Stephen Amell’s Code 8 is Apple’s Movie of the Week

If you’ve been waiting for the perfect opportunity to check out Stephen Amell‘s Code 8 movie, that time is finally here. The Arrow star shared to social media on Wednesday that Apple has made the science fiction film it’s “Movie of the Week”, allowing fans to rent it for just 99 cents. The film, which stars Amell alongside his cousin Robbie Amell and was directed by Jeff Chan, debuted in theaters and On Demand on December 13, 2019.

“The fine folks at Apple decided to make Code 8 their Movie Of The Week,” Amell wrote in a post to Twitter. “It’s a big deal. You can rent it for 99 cents.”

The Code 8 film had a long journey in becoming a reality. Back in 2016, the Amells debuted a short film set in a world where 4 percent of the population had special powers but were treated poorly like outcasts and criminals. The short, which followed Robbie’s character just trying to get by, was popular fans and soon after its release, the actors launched a crowdfunding campaign to create a full-length feature. The campaign — which was intended to help secure additional funding by proving the film’s viability with fans — was successful and, ultimately, Vertical Entertainment signed on for worldwide release.

Like the short before it, Code 8 is also set in a world where four percent of the population is born with supernatural abilities but instead of being welcomed as heroes, they’re discriminated against, heavily policed, and live in poverty, a situation which prompts many to resort to crime in order to survive. In Code 8 Connor Reed (Robbie Amell), is one of those powered people and is struggling to pay for the medical treatment of his ill mother (Kari Matchett). When working as a day labor simply isn’t enough, Connor is lured into a lucrative criminal operation led by Garrett (Stephen Amell). Garrett helps Connor harness his powers to pull off a series of increasingly dangerous crimes on the behalf of Marcus Sutcliffe (Greg Bryk), the city’s drug lord, while the militarized police led by Agent Park (Sung Kang) and Agent Davis (Aaron Abrams) seek to bring them all down.

The film is already getting a spinoff series on Quibi with both Stephen and Robbie Amell set to start and the series set to reunite them with director Jeff Chan as well as Chris Pare, who penned the film. The series will be produced by Colony Pictures. Chan, the Amells, Pare, and XYZ Films, which had previously acquired global rights to the Code 8 feature earlier this year, will executive produce.

Will you be checking out Code 8? Let us know in the comments below.