Movie Theater Tries, Fails to Stream The Grinch From Amazon Prime in Viral Video

A movie theater’s failed attempt to stream Amazon Prime Video’s Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch was caught on video and has since gone viral. On TikTok, user Rachel Moore (@rachel.m00re) shared a video (via Newsweek) that claims to show their local movie theater attempting to stream the 2018 animated version of the holiday classic on the big screen only to be thwarted after pressing play when a message flashed on screen indicating that the account being used had reached the maximum number of videos playing at once, indicating that too many users are accessing that specific account. Moore captioned the video “Apparently our movie theatre runs off fire tv & renting Amazon prime movies.”

While the situation was met with groans and laughter from the crowd offscreen and the video has gotten a lot of traction — over 2 million views at this point — if the theater really was attempting to use an Amazon Prime account to stream movies and other content, it’s actually no laughing matter. Amazon Prime Video’s Terms of Use clearly indicates the parameters for use of their content, and a movie theater situation isn’t okay. The terms of service notes:

“You may not (i) transfer, copy or display the Digital Content, except as permitted in this Agreement; (ii) sell, rent, lease, distribute, or broadcast any right to the Digital Content; (iii) remove any proprietary notices or labels on the Digital Content; (iv) attempt to disable, bypass, modify, defeat, or otherwise circumvent any digital rights management or other content protection system used as part of the Service; or (v) use the Service or Digital Content for any commercial or illegal purpose.”

While it’s possible that there is more to the video’s backstory it seems that the theater may be in breach of those Terms of Service, not to mention the message that flashed on screen itself that there were too many other users streaming video from the same account. Additionally, Moore replied to user comments that guests paid $2 for the film as part of a “$2 movie day” and that the theater ultimately ended up “splurging on the 4K version” of the film and rented it for $4. She also noted in another comment reply that the theater was simultaneously streaming The Grinch on another screen.

Thus far, the theater has not commented on the situation.

What do you think about the situation? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.