By Ryan Parsons | Image property of respective holders, Variety.
Terminator 2
Lionsgate may not be the biggest dog in Hollywood, but, when it comes to the future of digital media, the studio has one of the biggest bites. After joining up with Microsoft's Xbox 360 download system only behind Warner Bros. and Paramount, the studio is now only the second to place their library of films up on iTunes.
Lionsgate Joins iTunes
Terminator 2, Basic Instinct and The Blair Witch Project are just a few of the 150 titles that Lionsgate has in store for iTunes users; all of which will be available by the end of this month.
Since iTunes only charges $12.99 for the first week and $14.99 thereafter on new releases, many studios have dodged the service. With a lower price, each studio is forced to risk their DVD business in order to sell films for smaller (digital) wholesale prices.
This hasn't scared off Disney and Lionsgate, however. Though the 'indie' studio will kick off its relationship with Apple by loading their older library, new releases should be coming in the future.
Lionsgate president Steve Beeks had this to say on iTunes:
"We have long felt downloads will provide exciting and continued growth in home entertainment. Seeing the big boys like Apple, Wal-Mart and Amazon.com get into this, as well as others coming soon, is really what this business has needed to give it a kick-start."
Does iTunes offer HD downloads, or is that still limited to Xbox 360?
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