Back in the early days of the Coronavirus pandemic, watch parties were all the rage, as people gathered in huge numbers online to simultaneously watch and share their thoughts on a movie, in what was an attempt to recreate the theatrical experience for the digital age at a time when virtually every cinema had closed their doors to the public.
After a while the trend began to fade, even though theaters are still struggling to maintain any sort of meaningful business despite the reopening plans being firmly underway, but it appears that Disney are still intent on arriving several months late to the party. A couple of weeks ago, it was reported that Disney Plus was in the process of developing a feature that would allow multiple households to stream the same content at the same time, and now it appears that the rebranded GroupWatch extension is in the testing phase.
There’s no timeline on when it will officially be added to the service, but GroupWatch gives up to six paying Disney Plus customers the opportunity to share their viewing experience, and it’s already being tested in Canada. The bad news for those hoping to circumvent paying the $29.99 for Mulan, though, is that Premier Access titles will need to have been purchased by all households in order to use the feature.
People who find themselves desperately missing the communal experience of heading out to their local multiplex will no doubt be interested in Disney Plus‘ GroupWatch, especially when movies are still being pulled from the release schedule. Not to mention it’ll be a great tool for families and friends to share the enjoyment of sitting down together and diving into the Mouse House’s extensive back catalogue.
