Where can I watch "Sound of Metal" in Canada?

Sound of Metal, the critically-acclaimed movie starring Riz Ahmed and Olivia Cooke about a drummer who loses his hearing, was released in late 2020 in North America.

Although Sound of Metal is being promoted in the United States as an "Amazon Original Movie" and was released on Prime Video on December 4 in that country, Amazon Studios only purchased American distribution rights to the film, and only did so after its premiere at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. Thus, Prime Video does not currently have Canadian streaming rights to the film.

In Canada, distribution rights to Sound of Metal were acquired separately by Pacific Northwest Pictures (PNP), a Toronto-based film distributor focused on independent films.

By way of PNP, Sound of Metal has now been made available for digital rental and purchase through various services, may be borrowable through Hoopla for members of select Canadian libraries, and – as of May 14, 2021 – is available to stream on Crave (with the Movies + HBO tier).

Where can I watch "Sound of Metal" on streaming in Canada?

On Friday, May 14, 2021, Sound of Metal was made available on Crave with the Movies + HBO tier, as confirmed by Bell Media in its May listings for Crave. This is consistent with other films distributed by PNP in the recent past – including Seberg, Canadian Strain, and Endings, Beginnings, all of which have eventually ended up on Crave (at least for a period of time).

In almost all cases, Crave has Canadian exclusivity among subscription streaming services for the films it carries, for a term (or window) that typically runs for a year or more. As such, we do not expect Sound of Metal to be available on any other subscription streaming service in Canada (like Netflix or Prime Video) until mid-2022 at the earliest.

As a reminder, the total direct subscription price for Crave + Movies + HBO is currently $19.98/month.

Alternatively we were made aware in March (via a tweet by The Canadian Press' David Friend) that Sound of Metal had been made available to borrow for free through Hoopla, a digital media service that has partnerships with many Canadian public libraries. Hoopla is not a subscription streaming service (at least at the individual consumer level), as it "lends" individual titles on a sort-term basis. If you want to try borrowing through Hoopla, you have to have a valid library card, and then create a separate Hoopla account and associate it with your library card.

In March, the film was available via Hoopla to Toronto Public Library (TPL) cardholders and likely others. However, when we last tried in mid-May, after signing in with a Hoopla account tied to a TPL card, the page no longer displays a "Borrow" button. It's not clear at this point whether the film has been pulled entirely, or simply temporarily reached some sort of limit (either Toronto-specific or national).

Is there another way to watch "Sound of Metal" in Canada?

Sound of Metal remains available for standalone digital rental or purchase through a number of services.

The movie debuted in select cinemas, and on TIFF Bell Lightbox's digital platform, on Friday, November 27, 2020. One week later, on December 4, it became available in additional venues, including digital rental / purchase services like the iTunes / Apple TV Store, the Google Play Store, and the Cineplex Store, as well as cable / IPTV provider on-demand services (like Bell, Rogers, Shaw, and Telus). A full list of venues is available here.

As early March 2021, rental prices on these providers are starting at about $4.99, with occasional deals for less. The film is also available for digital purchase for around $14.99.

Significant revisions

• May 15-16, 2021 – updates following release on Crave
• April 23-25, 2021 – noted upcoming availability on Crave; updated some links

Thanks to reader Jon E. for his Twitter question prompting this post.