- The Screening Room, a company built that is pursuing the release of new movies to become available in the home, announced it raised $27.5 million and it hired a new CEO
The Screening Room, a company built that is pursuing the release of new movies to become available in the home right away, announced a few major changes. The company said it has been rebranded to SR Labs. And SR Labs has named a new CEO: former Sony Pictures Home Entertainment president Man Jit Singh.
The Screening Room was founded by former SFX Entertainment chief content officer Prem K. Akkaraju and Napster co-founder and founding president of Facebook Sean Parker. And going forward, Akkaraju will become the executive chairman of the company.
SR Labs also revealed it raised $27.5 million in equity financing. However, they did not reveal the investors.
The idea behind The Screening Room originally surfaced back in 2016. And the company had support from a number of renowned movie directors like Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, and J.J. Abrams.
The original concept for The Screening Room was to offer a set-top box for $150, which can be used for streaming brand new movies at $50 a pop. But the movie theater industry pushed to block the company.
Due to the COVID-19 lockdown, the movie theater industry has been rattled as consumers are staying at home. As a result, movie theaters across the world have completely shut down operations along with film productions. A number of movie studios pushed back major releases that were planned for this year and next year.
“In the face of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, our world has been upended by an invisible enemy sparing no country or industry,” said Parker via Variety. “The damage has been especially acute amongst film studios and theatrical exhibitors. Since my earliest memories as a child, my hopes, values, and aspirations were shaped by the power of film, and the immersive nature of the theatrical experience. We must do everything in our power to preserve the time-honored tradition of theatrical exhibition at this pivotal moment, when its very existence is under threat.”
