First-run movies at home for the ultrarich — at just $2,500 a pop

Meet Red Carpet Entertainment LLC, the opposite of Netflix in the fast-changing home-video world.

Unlike the famous streaming service, which serves up thousands of films and TV shows to millions of subscribers for about $13 a month, this startup by two entertainment-industry veterans is seeking just 3,000 rich Americans who’ll put up $15,000 and pay $2,500 per movie to watch the latest theatrical releases in their homes.

Since launching in October, Red Carpet has attracted just a sliver of the customers it hopes to sign up in the U.S. in the next two years, founders Fredric Rosen and Dan Fellman say. And they know they aren’t the first to market a high-end, first-run film service to the ultrarich. But the two say their knowledge of the entertainment industry gives them a fighting chance.

“Everyone is looking for a new, ancillary business,” said Fellman, who spent 37 years at Warner Bros., retiring as president of domestic distribution. “So we thought: How do we start a small, ancillary business, but that’s not disruptive?”

He and Rosen, the former president of Ticketmaster, won’t disclose how their subscriber revenue gets divvied up, but say the studios get the majority. Red Carpet has deals with 10 distributors, including Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros. and Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. With box-office sales slumping and projected to fall again next year, moviemakers are happy to have new customers.

The entrepreneurs, who came up with their plan on the golf course, aren’t alone in targeting superrich people who don’t want to fight crowds at the theater. Bel Air Cinema has been providing such a service since 2015, mostly outside the U.S.