the first run. I couldn’t even find information on why after almost a decade since its announcement, Sean Parker’s Screening Room/ SR Labs still hasn’t had any updates, although rumor has it that it’s because studios see them as disrupters from Silicon Valley. Also, even though I proposed that Red Carpet Home Theater might be a good option for those who live in areas with few options for theaters or for which films are offered in those theaters, rumor has it this service only operated in New York and Los Angeles as of 2019. Wake up, Red Carpet! You can be making much more money from the rich who live in areas with bad cinema programming, New York and LA might have the theaters with the best programming in the world! You can be a game-changer.

However, Red Carpet is not interested in covering these areas, though. Co-founder Fred Rosen, former Ticketmaster president and CEO, told the New York Times, “We are a niche offering — I’m too old for disruption — but even if a studio makes $25 million to $40 million annually from us, that’s found money.” Rosen wanted to offer a luxury version of movies, a service he noticed had not a luxury version yet, unlike almost every product or service out there. He is not interested in size. “We’re not even looking for 10,000 people,” he said. “With fewer than 4,000 customers, Red Carpet could have $300 million in annual revenue”

Forbes doesn’t consider Red Carpet a great idea, though. “The crazy people paying $3,000 to rent it should get it before it opens, not at the same time. For an extra $1,000, toss in a 5-minute video conference (other than opening night) with one of the supporting actors or crew -- that will really impress their friends. Or pay more to get the director or a major star.”

Will Red Carpet find new ways to expand or improve its service? Maybe. Maybe it already has. The secretiveness and exclusivity of it all make it hard for us peasants to know what’s going on as of mid-2024. For now, let’s all keep our eyes open for updates on Sean Parker’s SR Labs, which many more will be able to afford.

What do you think? If you had the money, would you get Red Carpet? Or do you still find value in the communal theater experience?