Though streaming services like Stan and Netflix offer a decent assortment of Australian movies in their streaming catalogues, there’s still plenty of locally-produced films that have yet to find an SVOD home.
But why find a home when you can build your own? Australian film industry veterans Ron Brown and Alan Finney intend to do just that, announcing the new all-Australian streaming service, OzFlix.
With a marketing campaign that’s set to kick off this coming Australia Day (when else?), OzFlix expects to launch its service sometime during the first half of 2016.
Though the service is expected to offer between 250 and 400 movies on day one, with around 1000 titles by the end of the year, the ultimate goal is for OzFlix to “eventually have every Aussie movie ever,” said Brown, who has set a three-year timeframe to achieve that gargantuan task.
Every movie ever? Tell him he’s dreamin’
According to Brown, OzFlix’s database “identifies just over 2000 titles, going all the way back to The Story of the Kelly Gang,” the 1906 Australian film that has the distinction of being the world’s very first feature-length narrative film.
Brown and Finney’s non-profit organisation, the Australian Film Futures Foundation, is currently in discussions with the National Film and Sound Archive to gain access to its collection of films, and while no deal has been inked yet, NFSA general manager of collections Meg Labrum says that “anything that is going to bring Australian films into the limelight is fantastic."
Finney, who is currently the chair of the Australian Film Institute and AACTA, believes that OzFlix “will give people a greater overview of our industry," and has gathered support from its top Australian figures, including Max Max director George Miller, Priscilla director Stephan Elliott, actors Claudia Carvan, Sigrid Thornton and many more.
While no mention of an expected subscription cost has been made in regards to OzFlix, we imagine that it’ll have to be priced competitively in order to convince Australian SVOD enthusiasts to sign up to another streaming service.
