Apple TV asking to purchase a previously owned movie

1. If you bought it from the iTunes Store, because Apple needs to pay the copyright owner a royalty for each download, or it was from a different account or country's store. Otherwise, it has no way of knowing that you already did.

2. No; the buyer is supposed to back their purchases up, and it's likely not worth the expense.

(261306)

There are a few important things to consider:

When you purchase a digital movie, you are purchasing the license to have it. You don’t actually own the movie unless you purchase a physical DVD.

If Apple removed it from the online store, then they may have had the license revoked.

If you have any doubts, then purchase a DVD player and a physical DVD copy.

However, there is another scenario that may apply to you.

See my user-tip:

Click ▶︎ Missing Purchased Movies.

Good luck! 👋🏼😉

Speaking of revoked licenses I am reading about lawsuits filed against sites that offer movies we can ‘buy’ but in effect are actually longterm rentals for the reason you mention. The suits are alleging false advertising. If you purchase a DVD the production company can’t revoke your license and make the DVD nonfunctional, but they can if you purchased a digital version from a site like Apple TV, Amazon Prime, Fandango, etc?

But directly to the question asked by the OP I also ‘purchased’ Kingdom of Heaven (Directors Cut) from Apple a couple of years ago. I just pulled it up and it plays without issue so I wonder if the OP ‘purchased’ it under a different Apple Account instead.

Great movie by the way!

https://www.newsweek.com/amazon-facing-lawsuit-over-prime-video-movie-purchases-2120882

The OP wanted to know of they could sue. The answer is yes and such a suit has already been filed. Winniing such a lawsuit is another matter. We’ll see how this goes through the courts.

There are 2 different versions of that movie.

The Theatrical version and the director’s cut.

Which version did you buy and are trying to watch?