Between rising subscription costs and seemingly endless ad breaks, streaming can feel exhausting. Now, Eastern Michigan University students connected to campus Wi-Fi have a free alternative.
EMU’s Housing and Residence Life recently announced Swoop Cinema, a free streaming service available to anyone connected to campus Wi-Fi. Residents can watch hundreds of movies and TV shows in their dorms, and all students can access this service in academic buildings, dining halls, the Halle Library and even the Rec/IM.
Jeff Fabus, the complex director for academic and leadership initiatives at HRL, is in charge of running programming for residents and was the one to spearhead this initiative.
“The past few years, I’ve gone to housing conferences, and it’s something I have been really interested in, because it can supplement what our RAs do,” he told The Echo. Fabus said that HRL has been exploring options and deciding what will be the best decision for campus residents.
“Part of what drew us in is that it doesn’t have any advertisements, but we can add these ‘buffers’ to give students information,” Fabus said. Right now, students will see a fifteen-second clip reminding them to apply for housing before their movie begins.
Swoop Cinema is currently running as a free trial on campus, which will continue through the month of July 2026. Based on how it performs in terms of student interest and activity, HRL will decide whether to continue using the service and paying the full price in future semesters.
Scan the QR code with your mobile device to access Swoop Cinema.
Swoop Cinema is a result of HRL partnering with Swank Motion Pictures, a company that licenses and distributes movies and TV shows outside of theaters and homes. Swank Motion Pictures services K-12 schools, college campuses, hospitals, cruise ships, correctional facilities and libraries. Swank also partners with many major studios, including Disney, Discovery, Paramount, Universal, HBO, Warner Brothers, MGM, Sony, Lionsgate and others. HRL has previously partnered with Swank for movie night events.
Fabus and his team at HRL have hand-picked a collection of over 400 titles for Swoop Cinema, with more coming each month. 17 new titles will be joining the collection March 3, 2026. Students can find titles on Swoop Cinema that were recently released in theaters as well as silver-screen classics, and everything in between.
“It’s really nice, because there’s lots of recent stuff, not just movies from 20 years ago," Fabus said.
Students can access all of these titles and more on the Swoop Cinema web browser. Although there is no app for this service, students can use an HDMI cord or cast from their device to their TVs for a movie night experience.
TaMeka Lawrence, a resident adviser in Downing Hall, said, “I am a big movie person, and I’m really excited about it. I’ve already watched ‘Insidious,’ which is one of my favorites, on there.”
Trinity Perkins, a resident adviser in Westview Apartments, said, “It’s actually really good that they did this because students pay for so many streaming services already. You have to get a different one for every movie you want to watch.”
Perkins said that she and her friends are looking forward to watching “Divergent,” "Jurassic World,” “Clue” and some of their favorite kids' movies.
Fabus hopes to use Swoop Cinema as a way to connect residents to one another and their RAs. HRL has surveyed resident advisers on their favorite movies and used their answers in their selection of content. In the coming weeks, Fabus hopes to record short clips of RAs recommending their favorite movies to play before each film. This “staff picks” category will help residents build connections with their advisers.
Swoop Cinema is on a trial period, so those interested should be sure to catch their favorites and boost engagement to keep these services. Students can access Swoop Cinema using this link while connected to any EMU campus Wi-Fi network.
