By: Dipin Sehdev

For years, building a digital movie collection has felt a little like collecting books that are scattered across half a dozen libraries. You buy a film on Apple TV. Another on Amazon Prime Video. A few more through Fandango at Home. Somewhere along the way, you forget where you purchased what. The collection exists, but it feels fragmented. That is why Lionsgate’s decision to join Movies Anywhere is more important than it might initially appear. Beginning next month, Lionsgate will bring 225 of its most popular films to the Movies Anywhere platform, with roughly 100 additional titles expected to be added each month throughout 2026 and into early 2027. The move adds one of Hollywood’s most valuable film libraries to a service that has quietly become one of the best consumer-friendly tools in digital entertainment. For movie collectors, this is not just another licensing agreement. It is a rare example of the industry making digital ownership feel a little more like actual ownership.

The Best Thing About Movies Anywhere

Movies Anywhere solves a problem that should never have existed in the first place. When consumers buy a movie digitally, they often assume that purchase follows them everywhere. In reality, digital libraries have traditionally been tied to specific retailers. A film purchased through Apple TV might not appear in your Amazon library. A movie redeemed through a Blu-ray code could end up trapped inside one ecosystem. Movies Anywhere acts as a bridge between those platforms. Once accounts are connected, eligible movies purchased through participating retailers automatically appear across linked services, including:

• Apple TV
• Amazon Prime Video
• Fandango at Home
• Google Play
• YouTube
• Xfinity
• Verizon Fios TV
• DIRECTV

The result is a single, unified digital collection rather than a collection scattered across multiple storefronts. It is one of the smartest consumer-facing initiatives the entertainment industry has launched in the digital era.

Why Lionsgate Matters

This is not a small catalog addition. Lionsgate controls some of the most popular franchises in modern cinema, including:

• John Wick
• The Hunger Games
• Knives Out
• Saw
• Dirty Dancing
• Rambo
• Now You See Me
• La La Land
• Reservoir Dogs
• Kill Bill
• Django Unchained

The studio's library contains more than 20,000 film and television titles and generates approximately $1 billion in annual revenue. Adding even a fraction of that library dramatically expands the value of Movies Anywhere.

"Lionsgate’s classic IP and coveted catalog of films has always been one of our studio’s strengths," said Adam Frank, Executive Vice President of Global Transactional Sales & Distribution at Lionsgate. "This initiative marks a pivotal step forward as we continue to drive strategic growth from our library." Movies Anywhere General Manager Karin Gilford called the partnership an opportunity for consumers to "grow their digital movie collections and continue to enjoy the films they love wherever and whenever they want." 

The Holdouts Are Becoming More Noticeable

The Lionsgate announcement also shines a spotlight on the studios that remain absent. Paramount remains outside the platform. MGM has yet to join despite Amazon's acquisition of the studio in 2022. Independent powerhouses like A24 and Criterion Collection are also missing. The irony is that Movies Anywhere has existed for years, yet some of the industry's biggest catalogs remain isolated from the broader ecosystem. The more studios that participate, the more valuable the platform becomes. And Lionsgate's arrival only increases pressure on the remaining holdouts.

A Personal Collector's Perspective

As someone who still buys Blu-rays, 4K discs, records, and CDs, I appreciate anything that makes collecting easier. My own digital movie library now exceeds 300 purchased titles spread across multiple services. Movies Anywhere has become the closest thing we have to a centralized digital movie collection. Which is why there is one addition I would love to see next:

Kaleidescape.

For home theater enthusiasts, Kaleidescape remains the gold standard for digital movie playback. Its video quality, audio quality, and ownership experience are unmatched. Imagine purchasing a movie on Apple TV and having it automatically appear inside your Kaleidescape library or vice versa. That kind of interoperability would be transformative for serious collectors. Whether it ever happens is another question entirely.

The Bigger Picture

Movies Anywhere now serves more than 14.5 million users. With Lionsgate joining the platform, the service approaches 10,000 available films. At a time when streaming subscriptions continue to multiply and digital ownership often feels increasingly fragile, this partnership offers something refreshingly simple: A way to keep your collection together. And for movie lovers who have spent years buying films across multiple ecosystems, that may be the best feature of all.