Apple Offering Full Length Movie on iTunes

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif

Now that Apple is offering Music Videos, Short Films and TV shows for download on their iTunes Music Store, the transition to selling full length movies is not a technical issue, but more of a marketing / licensing issue.

It appears Apple is now offering the first full-length movie for sale on the iTunes Music Store.

High School Musical (iTunes Link) is a 1 hour 39 minute Disney Channel original TV movie that is available on iTunes. The movie is 487MB and costs $1.99 - the same as all other videos on the iTunes Music Store.

This movie, however, does not appear to be linked from the main iTunes Store.

Apple has been rumored to be working on a distribution deal with the major movie studios, and is expected to launch a full-movie service alongside a Video iPod in the coming weeks.

[macintel4me]

Finally! Another watershed moment!

[nicksoper]

I would so pay $1.99 for over an hour of disney muscial fun. Sorry I missed out the sarcasm tags.

How long before we can get real movies. Bets are open.

[quackattack]

This is a very good sign! Now if only the $1.99 price tag would stick.... somehow I doubt it.

[Kelmon]

How can I put this: start offering content in countries besides the US

Seriously, I'm very interested in downloading television shows (not sure about downloading a movie, mind) but can't because all the content (excepting the Pixar shorts, of which I've bought 2) are only available to US customers.

My interest in downloading movies will very much depend on the price, speed and quality, plus the availability of suitable storage to archive the content. At the present time I am unconvinced but am willing to be swayed.

[neocell]

Took a little longer than I thought, but I image it will be formally initiated/released (= real movie titles) at apple's birthday party. Nice to see the change, now for a real media centre

[liketom]

good good , now lets get it on the rest of the world's iTune Stores

[macintel4me]

I wonder if the resolution is exactly the same as all the other vids?

[nato64]

OMG I'm the one who sent them the link last night at like 1 am. YAY!! That is so cool.

[morespce54]

It seems that the movie is not (yet) available at iTMS Canada...

[virus1]

Originally Posted by quackattack

This is a very good sign! Now if only the $1.99 price tag would stick.... somehow I doubt it.

no kidding.. but if it did...

anyways.. this is a huge moment. i do wonder however, how it wasn't linked up to the home page and how it was found. perhaps it was a test of some type?

Originally Posted by nato64

OMG I'm the one who sent them the link last night at like 1 am. YAY!! That is so cool.

how did you get the link?

[iJaz]

This is good for the continuation of the iPod domination!
Now let out the video iPod.

[nato64]

Originally Posted by virus1

how did you get the link?

I was surfing the TV Show section of the iTMS. There was a whole page devoted to "High School Musical" (does anyone know what the heck that even is?). It had like three or four music videos from the movie, the soundtrack, AND that whole movie. I clicked, checked out the time of 1:39 and went . Then I sent the link to Mac Rumors.

I can't find it now (of coarse) so they must have taken it down.

[MacMyFast]

Interesting how the first release is a Disney movie. Did anyone read the Business Week article about how Steve might use his newfound influence at Disney for this kind of thing?

I remember reading a rumor about an industry exec claiming that the movie download service wasn't moving along as fast as it could because the industry wanted a subscription service model and Steve didn't. I thought that was funny because it sounded like this person didn't realize how powerful Steve has become.

It looks like there will be no chance for a subscription model through iTunes, and I'm happy for that. Between Tivo, Sirius, Cable, Internet and everything else, I have enough subscriptions as it is.

[darh]

hmm strange, just a minute ago there were iTunes Customer reviews of the movie, and now there gone... Apple deleted them?

[iGary]

I wish I cared about this...even a little bit™...but I don't.

[Platform]

Had to come, now bump the res to 720p...and just bump the price as well, then I will buy

[thegreatunknown]

Originally Posted by neocell

now for a real media centre

that was in the last announcement... the new mac mini.

[virus1]

Originally Posted by iGary

I wish I cared about this...even a little bit™...but I don't.

well sure nobody cares about the movie, but everyone should care about movies coming..

[clcnyc]

I noticed this "High School Musical" thing at least a week ago. Mac Rumors, are you slipping?

BRING ON THE SIMPSONS!

[jessica.]

oh wow! This is awesome! w00t!

[nato64]

hey guys, i just found this again in the MUSIC video section. weird.

http://homepage.mac.com/nato64/.Public/musicvideos.png

[~Shard~]

This is the start of something big - it's inevitible. The only question is whether or not full-length Hollywood movies will be announced on April 1st, or afterwards. The trick is going to be in the licensing.

And then of course once you start offering full-length movies, you need a nice new iPod to play them.

[Porchland]

There was a story a couple of weeks ago on Think Secret that said negotiations between Apple and the other studios was a slow go. I hope they've gotten to yes with at least one more studio before the movie store comes online.

I'm still a bit confused on who controls digital distribution rights for most of the major films. The Think Secret story insinuated that HBO and some other clearinghouse company controlled most of those rights, which sounded a bit off to me.

Assuming the studios control their own digital distribution -- and I think that's probably the case -- we'll probably get a healthy dose of Disney and Pixar's catalogs over the first few months that movies are available.

Pixar movie downloads to coincide with the June 9 release of "Cars"?

[~Shard~]

Originally Posted by clcnyc

BRING ON THE SIMPSONS!

Nah, the Simpsons is old and tired now. If they had the older episodes when the show was actually good (seasons 1-7) available I might grab a couple, but really, they need to just need to put that show out of its misery, it's dying a slow death and is a shadow of its former self.