Disney films on iTunes

[FantasiaMan]

According to Cinematical, Disney films will quite possibly be available to buy on iTunes. Here's what it said:



First iTunes Movie-Store Titles Revealed
Posted Sep 6th 2006 2:34PM by Christopher Campbell
Filed under: Animation, Horror, Disney, Lionsgate Films, Distribution, Family Films, Home Entertainment

News of the iTunes movie download service just keeps on a comin'! Just yesterday I told you of the leaks regarding an upcoming announcement from Apple and some of the expectations for a time-frame of when we can expect the service to begin. Now, thanks to iPodHub.net, I can also tell you about some of the movies that will be available within the first few years (not sure why they can't put 'em out all at once, but whatever). So far, only Disney and Lionsgate titles have managed to slide onto the net(see the list after the jump).

The site also mentioned a rumored name change for iTunes in the works. This makes sense since iTunes is now selling shows and movies in addition to tunes, but really, the name is so well-known as a brand that I can't imagine Apple would bother. The change wouldn't happen for a long time and may depend on how well the movies sell. For now the current iTunes software will simply include a "movie store" link in the menu sidebar.

Initial iTunes Movie Store titles:

Walt Disney Pictures: James and the Giant Peach, Pocahontas, The Lion King, Aladdin, Chicken Little, Herbie: Fully Loaded, Sky High, Ice Princess, National Treasure, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Disney/Pixar: Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Toy Story 3 (don't ask me), A Bug's Life, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars.

Miramax: Cold Mountain, The Hours, Chicago, Cinderella Man, Scary Movie 1-4 (I know the Scary Movie franchise is owned by The Weinstein Co. now -- I'm just copying the list).

Touchstone Pictures: The Royal Tenenbaums, Pearl Harbor, The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Gone in Sixty Seconds, Shanghai Noon, Deuce Bigalow, Male Gigalo, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, King Arthur, Hidalgo, Open Range, Signs, Reign of Fire.

Lionsgate: American Psycho, Dogma, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, Pi, Requiem for a Dream, Open Water, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, The Punisher, Fahrenheit 9/11, Crash, Alone in the Dark, Hostel, Saw 1 and 2

[numba1lostboy]

ARGH!! Why don't I have a dam Ipod yet??

[goofystitch]

I'm excited that they are doing this, but have already uploaded the titles on the list that I would want into my iTunes from the DVD's. Weird that they are puttion Lion King out, something that's no longer available on DVD.

[Kenai]

I hope we see these soon. If so, how much will they cost to download them? And will they work on my 30 GB Ipod?

[Ting Ting]

I'm not sure that I like this idea. I think it completely ruins the point of collecting Disney DVDs.

[jeremy88]

Ahhh seriousely! I kinda dont like the idea either...Cuz collecting all the DVD's would become pointless kinda...welll that new blu-ray thing mite be the next big thing but i dont think im going to collect all the disney movies for blu-ray unless i see a major difference and yeah. But yeah actually I started collecting Disney DVD's becuz I use to have most of them on VHS and then my mom gave them to my younger cuzzins becuz I lost my interest in Disney movies wen I was around 11 or 12 and now my cuzzins dont even have them anymore! but now im 17 and I LOVE DISNEY ANIMATED MOVIES and the whole Walt Disney company altogether!! so im like...well why dont I start collecting them on DVD which is waayyy better then all the VHS's.

[FantasiaMan]

If so, how much will they cost to download them?

Well, for a Disney cartoon (a 7-9 minute short), it costs about $2 to buy. So, for a full length feature, I would guess somewhere between the $10 -$15 range. I got the Treasures & most of the films on DVD already, so I don't need to buy them. Besides, why would I spend 2 dollars for a short that I can view on a 2-inch screen when I can watch it on Youtube for free?

[JiminyCrick91]

$9.99 US is what they have said.

[TashieGirl]

My question is, how is that going to work exactly? I have an an iPod video myself and from experience, doesn't everytime you play a video on it, it dies a lot qiucker, and the types of videos I have on my iPod are like less than 30 minutes long.

[hopesethigh]

iPods only support about 2 hours of video before the battery dies (according to my owners manual.) So I guess we would have enough time to watch a full length movie and that would be it, it wouldn't be great for traveling unless you have an iPod car charger.

I HATE this idea, as a collector. Why would Disney disgrace the animated classics this way? Use the corny DCOM's or direct-to-video movies. sigh.

