Amazon Prime Video Launches Watch Party Feature, Allowing 100 Simultaneous Streamers

Amazon is climbing all aboard the Quarantine Watch Party train. As of Monday morning, the mega-corporation has started to roll out a "Watch Party" feature for its Prime Video customers. What's that mean, exactly? With Prime Video Watch Party, you and 99 others can hop in the same chat room-style set up and watch a movie or television show of your choosing. The setup even includes a chat feature so that you and your dozens of friends can message each other throughout the party.

Right now, the service is only available to those on desktop PCs. It should be noted that the service only allows you to watch whatever's available through Prime Video's video-on-demand service. That means you won't be able to rent or buy a new release from the primary Amazon site and watch it through Prime Video Watch Party. Also of note is the fact that all participants have to have active Prime subscriptions — Watch Party is included in all subscriptions for no extra charge.

Amazon had previously tested the service out with Twitch in April to glowing reviews. All Amazon Originals are also available to stream through the service including The Boys, Fleabag, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Jack Ryan, Hanna, Guava Island, Troop Zero, Late Night, The Big Sick, and Dave Bautista's My Spy.

The move comes at a time when the reopening of theaters is thrown back into flux due to growing coronavirus numbers across the country. Monday afternoon, AMC Theatres announced it'd be delaying a company-wide reopening a few weeks until the end of July. AMC CEO Adam Aron said in a release the goal is to have all locations open by the last of July.

"We continue to devote extraordinary resources into our plan to operate our theatres with a hyper commitment to the safety and health of our guests and associates, notably in the United States through our new AMC Safe & Clean initiative," Aron said. "Our theatre general managers across the U.S. started working full time again today and are back in their theatres gearing up to get their buildings fully ready just a few weeks from now for moviegoers. That happy day, when we can welcome guests back into most of our U.S. theatres, will be Thursday, July 30."

The theaters were previously set to open on July 15th before Warner Brothers decided to push Tenet back to August in hopes of getting a wider audience.

Cover photo by PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP via Getty Images