IFC helps grow Apple's iTunes film catalog

[AppleInsider]

The number of motion picture flicks over at Apple's iTunes Store continued to swell this week, with IFC Entertainment announcing that its independent theatrical film catalog is on its way to the industry-leading download service.

As part of the announcement, IFC's said it would deliver to iTunes shoppers all of its 2007 Independent Spirit Award nominees. The Spirit Award is the premier award for the independent film community, for which IFC Entertainment recently received the most nominations of any one film company.

"By making IFC films available on the world's most popular online movie store we're giving independent filmmakers the exciting opportunity to reach a wider audience of movie enthusiasts," said Lisa Schwartz, IFC's senior vice president of sales and business development.

Available immediately for purchase and download are 13 IFC films, 6 of which are nominated for the upcoming Spirit Awards to be held on Saturday, February 24th.

The firm's nominations include Best Male Lead for Forest Whitaker in American Gun, Best Female Lead for Michelle Williams in Land of Plenty and Best Female Lead for Robin Wright Penn in Sorry, Haters.

The first IFC films available on iTunes will also include previous nominees to highlight the best independent films from the firm's extensive catalog.

"We're delighted to be adding full*length independent films to the world's most popular online movie store," said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. "The passion and creativity of independent cinema means a great deal to film fans and to iTunes so we're thrilled to be adding IFC's remarkable catalog."

Earlier this month, Apple announced that its iTunes Store has become the world’s most popular online movie store, with a catalog of over 400 titles.

All films from IFC will be priced at just $9.99. The studio joins Lionsgate, which added its catalog of independent flicks to iTunes about a week and a half ago.

[wilco]

Finally!

[philb]

Please can these stories be properly titled -

IFC helps grow Apple's USA iTunes film catalog

The rest of us are still waiting for any video more than 3 minutes long

[indiemike]

Yeah it really is B.S. that the rest of us get screwed over by the copyright laws. It also means that Apple wont be selling many AppleTVs outside of the US

[Blascock]

sweet, now when will they start selling movies and tv shows in Canada/rest of the world?

[DeaPeaJay]

Has anyone actually ever seen an IF? I haven't. I'm a lemming of the film studios. I do as they command

[Louzer]

Originally Posted by DeaPeaJay

Has anyone actually ever seen an IF? I haven't. I'm a lemming of the film studios. I do as they command

Yeah, I've seen a couple. They have a tendency to be really depressing dramas. Hell, if I wanted really depressing drama, I'd pay more attention to my own life.

[Silencio]

I probably see five or six independent or foreign films for each mainstream Hollywood release. I guess it helps that I live in a major city that has a very strong set of theaters that show independent films.

On that note, go see The Lives Of Others if it's showing in your area. Blew away every other film I saw in the past year. It's facing some very stiff competition for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film this year.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by DeaPeaJay

Has anyone actually ever seen an IF? I haven't. I'm a lemming of the film studios. I do as they command

Are you kidding? The independent and foreign films that win the awards and gain immense notoriety are usually the best films of the year. If you see something interesting, check it out on IMDb; you probably won't be disappointed.

[lkrupp]

Originally Posted by Blascock

sweet, now when will they start selling movies and tv shows in Canada/rest of the world?

Well, since Europe is in the process of determining that it will be illegal to sell music and videos through the iTMS because they require iTunes and/or an iPod to view or listen I would not expect any of this to be available there or in Canada for a very long time. The Canadian parliament will probably ban iTMS too eventually with all the Canadian iPod owners left without a source of legal downloads from the major labels. Microsoft WMA, of course, will be allowed to take over for the banned iTMS.

[scooter72]

Keep doing it Apple. The more content the better! Now where is my dam @TV?

Scooter
http://www.gadgetgrid.com/

[Abster2core]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

"We're delighted to be adding full*length independent films to the world's most popular online movie store," said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. "The passion and creativity of independent cinema means a great deal to film fans and to iTunes so we're thrilled to be adding IFC's remarkable catalog."

Earlier this month, Apple announced that its iTunes Store has become the world’s most popular online movie store, with a catalog of over 400 titles.

Perhaps Eddy Cue made a mistake or his quote was truncated. For sure, Apple never"… announced that its iTunes Store has become the world’s most popular online movie store, with a catalog of over 400 titles," no matter who quoted it.

[TenoBell]

Has anyone actually ever seen an IF? I haven't. I'm a lemming of the film studios. I do as they command

In New York Independent Film is just as popular as the studio fair.

Yeah, I've seen a couple. They have a tendency to be really depressing dramas.

There are independent movies all of genres, comedies (Clerks, Chasing Amy) and action films (El Mariachi, Reservoir Dogs), western (Dead Man).

[Bageljoey]

Originally Posted by TenoBell

There are independent movies all of genres, comedies (Clerks, Chasing Amy) and action films (El Mariachi, Reservoir Dogs), western (Dead Man).

Have to check out Dead Man if you are putting it together with the other 4.
I will never forget the first time I saw El Mariachi. WOW. What they lack in slick production values they make up for in heart and character...

[melgross]

Originally Posted by Abster2core

Perhaps Eddy Cue made a mistake or his quote was truncated. For sure, Apple never"… announced that its iTunes Store has become the world’s most popular online movie store, with a catalog of over 400 titles," no matter who quoted it.

It's still possible that Apple has actually SOLD more films than any other online store, despite their much larger catalogs.

That would make it the most popular.

[melgross]

The more films that get added, even if it is just small bunches at a time, the more difficult it will be for the other studios to stay away.

[Abster2core]

Originally Posted by melgross

It's still possible that Apple has actually SOLD more films than any other online store, despite their much larger catalogs.

That would make it the most popular.