[Chrissy31886]

iPods only support about 2 hours of video before the battery dies (according to my owners manual.) So I guess we would have enough time to watch a full length movie and that would be it, it wouldn't be great for traveling unless you have an iPod car charger.

I HATE this idea, as a collector. Why would Disney disgrace the animated classics this way? Use the corny DCOM's or direct-to-video movies. sigh.

Wow...that doesnt seem practical then

[FantasiaMan]

Videos are much larger in file size than music, so they take up more space.

If you go to a place like Radio Shack, you can buy a disposable iPod battery for about $5. When your iPod is about to die, you plug it in & it gives you 8 more hours of playback time (for music, I don't know how long for video). Besides, I would get major eye-strain watching a full length movie on such a tiny screen.

[Chrissy31886]

Videos are much larger in file size than music, so they take up more space.

If you go to a place like Radio Shack, you can buy a disposable iPod battery for about $5. When your iPod is about to die, you plug it in & it gives you 8 more hours of playback time (for music, I don't know how long for video). Besides, I would get major eye-strain watching a full length movie on such a tiny screen.

Agreed, I know with itunes music you can burn CDs of the songs you purchase. I wonder if it will be the same for movies? Personally, I enjoy collecting the actual DVD releases...so I wouldn't be interested in doing that, but I'm sure some people would.

[FantasiaMan]

You can buy TV shows & music videos on iTunes, so the process of buying a feature would be basically the same. About 4-5 months ago, Gulliver's Travels was available for free on a podcast for only a day. Luckily, I snagged it at the last minute.

I don't know how to burn DVD's on iTunes, or even if you can burn DVD's. Don't they all have "anti-piracy" protection on them?

[JoeyOhhhh]

The quality will be so low on the videos, that it won't be worth it to burn onto a DVD. But I'm pretty sure that they won't allow it to happen (atleast not now).

[Buzz Lightyear]

When will these be avalible, cause it says Cars is going to be one of the first that's avalible and that doesn't come to DVD until November. Plus, will these be avalible in the Canadian store, cause I hate it how I find something that I want in the store, than go to buy it and it redirects me to the Canadian store where it says what I want isn't avalible to Canadians. But if I can download it, than I'll probably just get that version of Cars and wait until a proper DVD of Cars is released (I've heard it's coming next spring but don't quote me on that).

[crunkcourt]

Wow that's definately exciting news! I might just have to buy a Ipod video now.

[corrwill]

Just to give an opinion as someone who has movies on her ipod, it is really kinda nice. I have the Lion King already on my ipod. Made personally from my PE DVD.

Not that I would keep many on there all the time (2 hr movie in ipod size is about 800kb) but it is nice to just listen to movies you know all the lines too such as The Lion King for me.

As soon as you are stuck on a plane or airport TRUST ME movies are nice on the ipod. One hint though is to keep them full screen for the ipod. I am 100% behind widescreen and letterbox for DVD's but it gets just a smudge small on the ipod. Yeah it takes almost the whole battery to go through a whole movie, but with the way technology is changing the newer ipods will last even longer. Plus the extra battery extenders out there can help. I am big on keeping the sucker charged so it's not really a problem for me.

I WILL DEFIANTLY keep getting the DVD's. I mean the extras are a sweet bonus. And I don't think Blue Ray will change the quality of painted cels in 2D animation much. They are about the best quality possible after restored. Now the CAPS (computer painted) might be a different story I don't know.

Yes and the quality is much lower, than the DVD, but it looks fab on the ipod screen. If you were to connect your ipod to your TV you would notice the difference.

I will have to see what Disney comes up with, but I LIKE the idea

BOTTOM LINE: If they offer a movie you just love, and can watch over and over it IS worth getting it for your ipod. As a collector, I will stick with the DVD's and maybe get the one I truly love for the ipod.

[Pluto Region1]

Just to give an opinion as someone who has movies on her ipod, it is really kinda nice. I have the Lion King already on my ipod. Made personally from my PE DVD. Not that I would keep many on there all the time (2 hr movie in ipod size is about 800kb) but it is nice to just listen to movies you know all the lines too such as The Lion King for me.

As soon as you are stuck on a plane or airport TRUST ME movies are nice on the ipod.

