Cinema-on-demand service ourscreen gains Altitude

Fledgling UK cinema-on-demand (COD) service ourscreen has added films from sales and distribution outfit Altitude to its growing roster.

Titles added from Altitude include Gregg Araki’s White Bird in a Blizzard, starring Shailene Woodley and Eva Green, which will also be on general release at the same time as potential ourscreen screenings, and well-received romance Love is Strange, starring John Lithgow and Alfred Molina.

Catalogue titles will include Oscar winner 20 Feet from Stardom, Abel Ferrara’s Welcome to New York, Fruitvale Station and Hooligan Factory.

Upcoming titles to land on the service will include When Animals Dream, The Connection, Marshland and Narcopolis.

Ian Cartwright, director and co-founder at ourscreen commented: “It’s great to have Altitude on board, joining a great list of distributors ready and excited to embrace the ourscreen technology to engage with cinema audiences across the UK. What with Altitude’s range of films, combined with their progressive approach to distribution, we’re very pumped to see what we can achieve together.”

Cartwright and Elevenfiftyfive colleague David Kapur co-founded ourscreen last year with Picturehouse executive Marc Allenby.

The service, which hosts films from most large UK distributors, initially entered into an exclusive beta launch through indie chain Picturehouse but is now available at a handful of single-site independents.

Owners are now in conversation with other indie chains and commercial exhibitors about taking on the service, which allows consumers to programme films into their local cinemas providing a certain number of tickets are sold.

The service, which operates a ticket revenue-share model, is available to 25 UK screens at the moment but co-founder Cartwright is aiming to be in close to 200 screens by December 2015, offering previews and exclusive screenings as well as screenings at the same time as and after general theatrical release.

The tool is the most advanced UK cinema-on-demand service and follows in the footsteps of established US versions such as Tugg. Owners are currently in talks with financiers about a second-round of funding.

Last week Screen reported on a company record for ourscreen with distributor Metrodome achieving 33 screens for Vampire spoof What We Do in the Shadows.

In an increasingly competitive theatrical market, the service is still very much a niche option, but nonetheless offers a welcome additional route to audiences for indie distributors.