AppleInsider stated in todays piece that, "Earlier this month, Apple announced that its iTunes Store has become the world’s most popular online movie store, with a catalog of over 400 titles." and referenced the claim to a previous article which stated the following:

"Apple said the iTunes Store features the world’s largest catalog with over four million songs, 350 television shows and, with the addition of Lionsgate, over 400 movies. To date, the store has sold over two billion songs, 50 million TV shows and over 1.3 million movies, making it the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store."

Whether or not the claim is true, the author of today's article erred in its reporting. I am sure that if Apple could prove that it was the most popular online movie store, they would prolcaim it at the top of their voice. And I am anxiously hoping for that day to come. Unfortunately, it has yet to arrive.

[Aqua OS X]

"motion picture flicks"

Hopefully they can also get "movie films," and other forms of redundant theatrical entertainment.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by Abster2core

AppleInsider stated in todays piece that, "Earlier this month, Apple announced that its iTunes Store has become the world’s most popular online movie store, with a catalog of over 400 titles." and referenced the claim to a previous article which stated the following:

"Apple said the iTunes Store features the world’s largest catalog with over four million songs, 350 television shows and, with the addition of Lionsgate, over 400 movies. To date, the store has sold over two billion songs, 50 million TV shows and over 1.3 million movies, making it the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store."

Whether or not the claim is true, the author of today's article erred in its reporting. I am sure that if Apple could prove that it was the most popular online movie store, they would prolcaim it at the top of their voice. And I am anxiously hoping for that day to come. Unfortunately, it has yet to arrive.

We know that Apple has sold far more in all of the other catagories. I think it's pretty safe to assume that they have sold more movies as well. The other sites haven't been bragging about how many they've sold. In fact, they've been pretty quiet about it.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by Abster2core

AppleInsider stated in todays piece that, "Earlier this month, Apple announced that its iTunes Store has become the world’s most popular online movie store, with a catalog of over 400 titles." and referenced the claim to a previous article which stated the following:

"Apple said the iTunes Store features the world’s largest catalog with over four million songs, 350 television shows and, with the addition of Lionsgate, over 400 movies. To date, the store has sold over two billion songs, 50 million TV shows and over 1.3 million movies, making it the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store."

Whether or not the claim is true, the author of today's article erred in its reporting. I am sure that if Apple could prove that it was the most popular online movie store, they would prolcaim it at the top of their voice. And I am anxiously hoping for that day to come. Unfortunately, it has yet to arrive.

At MWSF 2007 Jobs stated that they sold 1.3M movies in 4 months.... and that was with only 100 movies from the Disney vault.

Jobs also proclamation, "the iPod has become the worlds' most popular video player. And by a wide margin."

With the inclusion of Paramount in early January and then Lionsgate I imagine that the they have hit 2.0M movies sold in February.

It's a safe bet that the tried-and-true iTunes Store is the world's most popular source for legally downloading movies.

[Steinar]

“The iTunes Store is by far the most popular online movie store in the world,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes.

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/02/12itunes.html

[TenoBell]

Have to check out Dead Man if you are putting it together with the other 4.

"Dead Man" is a Jim Jarmusch movie and he's an acquired taste so I can't make any promises.

The importance of independent film is that it allows different viewpoints and new opportunities in a other wised closed and strictly controlled American film market.

For good or for bad truly independent film generally does not have to go through the Hollywood system of being approved by Harvard or Yale business graduates who are charged with making a profit for their corporate parent company. Or focused grouped by people from middle America who do not want to be challenged beyond their own values or want to understand complex narrative themes. This process is to homogenize the film in order that it meets the approval of a wide enough audience to insure its makes as much money as possible.

The point isn't that everyone has to like every independent film. The point is that everyone likes different things and independent film offers the opportunity to bring different points of view.

[wilco]

Originally Posted by Louzer

Yeah, I've seen a couple. They have a tendency to be really depressing dramas.

Pulp Fiction
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
The Usual Suspects
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Psycho
Memento
Apocalypse Now
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Se7en
American History X
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Reservoir Dogs
Amadeus
Kill Bill: Vol. 1
Fargo
Donnie Darko
Crash
The Graduate
Platoon
Trainspotting
Magnolia
The Big Lebowski
The Terminator
Sling Blade

http://www.imdb.com/chart/independent

[lostkiwi]

Originally Posted by DeaPeaJay

Has anyone actually ever seen an IF? I haven't. I'm a lemming of the film studios. I do as they command

Ha! Classic!

[TenoBell]

Actually Wilco most of those movies are not true independent films. They did go through the studio system. Some maverick studio executive really liked the story and championed it through the system.

The movies you listed from the 60's or 70's came to be because at the time television was eroding the movie audience and studio executives did not know what to do, so they took a lot of risks. It was also before all of the studios were bought up by large conglomerates.

The more recent films you list somehow slipped through but many of the guys who push those types of films through the system get fired for being too risky. Nowadays they are tightening down to the point where its very difficult to push risky films through the system.

Hollywood has also co-opted the "Independent Film" concept because their is a market that makes money and the fact that regular studio releases are so sanitized that they rarely receive praise or reward as being great cinema.

There are many independent films being made outside of Hollywood but these films still depend on the system for promotion and distribution.

[scstsut]

His Steveness is wrong about one thing. People may want to own there music but they do want to rent their movies.

We listen to an album hundreds of times and will re-listen to it two decades after its debut. Movies we watch once and if we really like it we may buy it, but the vast majority is not worth watching twice.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by scstsut

His Steveness is wrong about one thing. People may want to own there music but they do want to rent their movies.

We listen to an album hundreds of times and will re-listen to it two decades after its debut. Movies we watch once and if we really like it we may buy it, but the vast majority is not worth watching twice.

Then why did movie sales pass movie rentals years ago?