Disney shutters Movies Anywhere service

The Walt Disney Company is closing its Disney Movies Anywhere services, though customers can transfer their downloaded films to a newer service.

A message on the Disney Movies Anywhere web page urged users to move their films to the Movies Anywhere digital locker service announced last year.

Disney Movies Anywhere launched in 2014 as a space to store Pixar, Disney and Marvel Entertainment movies downloaded through iTunes, Amazon, Google Play and Vudu, but officially closed yesterday.

Movies Anywhere was first announced last year, and this is where previously stored films will go.

While Disney owns and operates the platform, it has support from Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox, the movie and TV arm of 21st Century Fox that Disney is currently buying.

That backing differentiates Movies Anywhere to its predecessor, which competed with UltraViolet, a service that Sony, Paramount Pictures and Lionsgate.

Hollywood’s studios have long been keen on digital lockers that in theory extend the life of downloads and make it easier for consumers to access to that content.

In related news, Disney CEO Bob Iger this week revealed more details of Disney’s upcoming SVOD service, which launches next year.

He noted that it could commission original shows from brands currently part of the Fox stable, naming factual banner National Geographic as having potential.