Ok so 2 questions come to mind, does your battery poop out or make it through the entire movie? Or do you travel with some type of backup battery? Also, are they even allowing Ipods or laptops on the planes? I thought they stopped allowing such devices.

I would have assumed that they are aiming this Online movie purchase market at people who wanted to watch on their computer (perhaps laptop), however, the news is that Apple is about to make a big announcement and speculation is that it is going to be a new video Ipod (with bigger screen) for watching movies with. I am not sure when this announcement will be, but soon. The news of a pending announcement was on the news again today.

[goofystitch]

Ok. Today was the day that Apple made all there official changes. New iPod videos are out and they are not widescreen...yet. That is heavily rumored for the next wave in about a year. However, the major change is that there is now an 80GB iPod and it is cheaper than the 60GB was. I think it's around $350. My 60GB iPod photo cost me $400, so the price drop is a huge plus. With the new iPods came a new version of iTunes, as well as the official release of their movie page. All Buena Vista titles of course, since they are the only studio that is currintly doing this, but it is heavily anticipated that when this does well, others will join in. Now, they added a lot of titles, so I'm gonna start with just the ones under the Walt Disney Pictures banner. They aren't organized by studio, so they won't be in alphabetical order. They are by catagory and that is they way they will be presented.

Walt Disney Pictures Movies:
A Bug's Life
Herbie: Fully Loaded
Mulan
Dumbo
Brother Bear 2
The Shaggy Dog
The Great Mouse Detective
Cinderella
Pocahontas
Eight Below
Valiant
Toy Story
The Aristocats
Disney's The Kid
Chicken Little
Country Bears
The Wild
Around the World in 80 Days
Pirates of the Caribbean
National Treasure
Princess Diaries
Princess Diaries 2: A Royal Engagement
Ghosts of the Abyss
Aliens of the Deep
Sacred Planet
The Greatest Game Ever Played
Remember the Titans
Glory Road
Disney's The Rookie
The Incredibles


Disney's Other Studios:
Sweet Home Alabame
The English Patient
Under the Tuscan Sun
Bubble Boy
Duets
Bicentenial Man
Coyote Ugly
Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion
Gone in 60 Seconds
Gun Shy
The Ladykillers
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Grosse Point Blank
Tombstone
10 Things I Hate About You
Good Will Hunting
6 Days, 7 Nights
Hidalgo
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Veronica Guerin
The Great Raid
The Alamo
Shakespeare in Love
Kinky Boots
Annapolis
Casanova
Signs
The 6th Sense
The Village
The Rock
The Insider
Cold Creek Manor
Duce Biggalow: Male Giggalo
Death Race 2000
Flightplan
Ransom
Prefontane
A Civil Action
The Brothers Grimm
The Hot Chick
Enemy of the State
Scorpius Gigantus
The Life Aguatic with Steve Zizzu
Cursed

The studio is also taking pre-orders for future releases. They are:
The Fox and the Hound
The Fox and the Hound 2
The Little Mermaid
Cars
Keeping Up With the Steins

I am assuming that these will all be released the same day as their DVD counterparts, seeing as "The Wild" was launched today, the same day as it's DVD.

I'm sure many of you are wondering how Disney dealt with the issue of aspect ratios. I'm glad to say that they stayed with the original APR. Now, my brother has an iPod video and he has several movies on it in the three main ratios (fullscreen, widescreen, and cinemascope). I have seen films on it in all three and didn't have a problem seeing things, granted the easiest of the three to watch was fullscreen. By the way, even "Country Bears" is in widescreen, even though it's US DVD release was in fullscreen. I would buy it on iTunes, but I don't yet have an iPod video and it's not something I watch enough to even put on my iPod. I think it is a really neat idea to finally sell movies through iTunes. I was wondering when this would happen when iTunes launched their TV shows and shorts a year ago. I'm sure some of you are interested, so here is the Top 10 movies at the moment on iTunes:
1. Pirates of the Caribbean
2. The Incredibles
3. National Treasure
4. Toy Story
5. Under the Tuscan Sun
6. Princess Diaries
7. Gone in 60 Seconds
8. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissu
9. A Bug's Life
10. Remember the Titans

When you visit Disney's section of the iTunes movies page, the banner on top has characters from many of the movies currently available. I say almost because Lightning McQueen is up there and "Cars" is not out yet, as well as the mansion from "The Haunted Mansion." I wonder if that will be released in the next wave.