Empire Theaters Is No More
It looks like my local theaters will again change owners, within a year of it’s conversion from an AMC Theater to an Empire Theater.
Empire Theaters west of Ontario have been sold to Landmark Cinemas whilst the Atlantic Canada locations have been sold to Cineplex Inc. But in Ontario itself all but two Empire Theaters have been purchased by Landmark Cinemas, the Kanata and Whitby locations having been purchased by Cineplex Inc.
Redbox Expands In Canada
Redbox kiosks have now been placed in more retailers in Canada.
These kiosks, which are either located in a retailer or outdoors near the retailer’s entrance, offer movie rentals in both DVD and Blu-Ray. But unlike the Zip kiosks, they take reservations online and offer game rentals for Xbox 360, Wii and Playstation 3.
Though more expensive than Zip for DVD rentals at $1.50/day, Redbox also offers Blu-Ray rentals at $2/day so I will probably rent my Blu-rays from them when they decide to expand to my local grocery store or Walmart. The Zip kiosk location I currently rent from is some distance from my home.
Zip Kiosks Leave Nova Scotia
I have just found out that Zip had removed their movie rental kiosks from Nova Scotia a few weeks ago. But Redbox is slowly expanding to Walmart Superstores, Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacies and Loblaws brand grocery stores through-out Canada so Nova Scotia residents could regain access to a movie rental kiosk service next year.
No DVD Playback In Windows 8 ?
Windows 8 will no longer include DVD playback capabilities by default and this function will only be included in Windows 8 Pro and in upgrades to computers that are equipped with DVD drives.
Microsoft believes that most of their customers do not use their computers to view DVDs and that DVD playback will not be necessary because most individuals who view films on their computers now download or steam this content from online sources.
Computers that are equipped with DVD or Blu-ray drives will likely include third party software so most consumers will be unaffected by this issue.
Movies In The Cloud ?
iTunes have recently added movies to their cloud services in the States.
This enables their clients to view films and television programs on multiple devices though it appears that they may be short on Universal and Fox releases.
Hopefully this will be rectified by the time the service is enabled in Canada, though it should be noted that no official date in regards to its introduction has yet been published.
Zip To Expand Movie Rental Kiosks
Online movie rental retailer Zip.ca will partner with Metro Inc. to bring their movie rental kiosks to over 800 Metro grocery stores though-out Canada.
These red kiosks, which rented DVDs for $1 and blu-ray disc for $2, were successfully tested in Ottawa and Montreal Metro stores. And the company is hoping to gain more customers from Blockbuster Canada‘s extensive membership.
Zip is also currently offering internet movie rentals on Samsung brand devices.