Apple Adds AFI Movie Club Picks to Apple TV App

By Todd Spangler

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – The American Film Institute’s AFI Movie Club, daily selections of favorite films new and old to watch during quarantine, is now available directly on the Apple TV app — thereby making it easier to stream the titles from the app or pay Apple to rent or buy the titles.

Launched in March, AFI Movie Club’s first selection was “The Wizard of Oz,” picked by Steven Spielberg . The non-profit org is pitching the coronavirus-timed series as “movies to watch together while we’re apart.”

With its addition to the Apple TV app, the AFI’s films are listed under the “Browse by Collection” menu and will be updated daily with the latest selections. Tuesday’s pick: 1960’s “Spartacus,” starring Kirk Douglas, available to purchase for $14.99 or rent for $3.99. If a title is available to watch on a streaming service (like HBO Now, Hulu or Disney Plus), the Apple TV app will show you that option as well.

The AFI Movie Club collection is available now on the Apple TV app on iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac, select Samsung and LG smart TVs, and Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices.

Other guests who have introduced AFI Movie Club film titles include: J.J. Abrams, Halle Berry, Jack Black, Hanelle Culpepper, Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, Cynthia Erivo, Jeff Goldblum, Hugh Grant, Morgan Freeman, Taylor Hackford, Neil Patrick Harris, Eva Longoria, Helen Mirren, Elisabeth Moss, Brad Pitt, Natalie Portman, Emma Roberts, Alicia Silverstone and Sharon Stone.

Movies on the AFI Movie Club list so far include “Moulin Rouge,” “Some Like It Hot”; “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb”; “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”; “To Kill a Mockingbird”; “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial,” “The Sound of Music” and “Moonlight.” And — on May 4th — the pick was “Star Wars: A New Hope.”